Advances in optical communications in the RACE programme

This special issue of Optical and Quantum Electronics is well-timed for reviewing the work of the RACE Programme (Research and development of Advanced Communications in Europe). RACE has as its overall objective the ‘Introduction of IBC (Integrated Broadband Communication), taking into account the evolving ISDN and National introduction strategies, progressing to Community-wide services by 1995’. RACE Phase 1, which was a 5-year programme, finished at the end of 1992. The work in the Phase 2 Projects is now well under way, with the first-year work programme now completed [1], having started in January 1992 in most cases. The formulation of the European Commission’s Fourth Framework Programme for Research and Development (1994-8) is now in progress. It is therefore timely to consider the final outcome of RACE 1 and to look for progress reports of RACE 2. Optical technology development is of key importance to the RACE programme. Optical fibre provides an infrastructure that is capable of supporting existing and future broadband services. Such services include teleworking, videotelephony and multimedia, in addition to telephony and television distribution. The major role of optics can be seen from the number of projects involved; 18 of the 93 projects in Phase 1 and 21 of the 95 projects in Phase 2 are concerned with optical technology. The work programmes in these projects cover the complete spectrum of research and development, from basic materials research to field demonstrations of ‘fibre-tothe-customer’. The partners in a project may include public network operators, academic institutions, equipment manufacturers, service providers and users. The breadth of coverage of the work is reflected in the titles of the papers included in this special issue, and their authors. The Workplan of the RACE programme has been formulated to obtain coherent coverage of the range of necessary activities and to make sure that these activities are properly coordinated. For example, new components are not developed in isolation; the relevant systems applications are taken into account and a real need must be identified. The particular needs of the services that the optical fibre infrastructure will support need to be carefully analysed and the impact on network topology needs to be assessed. On the other hand, it is recognized that it is not always possible to predict where the next breakthrough will come from; it is necessary to have some degree of flexibility in the investigation of basic research topics.