SBIR Phase I: An Economic Optical Fiber Solution to the Last Mile Problem

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to provide the capability to affordably and reliably connect underserved or unserved Americans to high speed internet using surface-mounted optical fiber, whether they live in a suburban neighborhood or in a remote rural area. The lack of high speed internet access is largely due to an inability to economically distribute broadband communications over the 'last mile' to businesses, homes, schools, and medical or government entities. An understanding of the installed durability of fiber using this technique will usher in new developments to deploy surface-mounted fiber nationwide. More accessible high-speed internet provides more information, opportunity, and economic productivity regardless of the locale. The digital divide between urban and rural Americans could be reduced or eliminated. Lower cost fiber deployments will make it easier to deploy new technologies, like 5G antennas and connected vehicles, and will shrink the cost to make cities smarter with ubiquitous sensors and cameras. The proposed project will demonstrate that optical fibers under protective coatings bonded to paved surfaces can provide reliable high speed communications while subjected to weather and traffic. It will allow estimation of the predicted life time of surface mounted fiber on pavement. The testing will place asphalt samples in an environmental test chamber to evaluate competing fiberoptic installations and to identify the best performers for a series of follow-on field and lab tests. This will allow the future targeting of financial resources on the most promising material and profile combinations. Test samples will undergo wide ranging temperature and humidity cycles and repetitive tire impacts under controlled conditions. This testing will identify statistical life predictions in years after only a few months of actual test time. The longer the predicted life, the larger the customer pool, and the wider the potential market penetration. Understanding the predicted lifetime of a fiber installation will open the door to more early adopters, to more pilot program users, and eventually to fiberoptic installers and long term customers. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.