The Virginia Tech LMDS (local multipoint distribution service) network delivers wireless two-way, high-speed, data, voice and video traffic from a hub site on the Virginia Tech campus to three off campus buildings. (Shown: Slusher Tower 1.5 miles in distance and antenna on the roof of the Virginia Tech Natural History Museum in the foreground.) The transition to LMDS was effortless and transparent to the users who now enjoy far greater bandwidth and speed. The deployment proves how wireless transport can eliminate the bottleneck between existing broadband networks and local end users.

The results of the trial and a live demonstration of the service were presented at a press conference held at the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History just off the Virginia Tech campus. The press conference was held by Congressman Rick Boucher, a key advocate for the development of Internet infrastructure nationally and in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and included comments from Erv Blythe, vice president of information systems at Virginia Tech, and Steven Warwick, vice president of product strategy at Wavtrace, the technology supplier.

Using the Wavtrace equipment, Virginia Tech officials demonstrated the capabilities of the new technology through the simultaneous wireless delivery of voice, data, and video services. These services include analog voice from the campus PBX, and IP voice, Internet, and videoconferencing from the campus Ethernet.

The successful deployment of the LMDS network is the result of Virginia Tech’s early recognition that new LMDS technology would provide broadband access to more locations, including rural locations, for tremendous economic benefit. The university’s Center for Wireless Telecommunications, headed by Charles Bostian, spearheaded the university’s involvement in LMDS research. The center has been engaged in microwave and millimeter wave research for over 25 years.

"LMDS technology is a great equalizer," commented Erv Blythe, vice president of information systems at Virginia Tech. "It provides a single broadband pipe for voice, data, and video in areas where wireline and fiber solutions may not be economically feasible, and we are committed to making sure more communities have access to its benefits."

Virginia Tech plans to share its experiences to help other rural Virginia communities implement this new technology to provide high-bandwidth services for the support of advanced applications such as distance learning, telemedicine, and videoconferencing. The university and the Center for Wireless Telecommunications formed an LMDS Research Consortium to provide research to accelerate this developing industry.

Someday homes will have antennas like this one to receive wirelss Internet and multimedia services, says finance professor George Morgan, who directs the Virginia TechÕs Space and Wireless Business Center (SAWBUC), which coordinated the universityÕs bidding in the FCC auction. SAWBUC is helping to form business prototypes to demonstrate the viability of this spectrum.

"The advanced wireless network for internet access that is in place in Blacksburg has the potential to resolve many of the technology and cost issues related to bringing high-speed, multi-media telecommunications services "the last mile" into homes and businesses, making the services truly affordable to many for the first time," said Congressman Boucher.

"The work now being performed here [in Blacksburg] brings closer the day when even the most remote farmhouse will be able to have a low cost Internet connection capable of carrying hundreds of channels of television programs, telephone service, text and graphics, all operating at the same time. That is the bold promise LMDS holds for our region," added the Ninth District Congressman.

The transmission equipment presently used at Virginia Tech is supplied by Wavtrace. It is the first LMDS system in the world based on time division duplexing (TDD) technology. TDD allows transmit and receive functions to occur on one channel, a process more efficient than what is possible with the traditional airlink technology, which requires two channels, one for transmit and one for receive. The benefits of a TDD-based LMDS system include more efficient use of bandwidth and higher throughput, as well as a more simplified radio architecture, which translates into a less complex and easier installation.

 "Our partnership with Virginia Tech is a perfect example of how a university/private sector collaboration can advance the rollout of new technology into the marketplace" said Thomas T. van Overbeek, CEO of Wavtrace. "The system was put through a process of rigorous testing by a world-class engineering school, a process of tremendous value in ensuring the system’s commercial viability."

LMDS technology is designed to distribute bandwidth to users at multiple remote sites from a single hub site. At Virginia Tech, two sectors and three remotes are operational with the equipment initially providing 7 DS1s per sector (about 11 megabits per second). In the two-remote sector, three DS1s have been provisioned to each remote building site over a 10BaseT interface. As the Virginia Tech installation demonstrates, LMDS technology allows for networks to build out incrementally. Service can begin with one hub and one remote, and then as demand warrants, more remotes can be added that will share the sector capacity.

With this early LMDS rollout, Virginia Tech continues to expand its already extensive communications and advanced Internet research and development initiatives such as the Blacksburg Electronic Village, Net.Work.Virginia (a statewide ATM network and nationally recognized protype for the next generation Internet), and MAX, the Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (the first Washington, D.C., area aggregation point for advanced information services.)

In early 1998, Virginia Tech became the first university in the nation to participate in a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) spectrum auction and was awarded four LMDS licenses covering 16,507 square miles of Virginia, and portions of North Carolina and Tennessee. The region has an estimated population of 1.6 million.

Founded in 1996, Wavtrace unveiled its first product early this year and currently has systems operating at Virginia Tech, at Formus Communications in Denver, and at its corporate headquarters in Bellevue, Washington.