2010 Update on Photonics for Optical Communications - Photonics is the Key to Broadband Access

Background
Early use of the Internet depended on “dial-up access” using telephone lines, which was limited to a bit rate less than 56 kbit/second. This allowed computers to “talk to each other” and exchange and access text information. But shortly, computers were developed that could process information faster; higher-speed transmission lines were needed.

In the 1990’s broadband Internet access, using co-ax cable and twisted pair wires, expanded the bit rate up to 256 kbit/second, and served the business community well by speeding up transmission times and enabling higher data rates and larger data files, like pictures and video transmission.

To expand the use of the Internet to more users, and to allow rapid transmission over longer (intercontinental) distances, fiber optics cabling has been installed for transoceanic Internet cables, across large land distances and in urban areas where business use is very dense. The use of fiber optics means that we are transmitting information over optical (laser diode) beams where the carrier frequencies are many orders of magnitude greater than the radio frequencies sent over copper wire. Over the last decade, the use of laser transmitters, optical receivers and fiber optics transmission cables ushered in photonics technology to enhance Internet and telecommunications services.

Cell phones required wireless transmission over radio and microwave frequencies. Their wide-spread use required transmission towers positioned every 10-50 miles apart throughout the land; the cell phone towers “talked to each other” around the world by connecting through synchronous, orbiting satellites. Computers also began communicating “wirelessly” by tying into the communication towers and satellites.

Digital Communications has become more complex and more crowded: We’re outgrowing our infrastructure
Smart phones (such as iPhones and BlackBerries) combine cell phones with computer access to the Internet, requiring broadband access. Today, according to the International Telecommunications Union, 60 out of every 100 people in the world own and/or are using cell phones and smart phones; and more than 85 percent of the world’s online population has used the Internet to make a purchase.

Over the last 3 years, the surge of computer and smart phone use for social networking (e.g. Facebook and Twitter), as well as video streaming and video conferencing, has placed an enormous demand on broadband access that can only be met by greatly increasing the bit rates to 1-10 megabit/second. This can be accomplished by changing our entire digital infrastructure for distance transmission as well as local area networks (LANs).

Note: Distance transmission provides Internet service to a building or communication tower, and LANs distributes the Internet service to users within the facility. In a home or small office LANs are relatively simple, but still must be fast. In large corporations, college/universities, and Internet businesses, such as Google, LANs support the use of huge megaservers.

Photonics technologies will provide the tools and techniques to reconfigure our digital infrastructure
Fiber optics networks, carrying optical signals generated by laser diodes, are the technology tools that will allow us to reconfigure the digital network. In 2009, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defined "Basic Broadband" as data transmission speeds exceeding 768 kilobits per second (Kbps), in at least one direction: downstream (from the Internet to the user’s computer) or upstream (from the user’s computer to the Internet). The trend is to raise the threshold of the broadband definition as the marketplace rolls out faster services. Broadband penetration is now treated as a key economic indicator.

As the bandwidth delivered to end users increases, the market expects that video on-demand services streamed over the Internet will become more popular, though at the present time such services generally require specialized networks. The data rates on most broadband services still do not suffice to provide good quality video, as MPEG-2 video requires about 6 Mbit/s for good results. Adequate video for some purposes becomes possible at lower data rates, with rates of 768 kbit/s and 384 kbit/s used for some video conferencing applications, and rates as low as 100 kbit/s used for videophones using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. The MPEG-4 format delivers high-quality video at 2 Mbit/s, at the low end of cable modem performance.

Technology applications change the landscape
Because of falling costs to acquire the equipment, businesses may have dozens or even hundreds of video cameras on their premises, carrying video on the LAN. The combination of lower prices and technology advancements enhances security and enables fewer people to keep track of assets that may be scattered far and wide.

Telepresence, the latest generation of video conferencing that uses large flat screens and high-definition video to replicate face-to-face meetings, is gaining traction.

As these trends grow, new bandwidth-hungry applications appear. Enterprise bandwidth demand escalates month after month and requires upgrades in electronic apparatus and larger copper cables. Information technology (IT) managers scratch their heads wondering how to accommodate these requirements. It won’t be done with copper. We need massive shifts to fiber delivery systems, using laser diode transmitters and other photonics components, especially in outlying rural areas.

Verizon Conducts World's First 10 Gigabit-per-Second Fiber-to-the-Premises Field Test Waltham, Mass. – December 16, 2009
Last month, Verizon became the first telecommunications company in the world to successfully field-test a passive optical network system known as XG-PON that can transmit data at 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) downstream and 2.4 Gbps upstream, four times as fast as the current top transmission speeds supporting the company's all-fiber FiOS network. Additional demonstrations of this nature are expected by Verizon and other companies in early 2010.

