Powerbeat pins hopes on light

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

Research and development company Powerbeat International believes it has found a way to deliver abundant and cheap bandwidth to "the last mile" by harnessing the power of light.

Managing director Peter Witehira says the Hamilton company's Megamantis optical data transmission system, which works by modulating a beam of visible light to carry a digital or analogue signal, will provide up to 160 Mbps of bandwidth at a fraction of the cost of existing wireless links.

"Megamantis could provide small businesses and households with sufficient bandwidth to watch live uncompressed video," he says.

But though Powerbeat has a track record of innovative concepts, so far the company has little success in moving those concepts out of the laboratory and into the real world.

Last year the company posted an operating loss of $1.8 million. This took its balance sheet deficit over the $12 million mark, largely accumulated by the failure of a "never-go-flat" battery.

But Mr Witehira says the company is no longer directly involved in commercialisation.

"We simply turn ideas into working models or prototypes for other companies to develop. We have a tool shop that enables us to work with wood, plastic and metal and nine electronic engineers and software engineers."

Powerbeat usually forms separate companies to act as investment vehicles for promising ideas, he says. An example is the Deep Video "virtual" 3D monitor that Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall and IT Capital have invested in, diluting Powerbeat's stake in the venture to just 7 per cent.

Mr Witehira says blue/violet light around the 460-nanometre wavelength is a cheaper and safer medium than laser light for data transmission purposes.

"With lasers the spot is too highly concentrated and you have to be careful about accidental eye burn.

"You also might have to make some complex adjustments when you install lasers - the link can be broken when a building expands and contracts due to changing temperatures during the day.

"A Megamantis beam is 2m to 3m wide so there is a better margin of error."

Powerbeat has tested Megamantis over distances of 2km but Mr Witehira thinks that with further development, transmission distances of up to 4km will be possible.

"At these wavelengths the signal is not susceptible to rain fade, but it is susceptible to whiteout caused by falling snow and intense fog."

A point-to-point Megamantis link was used to relay outside broadcast coverage of the Australian Bathurst motor race from the top of Mt Panorama to a base station 2.2km away.

However, Mr Witehira believes point-to-multipoint transmission systems could prove to be a bigger market.

Powerbeat is experimenting with modulating high-pressure sodium lightbulbs to enable data to be broadcast directly to homes using street lighting.

"As far as we know it's never been done for communications purposes before.

"In built-up areas every home is within 100m to 150m of a streetlight, and the signal could be daisy-chained from one streetlamp to another and on to receivers mounted on homes."