One gigabit per second in the home

The OMEGA architecture

The OMEGA project is working on an innovative architecture for the home network, which will enable to provide a capacity of around 1Gb/s to users in the home. 

This architecture is built on three main ideas:

• the combination of heterogeneous broadband technologies, such as wireless IEEE 802.11n, Power Line Communications, Ultra Wide Band (UWB) communications, radio communications at 60 GHz, and Wireless Optics

• a mesh-structured network, and

• the use of an Inter-MAC mechanism at layer 2, allowing the cooperation of the MAC layers of the different broadband home networking technologies.

The ever growing demand for high data rates inside the home highlights the importance of designing a simple, flexible and efficient architecture that facilitates the set-up of a convergent gigabit per second interactive home network. 

Elements of the OMEGA network

The OMEGA network is based on physical network elements, called the OMEGA devices, distributed throughout the home and connected in a mesh structure. OMEGA devices can be end devices with OMEGA functionality or so-called OMEGA extenders (see figure 1). This improves the coverage of the home and ensures the interconnection of the end devices. OMEGA devices can support several networking technologies such as Wi-Fi, PLC, and Wireless Optics, thus realizing their convergence. The home gateway ensures a continuous interconnection with the access network. 

The OMEGA network is defined by its interfaces. First, the Ω interface is used by OMEGA devices to connect with each other through Ω links. The Ω interface is based on the Inter-MAC layer which is located below the IP layer (if available at the device) and above the IEEE 802.2 link layer – see figure 2, which illustrates the data plane OSI layer stack between the nodes A and B communicating through an Ω interface. The Inter-MAC is a layer 2 mechanism allowing the cooperation of the MAC layers of the different broadband home networking technologies. 

Figure 2: Data plane OSI layer stack 

Figure 3 shows the interfaces of the OMEGA architecture reference model. For simplic-ity, only one OMEGA device is shown. It represents a multitude of OMEGA devices connected by Ω links with Ω interfaces in a mesh topology. By reference to existing standards, the U interface is defined as the interface providing connectivity between the OMEGA network and the access network. In the same way, the R interface is defined as the interface ensuring the connection of legacy devices or other networks, which do not support the Inter-MAC framework, to the OMEGA network.  

Figure 3: Interfaces in the OMEGA architecture 

Figure 4 outlines an architecture reference model for the OMEGA network: it is organized in the form of a mesh network bringing in the advantages of multi-path capabilities for traffic reconfiguration, robustness, and traffic load balancing, on the basis of Quality of Service requirements ensured by the Inter-MAC mechanism.  

Figure 4: OMEGA’s architecture reference model 

A possible implementation of the OMEGA architecture with real devices is shown in figure 5. 

Figure 5: Exemplary implementation of OMEGA architecture

This figure illustrates the mesh structure of the OMEGA network and the generic feature of the Ω interface. The R interface towards legacy devices (LD) can be achieved by different kinds of OMEGA devices:

Through an OMEGA Extender or any other OMEGA device if the LD embeds a communication technology supported by the OMEGA device, at the PHY as well as at the MAC layer (potentially Wi-Fi, PLC, UWB, Optical Wireless, 60 GHz),

If the LD communicates through an interface not available with the OMEGA device, then it can interconnect to the OMEGA network through an OMEGA Legacy Device Adapter which provides such a legacy interface, for instance, a set-top box in order to connect a legacy TV set. 

Conclusion

A first potential use of this architecture is to enable the integration of heterogeneous high-speed home networking technologies in a single network. Furthermore, the distribution of multi-technology OMEGA devices throughout the home will increase the range and the robustness of the home network. The efficiency of this architecture is ensured by using an Inter-MAC mechanism achieving the convergence between the MAC mechanisms of the different technologies. Beyond the improvements for the communication inside the home, this approach will also leverage the penetration of future services towards every home device, made possible by the increased data rates inside the home network. 

About OMEGA

OMEGA is an Integrating Project in the ICT area funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7). The project is running for three years from January 2008 to December 2010.

OMEGA will develop a user-friendly home area network capable of delivering high-bandwidth services and content at a transmission speed of one gigabit per second. The interdisciplinary project consortium consists of 20 European partners from industry and academia. 

Further information is available on the OMEGA website at www.ict-omega.eu