CELEX: 51985PC0113
Language: en
Date: 1985-03-25
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ON A PREPARATORY ACTION FOR A COMMUNITY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME IN THE FIELD OF TELECOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES R & D PROGRAMME IN ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS-TECHNOLOGIES FOR EUROPE (RACE)

18.6,85                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 148/5
                                                               II
                                                       (Preparatory Acts)
                                                 COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council decision,, on a preparatory action for a Community research and
                           development programme in the field of telecommunications technologies
                             R & D in Advanced Communications-technologies for Europe (RACE)
                                                     DEFINITION PHASE
                                                              RDP
                                                      COM(85) 113 final
                               (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 28 March 1985)
                                                        (85/C 148/07)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           Whereas with the emergence of new services and the
                                                                   progressive convergence of telecommunications, data
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              processing and entertainment the evolution tends
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235                  towards a Europe-wide integrated broadband network
thereof,                                                           (Integrated Broadband Communication, IBC) capable of
                                                                   supporting a wide range of customers and service
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                 providers;
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                  Whereas developments in telecommunications will
liament,                                                           benefit the international competitivity of the European
                                                                   economies in general and of the telecommunications
                                                                   industries in particular;
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic
and Social Committee,
                                                                   Whereas in response to the absolute requirement to fully
                                                                   use the economic and market potential of telecommuni-
Whereas the Community has as its task, by establishing a           cations, the Commission has submitted a programme of
common market and progressively approximating the                  action (') which has been recognized as a base for
economic policies of Member States, to promote                     further work by the Council of Ministers of 21 May
throughout the Community a harmonious development                  1984;
of economic activity and closer relations between the
States belonging to it;
                                                                   Whereas R & D can make a major contribution, notably
                                                                   to easing the evolution towards the future Integrated
Whereas the Heads of State or of Government, meeting               Broadband Communication as regards transnational
in Stuttgart, Athens and Fontainebleau, emphasized the             connections, and at regional and local levels;
importance of telecommunications as a major source for
economic growth and social development;                            Whereas the Council has approved, in its resolution of
                                                                   25 July 1983 (2) the principle of framework programmes
Whereas the European Parliament, in its assessment of              for Community research, development and dem-
the situation and development of telecommunications,               onstration, the scientific and technical objectives for the
stressed the key role of telecommunications for the                period 1984 to 1987, and in particular the importance
future political, social and economic development of the           given to the goal of promoting industrial competitiveness;
Community (Hearing of the European Parliament on                   Whereas the RACE definition phase meets the absolute
Telecommunications 1983, Leonardi Report, Albert and               need for a preparatory action exploring telecommuni-
Ball Report 1982);                                                 cation technologies and thus contributing to the
                                                                   constitution or consolidation of a specifically European
Whereas on 17 December 1984 the Council agreed on
the main elements of a Community telecommunications
                                                                   C) Progress report on the thinking and work done in the field
policy including therein the objective of developing                   and initial proposals for an action programme, COM(84)
advanced telecommunications services and networks by                   277 final, 18. 5. 1984.
actions on the Community-level;                                    O OJ No C 208, 4. 8. 1983.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 148/6                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                   18.6. 85
industrial potential in the technologies concerned and it           2.     The contracts for Part II shall be awarded bv open
is necessary to make an urgent start; whereas its                   tendering procedure and involve the participation of at
beneficiaries must therefore be network operators,                  least two independent industrial partners not all
research establishments, undertakings, including small              established in the same Member State. The open
and medium-sized enterprises and other bodies                       invitation to tender shall be published in the Official
established in the Community which are best suited to               Journal of the European Communities.
attain these objectives;
Whereas the RACE definition phase consists of two                                              Article 4
parts, one developing a reference model for Integrated               1.    The Community shall contribute to the per-
Broadband Communication and the other exploring                     formance of the programme within the limits of the
technology options;                                                  appropriations entered to this end in the budget of the
Whereas, the Treaty has not provided the necessary                   European Communities.
powers for this purpose,
                                                                     2.    The overall amount of the appropriations estimated
                                                                     to be necessary for the Community's contribution to the
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
                                                                     performance of the programme shall be 22,1 million
                           Article 1                                 ECU over 18 months, including expenditure on
                                                                     Commission staff whose cost shall not exceed 4,5 % of
1.     A Community research and development activity in              the Community contribution.
the field of telecommunications technology as described
in the Annex, is adopted for a maximum period of 18                                            Article 5
months commencing 1 July 1985.