Photonics is the key to the future in broadband access
A few weeks ago, the Federal government announced that it will hand out the first $182 million of a $7.2 billion pot of stimulus money that will go toward building high-speed Internet networks and encouraging more Americans to use them.

The money is being targeted for "last-mile" connections that link homes, businesses and other end users to the Internet; "middle-mile" connections that link communities to the Internet backbone; computing centers in libraries, colleges and other public facilities; and adoption programs that teach people how to use the Internet and encourage them to sign up for broadband services. By March 2010, additional stimulus funds will be released to build our country’s broadband access.

The need is evident, the technology has been proven and stimulus funds are being applied. It is quite possible - even likely - that 2010 will be the year of massive development for broadband infrastructure. And photonics components will pave the way.

What’s your perspective on this? Am I too optimistic? Have I understated the case? Will U.S. photonics suppliers be the main beneficiaries in this market? Are we ready? Will we need even more photonics techs? How about retraining needs?

Leave your comments here or contact me by e-mail!

Precision Optics Technicians: A Critical Need for Our Country

Precision Optics Technicians (POTs) create, test and handle optical (infrared, visible and ultraviolet) components that are used in lasers and sophisticated electro-optical systems for defense, homeland security, aerospace, biomedical equipment, digital displays, controlled thermonuclear fusion and nanotechnology. POT’s also integrate precision optical components into these electro-optical systems and maintain them.

There is a perceived shortage of POT’s that could require our country to outsource this work to foreign nations - a situation that would compromise our nation’s security and sacrifice a vital sector of future economic development.

Several factors have contributed to this shortage. Many experienced POT’s have retired, and more are expected to retire in the near future. The two community colleges that have offered education/training in precision optics have discontinued the programs due to faculty retirements and poor support. One of these colleges has committed to update and reinstate its POT program.

Under a supplemental grant from NSF, OP-TEC and the Photonics Industry Clusters are conducting studies and preparing to support the development of additional POT programs at community colleges.

• In January, 2009, OP-TEC will complete the National Skill Standards for POT’s - the employer’s specifications for new technicians in precision optics (and the basis for a new curriculum design.)


• OP-TEC is designing the new curriculum model for preparing POT’s.


• The Rochester Photonics Cluster is preparing a design and an equipment list for college labs to train POT’s.


• OP-TEC, through the University of North Texas, is conducting an employer needs assessment to determine the number of POT jobs that will need to be filled over the next five years.


• OP-TEC will host a meeting in Waco TX, February 19, 2009, for regional teams of colleges and employers that have an interest in initiating education and training for POT’s.

Hopefully, several teams will be identified and committed to begin planning POT education/training programs. OP-TEC will then move forward to secure funding to support them through their start-up process. We will also search for support to equip the laboratories.

We will be building a network of employers and educators for POT education/training. Are you interested in participating? Please contact Christine Dossey cdossey@cord.org at the OP-TEC office.

Math in Photonics Education: It all adds up.

Recently I’ve been talking about increasing the enrollment in photonics technology courses and programs. Last week we looked at successful strategies for “building the high school pipeline.” But once we’ve enrolled the students, how do we keep them? As I’ve looked at enrollment in photonics programs, I have frequently seen that the number of second-year students is less than half the number of first-year students. This indicates an attrition rate that is much too high.

Faculty at colleges tell me that most of their students love to work with lasers and optics - they’re not dropping out from lack of interest; they’re dropping out because they are struggling with the math.

A few years ago, Gary Beasley, lead instructor in lasers and photonics technology at Central Carolina Community College (CCCC), was losing over 60% of his students in the first semester - mostly because of the math. So, together we began working on that problem.

OP-TEC staff examined the math topics that were required in the first two photonics courses. We found the following eleven topics:

• Scientific notation
• Unit conversion
• Introductory algebra
• Powers and roots
• Ratio and proportion
• Exponents and logarithms
• Graphing in rectangular coordinates
• Geometry
• Angle measure in two and three dimensions
• Trigonometry
• Special graphs

Then we developed a math supplement titled Mathematics for Photonics Education. In it we included a chapter for each of the eleven topics. Each chapter has a 2–3 page review of the math concept, followed by several pages of example calculations for problems that students typically encounter in photonics courses. The remainder of the chapter consists of exercises for student practice. We also prepared a diagnostic test that Gary (or any photonics professor) could administer to students who were beginning their first courses. The book is not a math text - it is a supplement that every new photonics student can own and keep for reference throughout the duration of his or her work at the college.

The next time Gary taught the first photonics course, every student had a copy of this math supplement - and they all took the diagnostic test. Before he began to teach a new topic, Gary would advise the students that to be successful, they would need to be proficient in a particular math concept. He would then make an assignment from one of the chapters in the supplement. He also identified (from the diagnostic test) the students who were weak on that particular topic. Those students were given a short tutorial in Gary’s office. This “just in time” delivery of math concepts reduced the dropout rate in Gary’s classes from 60% to almost 0%. (One student had to leave for personal reasons.) Gary now uses the math supplement on a regular basis, as do many other instructors. Most are careful not to call it a “math text” or to teach a math course from it; the college math department would probably not be happy with this.

