Alternate High Speed Network Access for the Last Mile

Existing copper wire infrastructure no longer provides the required bandwidth for today's bandwidth-intense internet applications. Homes and businesses in the last mile require the same access speeds offer by fiber optic cables. It is however, economically infeasible to bring fiber optic cable to each and every house and business in the last mile. Free Space Optics and IEEE 802.11 are two technologies that offer high -speed capability and are potential last mile network access option. Free Space Optics uses lasers and IEEE 802.11 uses radio waves to send large amounts of data from one place to another. Both are wireless and uses license-free frequency band for transmission. Both are quickly deployable, easily scalable and cheaper to install and upgrade compared to wired infrastructures. These characteristics support applications that require high bandwidth and high degree of mobility, which are common in the military and civil networks. This thesis addresses the last mile problem and the current available access technologies which are unable to provide a high speed solution. Free Space Optics and IEEE 802.11 wireless technologies are explored and applied to a fictitious city for an economic analysis as possible high-speed network access method.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Alternate High Speed Network Access for the Last Mile', published 2002 under ISBN 9781423506249 and ISBN 1423506243.