                                                                    The Commission shall see that the programme is
2.     The activity is designed essentially to define precise        properly performed and establish the appropriate
objectives and develop the approach to precompetitive                implementation measures and infrastructures.
research and development cooperation at Community
level in concertation with national programmes in the                                          Article 6
field of telecommunications technologies.
                                                                     1.    The Commission shall be assisted in the per-
                           Article 2                                 formance of the tasks referred to in Article 2 by a
                                                                     committee. The committee, consisting of two represen-
 1.    The programme shall consist of two parts. Part I              tatives of each Member State, shall be set up by the
shall comprise analytical work required for the formu-               Commission on the basis of nominations by the Member
lation of a reference model for integrated broadband                 States.
communication to be carried out by concertation with
appropriate organizations or, where required, by                     Members of the committee may be assisted by experts or
contracts.                                                           advisors depending on the nature of the issues under
                                                                     consideration.
The programme shall in its Part II comprise
precompetitive research and development projects carried             The committee shall be chaired by a Commission
out by means of contracts, as required to explore and                representative.
clarify technology options.                                          The Commission may consult the committee on any
The contracts shall be concluded with network                        matter falling within the scope of this decision.
operators,     research     establishments,     undertakings,        2.    The proceedings      of    the  committee   shall  be
including small and medium-sized enterprises, and other              confidential.
bodies established in the Community, hereinafter
referred to as 'partners'. The work is to be carried out in          3.    The committee      shall   adopt  its own   rules of
the Community.                                                       procedure.
 2.    The activity will consist of 11 projects as described         4.    Secretarial services for the committee shall be
 in Annex 1. The projects of Part II and where required              provided by the Commission.
 of Part I will be executed by means of shared cost
 contracts, normally on the basis of a minimum of 50 %                                         Article 7
 from contractors, with the remainder normally being                 With regard to the coordination activities provided for in
 contributed by the Community.                                       Article 1 (2), the Member States and the Commission
 3.    The activity will take account of requirements                shall exchange all appropriate information to which they
 regarding the development of standards and common                   have access and which they are free to disclose
 functional specifications to serve the interests of                 concerning activities in the areas covered by this
 European industry, users and telecommunications                     decision, whether or not planned or carried out under
 operators in this field.                                            their authority.
                                                                     Information shall be exchanged according to a procedure
                           Article 3
                                                                     to be defined by the Commission after consulting the
 1.    The contracts for Part I shall be awarded by                  committee, and will be treated as confidential at the
 restricted tendering procedure.                                     supplier's request.
 ---pagebreak--- 1 8 . 6 . 85                                  Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s                       N o C 148/7
                                                                        ANNEX
                                                         RACE DEFINITION PHASE
                            Summary of Areas
              PART I:       Development of an IBC reference model
              1.1           Development of an IBC network reference model
              1.2           Definition of the IBC terminal environment
             1.3            Future application assessment
             PART II:       Long lead-time R & D
             II. 1         High-speed integrated circuits
             II.2          High-complexity integrated circuits
             II.3          Integrated optoelectronics
             II.4          Broadband switching
             II.5          Passive optical components
             II.6          Components for high bit-rate long-haul links
             II.7          Dedicated communications software
             II.8          Large area flat panel display technology
                                                               RDP WORKPLAN
             INTRODUCTION
             The work to be carried out during the 18 months RACE Definition Phase (RDP) is divided into two major
             parts. Part I is concerned with work towards an IBC (') reference model and Part II is concerned with long
             lead time R & D as required for immediate analysis and techno-economic assessment on key topics.
