Category: Technology

Hongkong: Carrier Ethernet World

2010-12-04 / / 3 Comments

This week I got a request to give another presentation at an international forum. The event was titled Carrier Ethernet World, which is the official conference of the Metro Ethernet Forum. It took place in Hong Kong from 1-3 December 2010.

Carrier Ethernet is a family of network technology, developed for telecommunication operators and Internet providers to transport higher bandwidth traffic. Since the network convergence implemented more than 10 years ago, various information networks (telephony, data communication, media and TV) have switched to IP. At the user level, Ethernet (IEEE 802.3 family of standards) has become general standard for wired communications networks. At the carrier level, it is considered more effective to deploy the networks that are high-speed packet-based; instead of the old TDM systems (such as SDH / SONET and ATM). Some examples include MPLS and CET. And beyond the core network, we should also talk about access network, the Metro Ethernet network.

The conference presents major forerunners in this technology. Its main sponsor are Juniper — which is known as an old player in the field of high-speed packet data transport, Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson. So of course I was not expected to compete with them telling those cutting-edge technology developments.

I delivered my on the afternoon session of the First Day. It was at the stream A, which discusses innovation. My presentation was directed to discuss innovations that will support business development and the technology of Carrier Ethernet, including the regulatory side. Imagine how many layers I should dig.

I started with simple things: introducing the telematics world in Indonesia, the user-centric approach to system architecture, the comparison between the vertical architecture and the horizontal one. Since we are still in migration period, the transition between the architectures has not found the final form. Then I compare several schemes, including the SDP, and how various types of applications (network-domains, IT-domain, Internet 2.0) will be placed in it. With NGN fortified with SDP, the network is expected to be a platform not only to meet the necessity of information infrastructure, but also as the platform for developing technology, application, content, and the business in those fields. These things are aggressively growing in Indonesia. Approach to the regulator, thus, should not start from the classical things like tariffs, and the easily biased desire for liberalization; but instead about common interest to foster the economic development of the digital ecosystem, which includes innovation, production, commercialisation, and lifestyle. It would create the contexts to develop NGN with a more optimal architecture.

After my presentation, I was asked to be involved in a panel session. Here, we discussed widely about the projected necessities of innovations in the next 5 years, related to the opportunities of business development and network expansion. There were quite a lot of interests here about the ideas of Indonesia. I did not feel in vain to come to Hong Kong then :).

This was, however, my premier visit to Hong Kong. But last July I gave another presentation in 4G (Mobile) International Forum in Taipei. Enchanting that I could convey ideas in two major forums in both wired and wireless technology. Weird, wired, and wireless :). Hong Kong greeted me with a comfortable weather for walks. Hilly landscape with a fairly spectacular views, contrasted with the strait, bay, seaside, and skyscrapers. Unluckily, an unending thin fog made it difficult to take landscape photographs.

chiang kai shek memorial hall at night

Taipei: 4G International Forum

2010-07-15 / / 6 Comments

Still related to 4G Mobile Technology, this month I was invited to give a presentation in the 4G International Forum, held at the Sheraton Hotel, Taipei. I found it interesting and challenging: it is a rare opportunity for me to give presentations in the official forums abroad, in a cutting-edge topic that is still a mainstream conversations in the telecommunications technology and business world.

Taiwan does not have visa-free agreement with Indonesia. So first I had to apply for the visa. Luckily, it was not a complicated process. Indeed, there is no Taiwan embassy or consulate here in Jakarta. But there is a Taiwan trade office in Artha Graha Building, where we can apply for Taiwan visa. And there, we’d find very friendly officers serving our visa process. All it requires is a letter of recommendation from the organiser, another one from the office, a document called “Kartu Keluarga” :), two photos, and a fee of about US$ 50.

I had sent my paper at the end of June. Accommodation at the Sheraton Hotel is provided by the event organiser. For transportation, initially I chose Garuda Indonesia (GIA). But presently there is no Garuda flight from Cengkareng to Taoyuan. They offered their partner airlines, though: China Airlines. However, I found their schedule did not quite fit mine. Eventually I bought online tickets at Singapore Airlines (SIA).