So what have we learned from this? We know that, although most photonics students are capable, many are not as strong as they should be in mathematics. But if we address that problem, we can help a lot of students become successful photonics technicians, we can keep enrollments high, and photonics employers will benefit from having access to a steady supply of well-prepared employees.

In the dual credit high school photonics course that we are currently pilot-testing, we have embedded the supplemental math units in the course to help refresh the skills of the high school students in using these concepts and also to provide a photonics context for how they are applied in the workplace.

The “High School Pipeline” - Building Enrollment in College Programs

Like most technician programs at public, two-year colleges, photonics technologies are suffering from low enrollments. And many of the students that enroll in photonics programs have to drop out in the first year because they struggle with the math.

The graduates of these programs are all getting multiple job offers and very good salaries - but we don’t have enough grads because we don’t have enough well-prepared students. To solve this problem, we have to “get to the source” of most of our students - the high school graduates.

Most of the students who enroll - and are successful - in photonics technology were recent high school graduates who were in the middle 60% of the achievers. They are capable students that are frequently underperforming, for several reasons:

• Most of them are “hands-on” learners (or contextual learners.) They usually do not achieve high grades in science and math classes when the coursework is taught in the typical, abstract mode. They ask questions like, “Why do I have to learn this?”


• Many of them are not very interested in school because they couldn’t understand how what they were being asked to learn would ever be useful to them. They may not have “physically” dropped out of school, but they dropped out, “mentally”.


• They lack confidence as a student; they don’t think they are “college material.”

Colleges are learning that they can recruit these students in exciting STEM technologies like photonics, and they can help high schools to get them prepared, if they intervene when the students are in the early years of high school. The secret is to engage them in STEM “Career Pathways” that begin in the 9th or 10th grade and continue into college.

How can colleges help? Here are some strategies that have proven successful by some of OP-TEC’s Partner Colleges that teach photonics:

1. Engage a young recruiter (someone in their 20’s) to frequently visit the high school campuses and talk to the students about photonics - but don’t call it photonics; call it “Lasers”. The recruiters don’t have to be old engineers or technology experts; some of the best recruiters have marketing backgrounds. You can teach them all they need to know about the field in a short time. Some of them are young mothers who want to work part time. Our colleges have all found that the “return on investment” is quite high.


2. Work with local high schools to offer “Dual Credit” courses in photonics (or lasers) to high school juniors and seniors. Usually these courses are offered as technology courses, not science courses. OP-TEC is pilot testing an introductory photonics course for dual credit (secondary/post secondary). It is being delivered as a hybrid, online course. For one period each day, the students go to a computer lab in the high school and take the online portion of the course. There is a math/science or technology teacher also available in the lab to assist in the math and problem-solving aspects. Every two weeks, the students travel to the college and spend an afternoon in the laser labs. When they complete the course, the students receive high school credit for a technology course - and college credit for a course that counts towards an associate degree in photonics.

So why are these two strategies helping to build college enrollments? First, the recruitment strategy helps them discover a rewarding career field that’s interesting; and shows them an educational pathway that will allow them to begin the process early in high school. Second, the dual credit course allows them to start taking courses that they may use in their career, and it gives them some college credits while they are still in high school - that’s worth some $$.

But it does several other things as well. It assures that their math skills are developed to a level that they can be successful in college. It also places them in the environment of a college campus, and helps them understand that they can do college work. That’s a huge confidence builder for many “middle 60%” students. And, these students are our future technicians.

In the next few weeks I plan to talk about another long-term strategy for recruiting high school graduates. This strategy includes the use of “summer workshops” for both high school teachers and students. This strategy also works well, but takes time.

What other strategies are you using to build up your enrollment? Do you want more information about OP-TEC’s initiatives with student recruiters or dual enrollment courses? Contact us or share your feedback here!

Rebuilding the Electronics Core Curriculum with High-Tech Specialties like Photonics

Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) programs in most colleges are seeing declines in their enrollments, causing many programs to close. One reason for this decline is that students perceive electronics as a dead-end career path that does not have the high-tech appeal of other emerging technical fields. These closures are having a serious ripple effect that could negatively impact other two-year college technical programs.

In the last several years, three OP-TEC Partner Colleges (Indian River State College, Central Carolina CC and Indian Hills CC) have redesigned their electronics core to incorporate photonics and other high-visibility, emerging technologies such as robotics, biomedical equipment, homeland security and telecommunications. Because of these changes, along with focused, aggressive high school recruiting strategies, these colleges have all experienced significant growth in enrollment. One of the colleges has moved from a low enrollment that placed the program at risk, to enrollments that are exceeding their capacities.