             Each part is subdivided into a number of Areas of work (three for Part I and eight for Part II) which
             between them represent a coherent workplan. Although each area is a reasonably self-contained 'project',
             considerable interaction between them will be necessary in order to maintain the overall coherence.
             The work chosen for the RDP is important in itself, i.e. does not entail automatically a commitment to
             continue the work, but it does prepare the ground for the work which might be proposed after further exami-
             nation. Thus the RDP effort should be viewed in the context of moving towards an ultimate IBC objective:
             although limited in commitment, it is essential for the understanding of the required developments and
             opportunities for Community cooperation and worksharing.
             This workplan has resulted from detailed consultations with operators and telematics industry but in view
             of the speed of evolution it will be subject to some limited adjustments in the course of its implementation.
             The distribution of the resource allocation will be reviewed with the management committee, referred to in
             Article 6, on the basis of the proposals for the execution of the RDP workprogramme.
             (') IBC: Integrated Broadband Communication. This stands for a Europe-wide broadband infrastructure capable of sup-
                      porting existing services and a wide range of new services transmitting voice, data and images. It is expected to
                      evolve from or subsume present services and network structures.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 148/8                               Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s                 1 8 . 6 . 85
                                                                     PARTI
                                        DEVELOPMENT O F AN IBC REFERENCE MODEL
            Rationale
            Considering the need
            — to have a common understanding of the evolution towards IBC,
            — to have a means of identifying the relevant R & D projects aimed at the implementation of IBC,
            — to have within the participating organizations a common definition and understanding of the IBC
                 system and subsystems,
            — to have guidelines for the specification of such (sub)systems,
            — to support the work of standardization by the appropriate bodies in order to facilitate the introduction
                of IBC by 1995,
            a reference model of the proposed Integrated Broadband Communication is needed. This reference model
            will evolve as work proceeds, but at least a first iteration of such a model should be prepared as a
            significant activity of the RDP.
            Areas of Work
            The overall IBC environment comprises three major elements, namely the network itself, the terminal
            equipment attached to the network and the applications/services provided on the network-plus-terminals.
            T o complete a comprehensive reference model, each of these three elements require examination and
            appropriate scenarios drawn for them. Therefore, three corresponding areas of work are identified in the
            R D P workplan, described in the sections that follow, with the IBC network reference model playing a
            central rdle:
            1.1 Development of an IBC network reference model;
            1.2 Definition of the IBC terminal environment;
            1.3 Future applications assessment.
                                       Area 1.1: Development of an IBC network reference model
            1. Objectives and approach
               The network reference model is intended to specify the operational requirements for the IBC network,
               the transition from narrow band ISDN, and the corresponding system and subsystem functional
               requirements.
               The operational requirements will be time dependent, 1995 being a key date for the provision of IBC
                services. These requirements will be expressed in terms of network topology and will take into account
                alternative assumptions about technology» traffic levels, service characteristics, terminal types, protocols,
                etc.
               The subsystem functional requirements to meet the operational needs will describe a hierarchy of
                systems and subsystems capable of carrying the identified services. Hence the major parameters to be
                defined include the technical specifications and standards for interfaces and for the transmission
                switching and signalling subsystems.
               The various operational and system requirements will be interdependent, hence the reference model will
               for example allow a balance to be struck between the desire to provide sophisticated services to a
               widespread community and the techno-economic feasibility of being able to provide such services.
               The reference model will initially take the form of simple operational and functional descriptions. In
               order to assess trade-offs between system parameters it may be necessary to implement some aspects of
               the model on a computer. This would facilitate evaluation of the effects of alternative assumptions, and
               would include provision for techno-economic assessment and evaluation.
 ---pagebreak--- 1 8 . 6 . 85                                Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s                N o C 148/9
              2. Method of working
                 The preparation and exploitation of the reference model should be undertaken jointly by experts drawn
                 from industry and the telecom operators under the latter's leadership. It is noted that CEPT/GSLB (') is
                 currently working on related standards and, in order to make efficient use of all available resources and
                 to achieve a common European solution, GSLB has been invited to make major contributions to this
                 Area of the RDP. Results from the C E C / E T C O 'Transnational Broadband Backbone (TBB)' study will
                 also be used wherever appropriate.
