SBIR Phase I: An Economic Optical Fiber Solution to the Last Mile Problem

SBIR 第一阶段：解决最后一英里问题的经济光纤解决方案

• 批准号: 1819964
• 负责人: Phillip Turner
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: TRAXyL, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-06-15 至 2019-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1819964&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Economic; Optical; Fiber

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to provide the capability to affordably and reliably connect underserved or unserved Americans to high speed internet using surface-mounted optical fiber, whether they live in a suburban neighborhood or in a remote rural area. The lack of high speed internet access is largely due to an inability to economically distribute broadband communications over the 'last mile' to businesses, homes, schools, and medical or government entities. An understanding of the installed durability of fiber using this technique will usher in new developments to deploy surface-mounted fiber nationwide. More accessible high-speed internet provides more information, opportunity, and economic productivity regardless of the locale. The digital divide between urban and rural Americans could be reduced or eliminated. Lower cost fiber deployments will make it easier to deploy new technologies, like 5G antennas and connected vehicles, and will shrink the cost to make cities smarter with ubiquitous sensors and cameras.The proposed project will demonstrate that optical fibers under protective coatings bonded to paved surfaces can provide reliable high speed communications while subjected to weather and traffic. It will allow estimation of the predicted life time of surface mounted fiber on pavement. The testing will place asphalt samples in an environmental test chamber to evaluate competing fiberoptic installations and to identify the best performers for a series of follow-on field and lab tests. This will allow the future targeting of financial resources on the most promising material and profile combinations. Test samples will undergo wide ranging temperature and humidity cycles and repetitive tire impacts under controlled conditions. This testing will identify statistical life predictions in years after only a few months of actual test time. The longer the predicted life, the larger the customer pool, and the wider the potential market penetration. Understanding the predicted lifetime of a fiber installation will open the door to more early adopters, to more pilot program users, and eventually to fiberoptic installers and long term customers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该小企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是提供一种能力，使服务不足或未获得服务的美国人能够使用表面安装光纤以经济实惠且可靠的方式将其连接到高速互联网，无论他们居住在郊区还是偏远农村地区。缺乏高速互联网接入主要是由于无法经济地在“最后一英里”向企业、家庭、学校以及医疗或政府实体分配宽带通信。了解使用该技术的光纤的安装耐用性将为在全国范围内部署表面安装光纤带来新的发展。无论身处何地，更便捷的高速互联网都可以提供更多信息、机会和经济生产力。美国城乡之间的数字鸿沟可以缩小或消除。成本更低的光纤部署将使5G天线和联网车辆等新技术的部署变得更加容易，并将通过无处不在的传感器和摄像头降低成本，使城市变得更加智能。拟议的项目将证明，在铺设表面的保护涂层下的光纤可以在受到天气和交通影响的情况下提供可靠的高速通信。它将允许估计路面表面安装光纤的预计使用寿命。测试将把沥青样品放入环境测试室中，以评估竞争性光纤安装，并为一系列后续现场和实验室测试确定最佳表现。这将使未来能够将财务资源集中在最有前途的材料和型材组合上。测试样品将在受控条件下经历广泛的温度和湿度循环以及重复的轮胎冲击。该测试将在仅几个月的实际测试时间后确定数年的统计寿命预测。预计寿命越长，客户群就越大，潜在市场渗透率就越大。了解光纤安装的预测寿命将为更多早期采用者、更多试点计划用户以及最终光纤安装人员和长期客户打开大门。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。