I departed early morning on July 11, at 4:00 o’clock from home. SIA flew me at 6:00 (all in local time), and I arrived at 8:30 at Changi. Waited a few hours in a comfortable place, then SIA flew again at 12:00, and arrived at 17:00 at Taoyuan Airport. The Forum would be held 12-13 July 2010.

Monday, July 12, the Forum began. Speakers came from universities and research institutes, developers and manufacturers (Nokia Siemens Networks, Ericsson, Alcatel Lucent, Huawei), consultancy agencies, regulators, operators, etc. I learned a lot about various aspects of 4G Mobile viewed from various sides. Fairly balanced between those discussing LTE and those choosing WiMAX, with various issues of interoperability and applications. Very enriching :). We had almost no time for a break. Coffee time and lunch time were used for networking and other conversations. If I took some time for tweeting, Mr. Tan (the organiser) would introduce me to one of the important figures (he emphasized that) to chat with. Was a real fun :). Oh, I had the time for tweeting while listening to the presentations :).

The organiser did not prepare a program for the evening. So I spent my time to visit three points in Taipei: Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, Taipei 101 Tower, and Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. In Taipei 101, I misled myself to a bookshop (a mandatory mislead, indeed). I bought two editions of Le Petit Prince in Chinese language & letters.

Tuesday, July 13th, the forum continued. The second day was filled with a combination of presentations and panels. My turn was at 09:00 to perform my presentation, in 20 minutes. My presentation is classically titled “4G Mobile: opportunities & challenges in Indonesia” :). I began by telling the current conditions in Indonesia: how the public enthusiastically adopts the digital mobile lifestyle, proven by the rank this country get in term of Twitter, Facebook, and Opera Mini usages. Then the preparations Telkom Group has been taking for deploying 4G Mobile Network (LTE and WiMAX) through its subsidiary and divisions. Then how these issues could be matched with potentials and demands from the community developers, enthusiasts, and lifestylists (no, I did not really use such terms like these) throughout Indonesia. A bit about Indigo, IPTV, and the SDF / SDP. Then I discusses some LTE implementation model for the diverse regions and segments, with different migration models. Then to the regulation of WiMAX.

4G Mobile Opportunities & Challenges in Indonesia

After the presentation, I had to wait another 20 minutes to listen to a presentation about the implementation of 4G, WiMAX in particular, in the Philippines. Then I had to go on stage again to join the panel discussion which took about half an hour. So I finished my tasks.

Done? Apparently not. Mr Tan told me to see a Professor from PRC (I would not write his name here, he could google it). He holds a position of considerable importance, and must be escorted by several people :). A serious discussion about regulations, about the IEEE, of the other conferences, etc. Then again another discussion with an officer from Taiwan ministry. Then I had to say goodbye to Mr Tan to leave earlier. My flight was scheduled at midday, so I could not attend the conference through to completion.

About an hour later with an orange juice at Taoyuan Airport. About seven hours later with a big mug of Chai Latte at Changi Airport. About ten hours later with a cup of Earl Grey at home. The week will be continued with IPTV implementation issues :).


Internetworking Indonesia Vol 2 No 1

2010-06-07 / / 0 Comments

The Internetworking Indonesia Journal (IIJ) is a semi-annual electronic journal devoted to the timely study of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Internet development in Indonesia. It aims to become the foremost publication for practitioners, teachers, researchers and policy makers to share their knowledge and experience in the design, development, implementation, and the management of ICT and the Internet in Indonesia.

Last year two journals has been published. The inaugural issue, published in the spring of 2009, presented papers discussing many aspect of internet infrastructure: wired and wireless network (WiMAX and PLC), middle layers (cryptography), web-based applications, and netizen’s lifestyle. The second issue, published in the autumn of 2009, was focused on Data Mining. This issue was guest-edited by Dr Anto Satriyo Nugroho and M Arif Bijaksana.