              3. Tasks
                 The tasks to be undertaken during the RDP are as follows:
                 1.1.1   Overall network
                 — service requirements,
                 — network constraints (including interworking and ISDN evolution and regulatory constraints).
                 1.1.2   Operational requirements
                 1.1.3 Techno-economic assessment
                 — technical performance,
                 — cost/performance assessment for major components (including establishment of any necessary
                      computing tools).
             4. Links with other R D P activities
                 In order to fulfil its objectives, the network reference model work will need to receive contributions
                 from the two other areas of Part I:
                 Area 1.2 will investigate the 'terminal environment' and will contribute information on terminal archi-
                 tectures and user requirements, which in turn lead to definitions of customer access structures, and, in
                 conjunction with area 1.3 will provide information on potential terminal densities and traffic levels.
                 Area 1.3 will assess the potential future applications of IBC and, as already identified, will be required to
                 provide traffic information for inclusion in the network model. There is also the need for topological
                 information relating to potential user populations for the various services to be provided by the IBC
                 network.
                 Part II is concerned with long lead time R & D required for immediate exploratory work and is of less
                 relevance to the reference model in its early stages. Dependent upon the actual work programmes
                 selected and the cost/performance objectives there would be a longer term dependence upon any new
                 technologies identified as relevant to IBC. In the reverse direction, the reference model as it evolves will
                 help to select relevant topics for future R & D work.
                                           Area 1.2: Definition of the IBC terminal            environment
              1. Introduction
                 The future use of telecommunications will depend not only on the availability of a public network but
                 also on the cost performance of the terminal equipment and services. The cost performance of terminals,
                 in particular, is a key to penetration; no network will be used extensively and few new services added
                 until a wide population of users exists with the desire and ability to use those services. Thus an
                 important objective must be to achieve rapidly a growing population of cost-effective terminals with a
                 high user acceptability.
                 Terminals will range from simple, mobile devices linked to the network via radio, up to sophisticated
                 work stations for professional use. The simple low-cost terminals would be available to millions of users,
                 while the more sophisticated terminals will be required for a more limited population of specialized
                 users. At all levels of sophistication, however, there will be common requirements for major functional
                 elements, leading to the possibility of advantages of scope.
             (') The participation of CEPT/GSLB (Groupe Special Large Bande) in this work will permit European countries other
                 than Member States to be associated from the beginning with the elaboration of a network reference model for
                 broadband networks.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 148/10                                Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s              18.6.85
                In all cases, terminals will need to possess the following attributes:
                — compatability with the standards developed for integrated broadband communications (IBC) as well
                     as ISDN
                — ease of use by the general population coupled with increased functional performance, leading to a
                     wide penetration
                — lowest possible terminal system lifecycle cost depending on the level of sophistication (typically — at
                     today's prices — in the ranges 100 to 1 000 ECU per year for the general public, 1 000 to 10 000
                     ECU per year for business applications and 10 000 to 100 000 ECU per year for specialized users)
                — high reliability/availability and, in many cases, low power requirements.
            2. Objectives and Scope
                The overall objective is the maximum rationalization of the terminal area so as to benefit from the
                advantages of scale and scope.
                This cannot be fully achieved by 18 months' effort on a relatively modest scale, but in the RDP it will
                be possible to define a framework to guide future activities. This framework can be described as a
                'terminal' reference model. As such it must be consistent with the 'network' reference model of Area 1.1
                and with the 'user application and service provider' reference model of Area 1.3: together these three
                models represent the overall IBC Reference Model.
                The work will concentrate on terminals for broadband services since these represent the most significant
                challenges. However, the framework must embrace and be compatible with narrow- and medium-band
                services, particularly those associated with ISDN.
