IP based mobile Green broadband,  What is it and why we need it? 

Wireless telecommunications create electromagnetic pollution through radiation. Moreover generating this radiation create large amounts of CO2. Yet, there are ways to preserve voice and data services, when using wireless telecommunication, and at the same time drastically reduce these pollutions.

Freedom of communication from anywhere and the ability of being reached and available anytime through a private and personal device are probably the strongest drivers for this success.

No doubts then that the future of telecommunication will be mobile and personal. 

On the other hand social networks are changing the way we communicate. it is no more one to one but one to many. With packet based networks using IP (Internet Protocol) becoming a commodity, user friendly software allowing such communications ( MSN, Skype, etc) are adopted by all generations and more specifically younger ones.

Mixing voice and data through the use of packet based communications is now the standard. Yet voice is only another application using packet based transport, and VoIP (voice over IP) has become a commodity.  

Future generation of telecommunication will marry mobility VoIP and broadband IP access. Future services combining multi user telecommunication through mobile broadband all IP access will use such networks in order to interconnect users. 

The issue is that mobility "and" broadband means intensive use of electromagnetic waves. Indeed transporting through the air the tremendous amount of data that need to be exchanged is a real challenge.  

Today’s voice based communication needs little amount of bandwidth, thus limiting the necessary power emitted by base station antennas or receiving devices. With the increase in the bandwidth and amount of data transported, the level of radiation will increase. Even if the real impact, in term of public health, of such radiation is a subject of discussion among experts, it seems obvious that the level of radiation can only raise in the coming decade. 

Another important matter is the production of CO2 per transported bit of data when using microwaves. Preserving the environment for future generations is another challenge for the coming years. Talking about global warming, we consider CO2 generated by cars, industries, and even for food!! Yet nobody talks about amount of CO2 generated for a minute of mobile communication, or per kilobit of transported data using wireless access. 

We estimate at 5g the amount of CO2 used for a minute of mobile communication. For France only, this is equivalent to almost half a million tons of CO2 per year!! And extrapolated worldwide, this goes up to 120 millions of tons of CO2 per year worldwide!! And this is only the beginning. 

We have to start to think about this problem, and find ways of reducing electromagnetic pollution and CO2 emission, while preserving these telecommunication services that we need so much. 

We, at XG stream have been doing this for the past ten years; long term solutions are the only possible way we can build the future. Even if most equipment manufacturer and operators seems not to take these issues into account, XG stream has built ways that can lead to practical solutions for this Gordian knot.

As we show in our white papers section, it is possible to reduce radiation and CO2 emission while preserving the service quality, thus building the future broadband Wireless all IP commodity for generations to come.

These are the building blocks of green wireless broadband paradigm. 

Pierre Navidi, November 2008