POF market hindered by lack of cheap interfaces

17 Jun 2002

A shortage of standards and low-cost interfaces is threatening to undermine the market for short-reach data-links made from plastic optical fibre, reports Lisa van Beurden.

From Opto & Laser Europe June 2002

POF market

For some time now, plastic optical fibre (POF) has been heralded as the most suitable transmission medium to fill the void between the low cost and low bandwidth of copper cables, and the high cost and high bandwidth of silica fibre.

Based on trends in four major market sectors - automotive, consumer electronics, industrial controls and interconnection - the IGI Group, a US industry analyst, expects the POF market to grow from $502 m (EURO 532 m) in 2002 to more than $2 bn in 2006.

That said, the potential explosion in the POF market may be in danger of fizzling out before it has had a chance to take hold, according to IGI's latest report.

IGI says that a host of low-speed applications are missing out on the benefits of POF, including medical and consumer electronics, home wiring, security systems and industrial controls. What's more, IGI places the blame at the door of POF suppliers, suggesting they are being seduced by the more glamorous high-speed applications such as local-area networks and fibre-to-the-home. To date, the European car industry has been one of the biggest advocates of POF technology. "The main driver to use optical data buses was to avoid the electromagnetic interference [EMI] problems of electrical technology," explained Eberhard Zeeb, a spokesman for Daimler Chrysler.

He explains that wire harnesses are used in cars to manage the otherwise complex tangle of cables. The result is that a multitude of individual cables can end up packed in with other high-speed cables in the same harness. This, coupled with voltage variations, can cause EMI problems in the car if copper wires are used.

"We use POF instead of glass fibres because it is much cheaper to realize POF connectors than silica connectors. You can fabricate POF fibres with large-diameter cores," Zeeb said, adding that the 1 mm core diameter of POF fibres also allows large adjustment tolerances at the connectors.

At present, just two companies - Daimler Chrysler and BMW - provide the bulk of the European automobile market for POF. But many other European car manufacturers are planning to introduce POF in 2003, with firms in the US following suit in 2004.

The key to POF's successful penetration of the automotive industry seems to have been the development of a standard for POF data-buses in vehicles - the media-oriented systems transport (MOST) standard. Without it, there's every chance that POF would still be languishing backstage.

Several European vehicle manufacturers are now using the MOST data-bus system in their cars, according to Zeeb. "This makes it easier for us to use [POF] because we have more suppliers for the data-bus system. The components are also cheaper because we have a higher volume." This year Daimler Chrysler, for example, has introduced a MOST-based data bus that enables the transmission of compressed media data to its Mercedes E-class cars.

Suppliers are under tremendous pressure to cut costs, according to Paul Polishuk, president of the IGI Group. "Right now, for example, transceivers cost around $6 and the automobile manufacturers want to get that down to $3." The effects of this will impact on the connector and cable manufacturers first, and will then trickle down to benefit all parts of the plastic fibre business. "Rather than a technology push, this is a market pull," explained Polishuk.However, those who are interested in installing POF will always look for a standard. "That is why you don't see much happening in the home or office," said Polishuk. "It's because it's not written into the standards." Polishuk believes that POF suppliers should invest in a formal trade association to promote their interests and ensure that the standards are written to assist them in penetrating new markets.

"If you look at things like Gigabit transmission, for example, they formed an alliance led by the suppliers to develop the market," Polishuk commented. "And they put a great deal of money behind it."

"There is a lot of truth in that," agreed James Walker, vice-president of R&D at Nanoptics, a US firm that manufactures custom-made POF. "In fact, the POFTO [POF trade organization, US] group has recently been created to address this."

Japan already has a POF consortium in which more than 60 companies, universities and research institutes are working together. "What we need is at least one more corresponding consortium in Europe or, if we could join all of these efforts together, a worldwide consortium," said Hans Poisel, director of Germany-based POF application centre POFAC. But a lack of standardization is not the only issue, according to Poisel. He believes that the associated connector technology and electro-optical interfaces are another sticking point. "We need cheap and easy-to-use connectors. You and I should be able to install the POF connectors. It should be a technology for the mass market."

Coupled with the connector hurdle, POF's future in the home market hangs on a unique interface solution, according to Olaf Ziemann, scientific director of POFAC. "At this time we do not have such a solution for digital networks. We have Easynet for computers, special company interfaces for audio equipment and so on," he said. "We see the future in the IEEE 1394 interface."

The IEEE 1394 promises to be the first interface that can be used for all home applications - computer, audio, video, and data communications such as telephone and the Internet. If all digital end-customer devices use the same interface, the potential growth of the home-network market is enormous. "I see a big portion for POF in this market," predicted Ziemann.

Nanoptics also thinks there is potential in the home market. Communications media such as wireless and copper are suitable for up to 10 Mbit/s, and wire might stretch up to 100 Mbit/s. Above this, however, competing transmission media will be unable to compete with POF in terms of speed or cost, says Walker. "In fact, the standards have already been written for 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 Mbit/s," he pointed out.

So what about other markets? "There is only a good business opportunity for POF in the low-speed communications market in situations where there is very high electromagnetic noise," Walker asserted. "POF is already in the industrial and automobile markets, which are both noisy environments. It's an ideal communications medium under these circumstances."

Industrial control is a good niche for POF, and is being addressed successfully, says Walker. The electrical interference caused by motors on production lines creates havoc for wireless and wire communications. The advantage of POF is that the data isn't contaminated by electrical pick up.

"There will definitely be a worldwide market for low-cost POF in the industrial sector for 100 Mbit/s Ethernet," said Walker. "It's a new phenomenon and people in Europe and the US are eyeing that market and trying to see how best to exploit it."

Medical electronics, on the other hand, isn't a particularly fruitful sector. Medical equipment, such as hand-held and portable instruments, is largely being serviced by wireless using Bluetooth standards. "The reason is that you need to have mobility for the point-of-care," explained Walker. "So I don't think it's a good POF application."

A key ingredient still missing from the mix, according to Poisel, is POF fabrication and development in Europe. Indeed, Japan holds a 90% share in the market. "We still have to rely on the optical fibres that are produced in Japan and we depend on the progress they are making," he said.