                The work will also emphasize domestic terminals (in the home environment) which, in the context of
                IBC, are likely to develop from video (television) in terms of quality and new services available. It is
                noted that the ESPRIT programme ( R & D areas 4.2 Advanced work stations and 4.3 communication
                systems) includes work on terminals for narrow- and medium-band applications in the office
                environment. Clearly, in order to lead to a common framework for all terminals, close liaison must be
                set up and maintained with the relevant ESPRIT activities. However, RACE should also embrace
                broadband 'business' terminals that are not covered by ESPRIT.
             3. Approach
                The approach will be to concentrate on the Junctional analysis, design and interfacing of terminals.
                Thus, the purpose is to identify the major functions of terminal equipment, to define the interfaces
                between the functions and to indicate the functional relationships (architectures). This includes not only
                the hardware but also the functional requirements for operating systems and generic applications
                 software.
                A general analysis will be carried out, supported by more specific investigations of representative classes
                 of terminals. This approach will ensure realism in the gerneral model and at the same time yield
                 significant insight into the design of key classes of IBC terminals. Local transmission and intercommuni-
                 cation, such as the subscriber premises network (SPN) must be included in the model.
                The model should include functions corresponding to all levels in the OSI-model. This will help to
                 ensure that terminals will be compatible with a wide range of services and to ensure correct inter-
                working of the terminal equipment with each other and with any service provider. While it is recognized
                 that work relating to all OSI levels is unlikely to be completed during the RDP, some attention should
                 be given to the higher layers (e.g. operating systems, display formats). The work will build on the results
                 from on-going work relating to narrow- and medium-band applications as well as the work in broad-
                 casting carried out in the framework of EBU.
             4. Tasks
                 The work for the RDP area 1.2 is identified under five tasks:
                 1.2.1   Terminal Reference Model
                 An initial 'basic' model should be specified to help to guide the other tasks in this area. The model will
                 then be refined and extended, taking into account the experience gained in those other tasks.
                 1.2.2   Multiservice terminal (home/business work station)
                 This work will carry out the functional description of a terminal capable of handling characters, speech,
                 images, and graphics, with particular reference to image processing and storage both for entertainment
                 and communication.
 ---pagebreak--- 18.6.85                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                    N o C 148/11
           1.2.3    Subscriber premises network (SPN)
           The objectives of this task are the functional description of the multiservices broadband bus (or any
           other network type) both for information and signalling, and the functional descriptions for terminal
           interface components to be implemented subsequently.
           1.2.4    Digital television
           The main goal of this task is the functional description of 'hi-fi' digital television, taking into account
           the new European standards (MAC systems, digital T V studio etc.) and to investigate its harmonization
           with an IBC terminal reference model.
           1.2.5   High definition TV     (HDTV)
           There are no fixed standards for H D T V and the development status for H D T V components is far away
           from final solutions. The purpose of this task, however, is to outline a functional description for an
           H D T V system, with particular reference to the bit-rate requirements and the use of redundancy
           reduction techniques to minimise the bit-rates.
           It is recommended that close liaison between the tasks is set up and maintained, including the possibility
           of (formal) joint review meetings to discuss progress and to make decisions on the next steps. Liaison
           will also be required with the other Areas of RDP Part I, and with other relevant activities under
           ESPRIT, COST, EBU, etc.
                                             Area 1.3: Future applications assessment
        1. Rationale
           The extent and speed of development of future IBC markets depend both on the application potential
           and the cost-performance sensitivity of the applications. In order to reduce costs, advantages both of
           scale and scope need to be exploited, implying a good understanding of the commonality of functional
           requirements. This understanding in the specific context of IBC terminals is a major aim of Area 1.2, but
           a similar understanding is required in the broader but closely related context of user applications and
           services.
           T o achieve this broader understanding, it will be necessary to develop a reference model of the future
           IBC applications and services. Such a model must include a functional analysis of all foreseeable
           applications of the services to be provided by IBC, integrated with the ISDN and broadcast services.
           The model must also allow an assessment of the extent to which new services are likely to be affordable
           to the various market segments.
           An important issue which the reference model must reflect is that of the acceptability of services to users.
           This requires a system analysis of the requirements on 'quality' of service. A particular area of concern
           in this context is the privacy of use, the protection of information and the measures needed to be
           adopted by the organizations which are handling it.