A paper has recently been prepared that describes the process, the curriculum models at the three OP-TEC Partner Colleges and the results. A complimentary copy of this paper is available by e-mail or by download from our website. I encourage you to review this paper and post any comments or questions.

Click here to request a copy of the paper by e-mail!

Click here to view, save and/or print a copy of the paper (PDF file) on the OP-TEC website!

To access this paper from the main OP-TEC website page, http://www.op-tec.org/, simply click on the "Curriculum Materials" link and then select the paper title, Revitalizing Electronics Engineering Technology Programs Through a Core Curriculcum Structure and Emerging Technologies, from the "OP-TEC Photonics Program Planning Materials" list.

Lasers, Optics or Photonics: What should we call it?

It’s amazing (and at times, perplexing) how we can form strong feelings about things that are somewhat subjective. A good example is the title we give to technical education programs that deal with optics, electro-optics and lasers. At OP-TEC, we choose to call them “photonics”. But is there a clear distinction in these names, and should we choose one title or another, depending on the course content or students that we are teaching?

• Optics is a branch of physical science that emerged over a hundred years ago to support astronomy and the studies of color. It deals primarily with light sources and the manipulation of light rays (or beams) by lenses, prisms and mirrors. It helps us understand instruments like telescopes, microscopes and spectrometers.
• Electro-optics emerged slightly before the middle of the last century. It deals with the interaction between electronics and optical radiation. Its early applications were with light sensors that converted light to electrical signals. Later, it also dealt with devices that convert electrical power to light.
• The development of quantum optics led to the discovery of the laser in 1960. Over the next 20 years, developments in lasers, fiber-optics and light-emitting diodes led us to the term photonics. The name photonics really took hold in the 1980s as laser & fiber-optics applications expanded widely in telecommunications.
• In a very precise way, the term photonics connotes:
  - the particle properties of light,
  - the potential of creating signal processing technologies using photons, and
  - an optical analogy to electronics.

But in recent years (since the turn of the century), photonics has become the high tech term that encompasses optics, electro-optics, fiber-optics, lasers and solid-state lighting. Thus, it is our practice to use the term photonics to refer to all technical education programs that incorporate these fields. There are two exceptions:

• The fabrication, testing and handling of precision optics is referred to as precision optics technology.
• High school technology courses that are designed to provide the fundamentals of photonics should be referred to as Lasers Systems, in order to have the high tech aura that will attract young people to study this field. If photonics is added as a topic in physics or another lab science course, the topic should be named photonics.

How do you feel about this? What is your experience? Please write a response to this controversial topic.

What’s our capacity for producing photonics techs? What's the need?

This past summer, we attempted to locate all of the two-year colleges that offered education and training on photonics, lasers and/or optics. We examined compilations from a variety of sources, scanned the Internet and asked other colleges. We identified 28 colleges and attempted to contact them. The 26 colleges we reached are:

Camden County College, Central NM CC, Central Carolina CC, Heald College, Idaho State Univ (2 yr) Indian Hills CC, Indian River SC, Indiana Univ/Penn (2yr), Irvine Valley/CACT, Kauai CC, Linn St CC, Maui CC, Monroe CC, Queensborough CC, Pima CC, San Jose CC, Springfield TCC, Stevens Inst of Tech, Three Rivers CC, Univ No Cal (2 yr), Valencia CC, Vincennes Univ (2 yr), Texas State TC, Tri-County TC, Wallace CC, Wash St Univ (2 yr)

Twenty-four of these colleges provided us information on current enrollment and recent completers. Some of the colleges offered complete AAS programs in Laser/Electro-Optics or Photonics; others offered some photonics courses in their electronics core, or as elective courses in other technical specialties; and others offered courses for retraining or upgrading. In total, the 24 colleges had about 700 students enrolled and estimated about 280 completers each year. This is not enough! In 2003, we conducted a needs assessment of employers to determine how many new photonics techs they needed each year. The projected need through 2008 is about 1800 new techs/year. Only 280 new techs available when 1800 are needed is quite a gap! One of OP-TEC’s main goals is to close that gap.

Here’s how we are working on this goal:

• About 1/3 of the techs (500-600 teach year) are needed in R&D, for OEMs or in field service - they require a full AAS in laser/electro-optics or photonics.
• About 2/3 of the techs (1000-1200) are needed to operate and maintain photonics equipment that is being used in another field where photonics is an enabling technology.
• About 1/3 of the techs are already working and need retraining in photonics.

OP-TEC has a developed a plan and curriculum for colleges to serve each of these populations. We will also conduct a new needs assessment later this year to update the data from the 2003 study. It’s possible that our information about colleges that offer photonics education and training is incomplete. If your college has offerings, and you are not in the list shown above, please contact us so that we can add your data to our records.