This year’s first issue was just published. This is a special issue on Instrumentation, Automation, and Control. And the guest editors are Endra Joelianto and Estiyanti Ekawati. The papers presented in this IIJ Vol. 2 No. 1 are:

  • Construction and Operation of the MARS-CT Scanner, by R. Zainon, A.P.H. Butler, N. J. Cook, J. S. Butzer, N. Schleich, N. de Ruiter, L. Tlustos, M. J. Clark, R. Heinz & P.H. Butler (PDF)
  • Analysis Throughput Multi-code Multicarrier CDMA S-ALOHA, by Hoga Saragih (PDF)
  • Inteligent Learning Objects (LOs) Through Web Services Architecture, by Ahmad Luthfi (PDF)
  • Industrial Control Quality Improvement using Statistical Process Control: Tennessee Eastman Process Simulation Case, by Endra Joelianto & Linda Kadarusman (PDF)
  • FPGA Simulation of AD Converter by using Giga Hertz Speed Data Acquisition for Partial Discharge Detection, by Emilliano, Chandan Kumar Chakrabarty, Ahmad Basri, Agileswari K. Ramasamy & Lee Chia Ping (PDF)

The IIJ provides open access to all of its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. This follows the philosophy of the Open Journal Systems. The journals are published electronically and there are no subscription fees. Such access is associated with increased readership and increased citation of an author’s work.

The next edition of IIJ will be published in the autumn of 2010. It will be a special issue on IP Networking and Services. The guest editors are Dr. Bernardi Pranggono (Dept of Electronics & Electrical Engineering, The University of Leeds, UK) and Dr. Setiadi Yazid (Computer Science Department, University of Indonesia (UI), Indonesia). For more information, please visit internetworkingindonesia.org.

Memristor

2010-04-14 / / 0 Comments

Memristor is too significant not to discuss. But, wow, this is my last day in the office before my leave. So, here’s a Spectrum article discussing the matter :).

The memristor is as fundamental an electronic component as the resistor, the inductor, and the capacitor. Still, it hasn’t even been two years since a group of researchers at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, in Palo Alto, Calif., reported that they were the first group to produce such a component—which means there’s a lot more to learn. But in research reported last week in Nature, R. Stanley Williams and his collaborators at HP provided a glimpse into what they’ve learned so far.

The component’s use in computer memory was a foregone conclusion. The memristor can reversibly change its resistance depending on how much current flows through it. The researchers’ surprising new discovery is that a memristor can handle either data storage or logical computation depending on the amount and duration of the current sent through it. Three memristors can complete a NAND operation, the researchers report, so any Boolean function can be implemented if you string enough of the devices together.

But Williams is quick to note that using memristors as pale imitators of the logic gates common to silicon circuitry is probably not the smartest thing to do. ”Silicon naturally wants to implement the NAND function,” says the HP Senior Fellow. A memristor, on the other hand, wants to perform something called the material implication, or IMP, function, says Williams. Logically, IMP can be thought of as pimplies q, or if p then q. The reason IMP is such a natural for the memristor, according to the HP researchers, is that IMP is easy to implement with a device in which resistance—rather than voltage or charge—is the variable physical state.

One of the conclusions Williams and his team have reached is that ”it’s important to take what nature gives you.” To do otherwise would be like forcing basketball star Shaquille O’Neal to squeeze his 2.15-meter, 147-kilogram frame into a race car simply because you know more about speedways than hard courts. Williams explains that you could use silicon components to carry out IMP operations, ”but you’d have a very complex and ugly circuit.” The converse, he says, is true for the titanium dioxide–based memristor. So in a sense, HP’s results serve as a brief how-not-to manual aimed at preventing the engineering community from wasting this newly created component’s potential. The HP team says it has already proved that memristors using the IMP function are capable of universal computation and can compute with circuitry no more complicated than whatever you can produce by stringing together NAND gates in silicon.

Williams acknowledges that memristors won’t completely supplant silicon logic gates. Because memristors can’t inject energy into a circuit, silicon transistors are needed to drive them. The good news, he says, is that a single operation in a silicon transistor can trigger computation in multiple memristors. He notes that a processor featuring a grid of memristors that operates parallel to a grid of silicon transistors might be two or three times as large as it would be if it only had the silicon. But because the number of simultaneous calculations achieved by the memristors is the square of the number of transistors, tripling a 1000-transistor chip’s size by adding memristors would yield a thousandfold improvement in computing power with a negligible increase in power drawn.