        2. Objectives
           The prime objective is to establish the methodology for definition of the user application and service
           provider reference model, and its use and refinement in later aspects of the programme.
           The detailed objectives of the selected tasks are:
           — to visualize and to describe future applications and services, their evolution and the substitution of
                existing applications and services,
           — to arrive at a set of design criteria for new services embedded in the user application and service
                provider reference model,
           — to support the evaluation of methods and goals to be used for market explorations and to evaluate
                technological implementations and assess their cost and economic viability.
        3. Approach
           It is assumed that the Groupe d'Analyses et de Previsions (GAP) will provide most of the market
           assessment and statistical data required to carry out the work specified here. Parametric analyses will
           then be carried out as required for the construction of the reference model. Deductions from the
           reference model will then provide important inputs to the work defined in Areas 1.1 and 1.2.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 148/12                                Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s                          1 8 . 6 . 85
             4. Tasks
                The tasks for this area are:
                1.3.1   Assessment Methodology
                T o define the methodology and select tools for assessment of user applications and services. This will
                require definition of the user application and service provider reference model which must relate directly
                to the IBC reference model of Part I.
                1.3.2   Survey of Applications
                T o review the whole range of applications relevant to an integrated broadband communications network
                of the 90s. In addition to improvements of the existing and emerging applications there will also be new
                applications already contemplated which will exploit the broadband capability of the IBC.
                1.3.3   Survey of Present and Future Services
                Services in this context refer to the various communications services provided by telecommunications
                operations or broadcast authorities including CATV (cable TV) and other service providers. The present
                range of services includes voice, data, text, pictures, services, broadcast, cable television, surveillance,
                etc.
                A study of the characteristics and rationale of all these current and future services is required for the
                classification of the total range of services.
                The study needs to recognise the national/international objectives of the telecommunications services as
                opposed to the local nature of the interactive services currently being built into cable television systems
                — for example, teleshopping.
                1.3.4   Relevance of Applications to IBC Services
                The key objective for this task is the matching of the applications and the service provider requirement
                to the IBC services. This task relates the two previous tasks (1.3.2 and 1.3.3) together, and provides
                interfaces and inputs to the IBC network reference model.
                1.3.5   Quality of Service
                This task is to establish an initial set of parameters concerned with quality of service and performance,
                for example:
                — requested information rate,
                — reliability of information transfer,
                — interfaces,
                — concurrent usage,
                — holding times,
                — response times (delay, setting up and in-use interactivity),
                — grade of service,
                — signalling paths for the user,
                — availability (continuity of service).
                1.3.6.   Market. Analysis and User Cost Sensitivity
                In the RDP the method and tools required for a future market exploration shall be defined and selected.
                1.3.7   Security Aspects
                The introduction of security policies into the overall broadband                             integrated network requires
                concentration on the following items:
                  (i) Needs and degrees of privacy for users;
                 (ii) Acceptable price of privacy when it is provided by the network;
                (hi) Means and procedures from the administration in order to guarantee the provided privacy service;
                which means:
                — inclusion of necessary security features in definitions of services and procedures,
                — study of charging problems (transfer of user identity, authentication of transactions, etc.).
                This task will be carried out in close liaison with the related work done in the framework of the Infor-
                matics Programme.
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                                                                 PART II
                                                   LONG LEAD-TIME R & D
         Rationale
        A considerable effort in technology (both hardware and software) is required in order to reach the
         cost/performance objectives necessary for the eventual implementation of IBC (by 1995). A large part of
        the required technology is not available today, even at a pre-development level.
        For the RACE definition phase, R & D topics requiring exploratory work have been selected which could
        be conducted on a trans-European cooperative basis and which are of high relevance for the long-term
        competitiveness of European industry with respect to the world-wide markets. More specifically, R & D
        areas have been selected for the RDP which are considered to be:
        — key elements for fulfilment of the IBC objectives, somewhat independently of the detailed network and
             systems specifications to be investigated by Part I,
        — most urgent, in view of both the objectives set in time, and the necessary lead time.
