Digital Complexity in DSL: An Extrapolated Historical Overview
19 June 2011
Digital subscriber line (DSL) technology for copper twisted pair access networks has been evolving to meet the evergrowing demand for higher data rates. This evolution has gone hand in hand with the roll out of fiber deep in the access network. The most recent technology is vectored VDSL2, able to offer an aggregate data rate of 200 Mb/s on a single copper pair. The next step is to reach 500 to 1000 Mb/s over even shorter copper loops up to a few hundred meters. Such a DSL deployment is an enabler for the cost-effective continuation of the fiber roll-out closer to the end-user. In this paper, a reality check is performed on the digital complexity of a next-generation DSL (DSL) transceiver. By taking into account Moore's law, it is shown that the time is right for this next-generation DSL.