The HP researchers say there is still much work to be done before a commercial version of memristor logic appears. ”But we are learning at a tremendous pace, discovering new things, such as the fact that the memristor can do much more than just storing a bit,” says Williams.

UPH Seminar on 4G Technologies

2010-02-22 / / 0 Comments

I spent two weeks discussing the infrastructures for network services & contents in Gegerkalong Campus, the Learning Centre of Telkom. On the last day, almost without break, I had to fly to Surabaya for preparing a seminar. This seminar is a part of the seminar series Opening The Gates to 4G Mobile Technology that we have carried out in Jakarta, Bandung, and Yogyakarta. In Surabaya, the seminar is hosted by Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH Surabaya). It was held at Hotel Mercure Surabaya on 20 February 2009.

The seminar was coordinated directly by Vice Rector of UPH, Prof John Batubara. Unlike the previous seminars in this series, this one was attended by the IEEE Indonesia Section Chair, Mr Arnold Ph. Djiwatampu, and the Rector of UPH Jonathan Parapak. The presenters, in succession:

  • Arnold Ph. Djiwatampu (IEEE Indonesia Section Chair), Opening Speech
  • Jonathan Parapak (Rector of UPH), Welcome Speech
  • Muhammad Ary Murti: Introduction to the IEEE, societies, Indonesia section, chapters, membership.
  • Kuncoro Wastuwibowo (IEEE Comsoc Indonesia Chapter Chair): 4G Mobile Technologies, network & service aspects, cognitive radio, 4G candidates
  • Arif Hamdani Gunawan (IEEE Indonesia Section Vice Chair): LTE -> evolution, features, architecture
  • Prof. Dr. Dadang Gunawan: IEEE Student Branch
  • Arif Hamdani Gunawan: LTE -> radio access, OFDMA & SCFDMA, implementation plan
  • Kuncoro Wastuwibowo: WiMAX II -> evolution, features, architecture

Participants came from UPH Surabaya and other campuses around Surabaya, as well as some professionals who study the field of mobile telecommunications. And just like the way I came — i.e. with almost no break — I also had to leave Surabaya the same way. Signed the certificates, and run for the flight under a heavy rain under Surabaya sky. But I was delighted — it was a very successful seminar. Thank you, UPH Surabaya :).

WiMAX II

2009-11-11 / / 2 Comments

On November 21st, the IEEE Comsoc Indonesia Chapter will conduct a seminar to introduce the aspects of 4G Mobile Communications. The seminar will be carried out in Horizon Hotel, Bandung. You might visit Comsoc’s website to see the detail information. I will start the discussion by exploring the necessity of the items mentioned in 4G requirements. Then we will discuss the candidates of the 4G platforms: the LTE, the UMB, and WiMAX II. But we know UMB has been revoked by Qualcomm who then chose the LTE way :). I have blogged LTE a couple times in my other blogs. But it is Arief Hamdani who will explore LTE in details then. My duty is to describe WiMAX II.

You might have known the standard IEEE 802.16e, a.k.a. the Mobile WiMAX. This is the standard for the first mobile broadband access solution that enables the convergence of mobile & fixed broadband network through a common wide-area radio access technology and flexible network architecture. The OFDMA transmission is used for both downlink and uplink. WiMAX II, or  the incoming standard IEEE 802.16m is the amendment to develop an advanced air interface to meet the requirement of ITU-R / IMT-Advanced for 4G systems. The data transfer rates will reach 1 Gb/s, but it must have full backward compatibility with existing Mobile WiMAX. The protocol stacks of WiMAX II is as follows:

WiMAX II Protocol Stack

The objectives and advantages of WiMAX II are, among others:

  • Multi hop relay architecture
  • Self configuration
  • Advanced single-user / multi-user multi antenna schemes and interference mitigation techniques
  • Enhanced multicast broadcast service
  • Increased VoIP capacity
  • Improved cell-edge user throughput
  • Support of vehicular speed (? 500 km/h)

To discuss deeper on the issue, I invite you to attend the seminar. Visit the IEEE Comsoc site :).