        Objectives
        The results obtained in Part II of the RDP are to clarify the potential of technology options, facilitate
        choices, reduce uncertainty and contribute to the investigations conducted in Part I as well as verifying the
        technology feasability of new concepts arising out of the work in Part I.
        Tasks
        In view of the abovementioned criteria and general considerations, the eight areas of selected exploratory
        R & D are:
        II. 1. High-speed integrated circuits
        11.2 High-complexity integrated circuits
        11.3 Integrated optoelectronics
        11.4 Broadband switching
        11.5 Passive optical components
        11.6 Components for high bit-rate long-haul links
        11.7 Dedicated communications software
        11.8 Large area flat panel display technology
        It should be noted that in the areas identified the RDP will be limited to explorative R & D on the most
        promising technology options and a critical review of their potential in terms of cost performance to meet
        the requirements identified for RACE.
        Relationships with ESPRIT
        Possible synergies or overlaps with specific areas of the ESPRIT programme have been, and will continue
        to be, carefully examined during the selection process. The set of selected tasks for the RACE Definition
        Programme does not overlap with ESPRIT, but it is sufficiently closely related to ensure cross benefits. It
        should be noted however that by the time the RDP is implemented, a significant part of ESPRIT will have
        been executed and results will start to become available for the telecom-specific work in the R D P ; this will
        be taken into account when the details of the work in the RDP are being finalized.
                                            A rea II. 1: High-speed integrated circuits
        II. 1.1.  Very-high-speed circuits
        In a few areas of the IBC system, mainly in the transmission subsystems, very-high-speed circuits are
        needed., but the functions to be performed are usually limited in complexity. Consequently, in this first class
        of devices speed is the most important parameter; nevertheless, as these circuits are located in the
        peripheral area of the system and are very numerous, power dissipation plays an important role.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 148/14                               Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s              18.6.85
            A number of such circuits have been studied or even implemented for some particular applications;
            nevertheless the problems are not resolved for IBC and significant further improvements will be required to
            achieve a larger scale of integration and a lower power consumption and cost. T o achieve the objectives
            the most promising technology options will be explored.
            II. 1.2   Modelling of high-speed low-power devices
            To support the above task, effort is required on modelling high-speed low-power devices. The objectives
            here are:
            — to develop standard models of telecommunications devices to be used in the simulation of high-speed
                 integrated circuits using gallium arsenide or silicon bipolar, MOS, and CMOS technologies down to
                 one micron minimum feature size;
            — to develop standard procedures for the characterization of telecommunications devices and the deri-
                 vation of parameters required by the simulator.
            In the domain of high-speed integrated circuits, substantial actions have been initiated in ESPRIT. The
            tasks selected here concern specific objectives, that will draw on the techniques developed in ESPRIT.
                                              Area II.2: High-complexity         integrated circuits
            II.2.1    High-complexity circuits for signal processing
            For IBC a second class of telecommunications devices is related to very complex functions, i.e. the digital
            processing of the video signal. Here, the speed of the internal circuitry can be limited by the use of parallel
            processing, i.e. the premium characteristic of the technology is reduced power dissipation, in order to
            enable VLSI circuit integration. Because of the high bit-rate to be handled, high-speed operation is still
            needed, but a trade-off should be reached between processing algorithm, speed of operation and device
            architecture.
            The development of low-cost video-signal processors, made possible by VLSI technology, could
             significantly impact upon the application of digital techniques in the television area. At present, general-
            purpose digital signal processors (DSP) exist that are limited to audio-range applications. Only very
             expensive equipment or circuits of limited complexity and high-power dissipation such as experimental
             circuits for video applications have been produced, and considerable effort will be required for a substantial
             technical advance in this field.
            The R D P includes the exploratory R & D towards optimal design and implementation of such devices.
