HISPASAT helps to optimize the communications infrastructures of the home of the future

22 de Abril de 2014

The ICT2020 project, headed by HISPASAT, has come to end. The aim of this initiative was to better integrate and enhance the efficiency of the telecommunications infrastructures of buildings and to adapt them to the demand for larger volumes of information.

The ICT 2020 project, headed by HISPASAT, has successfully finished with a triple demonstration at the Technical University of Madrid. At the final meeting where the project was brought to an end the opportunity was taken to highlight the important and immediate applications of its findings in the home of the future.

The ICT2020 project, which began in 2011, strove to optimize Common Telecommunications Infrastructures (CTI) -whose installation is mandatory in home and office buildings-, with the aim of leveraging existing resources for new technological and telecommunications service developments and improving their use to handle larger volumes of information. Until recently, these infrastructures included ADSL, cable networks and coaxial cables for DTT and satellite TV; now fibre optic technology must also be incorporated and solutions found for broadband demand, driven by new audiovisual formats and ever increasing data traffic, in order to optimize distribution of all telecommunications services in the home.

HISPASAT, in addition to coordinating the project and its demonstrations, also undertook to research the integration into these networks of satellite triple play services (fixed and mobile voice and data services plus TV) with the use of fibre optic technology and the determining factors for its correct reception in the CTI, and to apply high-bandwidth satellite transmission systems to these infrastructures.

The demonstrations at the end of the ICT 2020 project consisted of a distribution of video via satellite and DTT in various formats (SD, HD, UHD, 3D and HbbTV) via the fibre optic of the CTI; a distribution of data via satellite through the fibre optic of the CTI, in which HISPASAT served as a conventional broadband services operator and, finally, a distribution of WiFi services via coaxial cable, which enables WiFi coverage in the building where the installation is taking place to be expanded. Thanks to these three demonstrations, HISPASAT proved the feasibility of distributing high-quality, reliable satellite triple play services via these common infrastructures.

HISPASAT is playing a leading role in various domestic and international initiatives including the ICT 2020 project, aimed at developing new technologies and defining new satellite communication network architectures that provide added value for its customers and help to support new quality services.

The ICT 2020 project is in keeping with the principles of the European Union's “Horizon 2020” framework programme for research and innovation, which seeks to tackle the main societal challenges of the future, to promote industrial leadership in Europe and to strengthen the excellence of its scientific base. It is also part of the Spanish Industry Ministry's Avanza 2 Plan and involves a range of sector companies and bodies including Fenitel, Televés, the Technical University of Madrid and Promax.