KAUST launches a Terragraph-enabled community Wi-Fi project in collaboration with CST

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Saudi Arabia announced, on Monday, its intention to provide an advanced Internet connection service through a high-speed, reliable and low-cost Wi-Fi network, using “Terragraph” technology.

 

The project, which began experimentally in cooperation with the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) and the American company “Meta”, is expected to expand in the future to include sites throughout the region, providing high-speed Internet at an affordable cost to hundreds of thousands of people, according to a university statement.

Hybrid wireless and free-space optical (RF/FSO) systems have emerged as a promising solution for reliable high-data-rate wireless transmission between the university and a residential site of more than 3,000 people, about 1.5 km from the university campus, with no internet connection available.

Terragraph is a gigabit wireless technology developed by Meta to validate the university’s research into maximum bandwidth communications, with the potential to develop new computational switching algorithms for hybrid links of mm-wave RF/FSO systems.

The weather monitoring stations installed on the university campus and the residential site will be used to monitor climatic variables that can affect the operation of the FSO systems and switch connections between them and mm-wave.

Thanks to Cambium Networks’ “Terragraph” technology equipment, the residential site has been linked to the university campus and its Internet connection is spread through Wi-Fi points so that a sustainable high-speed delivery and distribution network can be designed without the need to deploy fiber optic packages, which in turn leads to reduced costs and speed of service delivery.

These technologies aim to “enable global connectivity sustainably by supporting the research of these advanced technologies and contributing to the development of the future of our inclusive and sustainable digital world,” said Tony Chan, the university’s president.

Mohamed Abdel-Aal, Director of Digital Experience and Innovation at the University, said: “By deploying (Terragraph) technology, we will be able to build basic communication capabilities that allow advanced services and creative use cases that were not possible before, and this is crucial for the prosperity of any society and the development of its smart strategy.” According to the statement.