             II.2.2.   Bandwidth compression for     (HD)TV
            A related task is that concerned with data compression algorithms (redundancy reduction) for T V and
             high-definition TV. Motivations involved are, in particular, the system costs of the transmission channels
             and switching equipment of future networks and the storage devices' constraints. With redundancy
             reduction techniques one can produce much simpler and therefore cheaper switching and transmission
             equipment for the same channel capacity. Cheaper system engineering will be possible since the data rate
             can be lower. On the other hand, some development will be required in order to reduce complexity and
             price of the subscriber equipment, but this task must become easier due to the foreseeable price cut of
             frame memories. A big effort must be made towards standardization, and this effort will be helped by
             concerted exploratory R & D .
             II.2.3   Liaison and coordination of design tools
             To support the above tasks it will be necessary to liaise closely with other related programmes on CAD for
             complex systems. The objectives here are:
             — to liaise with related Community projects (e.g. microelectronic projects under Regulation (EEC)
                  N o 3744/81 and ESPRIT),
             — to advise the above projects on coordination with the RACE programme with respect to the facilities
                  needed and timescale,
             — to advise the Commission of the European Communities on necessary extensions to the above projects.
 ---pagebreak--- 18.6.85                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                        N o C 148/15
                                                 Area II.3: Integrated   optoelectronics
         The optical transmitters and receivers used today in optical        communication links associate discrete opto-
          electronic devices (laser diodes, photodiodes, etc.) with          electronic circuits ((de)coders, modulators,
          amplifiers, etc.). The potential advantages of opto-electronic     integrated circuits, associating monolithically
         in single semiconductor chips several electronic, optical and       opto-electronic functions are well recognized
         by analogy with the past history of silicon ICs:
         — a reduction in manufacturing costs due to co-processing,
         — an increase in performance (speed, noise) due to the reduction of parasitic circuit elements,
         — an improvement in reliability.
         The work included in the RDP for this area defines and explores the technologies which eventually have to
         be mastered by component manufacturers to produce, at competitive cost, the devices necessary for
         terminal functions in future optical fibre IBC. In the RACE definition phase, work will aim at speeding up
         progress in this area as related to telecommunications applications.
                                                   Area II.4: Broadband switching
         Broadband switching will be one of the critical parts of future IBC. For this reason it will be worthwhile to
         carry out exploratory work aimed at the three major options:
         11.4.1   Technologies for a low-dissipation space switch
         The space switch is selected as starting point. Although there are suitable switching network components
         for this in the current state of the art, these switches may have an extremely high power consumption. The
         aim of the future development efforts must therefore be directed to employing low-dissipation technologies.
         11.4.2   Technologies for time division switching
         Parallel to the above task, explorative development work on components for a broadband time division
         switch should be undertaken. The latter work is highly sophisticated from the technological viewpoint, but
         the breakthrough from the space switch to the time switch — as has been the case in narrowband switching
        — is expected to result in appreciable cost reductions for the switching network.
         11.4.3   Optical switching technologies
         In the coming decade, a very rapid development in optics technology can be expected. As is well known,
         semiconductor technology will also advance further and the combination of the two will open up new
        possibilities. In order to ensure that the all-electronic switching network stays abreast of these
        developments, further exploratory R & D work should be carried out under the heading of 'optical
        switching technologies'. The state-of-the-art and the progressive development of optical switching
        principles should first be established and after this knowledge has been acquired this should be followed up
        by work on optical devices suited for a switching network.
                                                Area II.5: Passive optical components
         If IBC is to be economically viable it will be important to minimize the cost of optical components, par-
        ticularly in the local area networks and subscriber loops where the quantity of components required will be
        larger. More specifically, it is probably, necessary to lower the cost of components by at least an order of
        magnitude. This cost reduction will require advances in production techniques. The cost reduction resulting
        from increased production volume on its own will not suffice. It is also necessary to explore new devices/
        technologies offering potentially better cost/performance characteristics.
        The performance and cost of several types of optical components will strongly influence the design of the
        IBCN, and during the R D P attention should be given to clarifying the technical questions raised by such
        issues.
                                      Area II.6: Components for high bit-rate long-haul links
        In order to satisfy the foreseeable growth of long-haul traffic, the bit rate of each link will have to be
        increased to a value much higher than at present and several optical channels will have to be multiplexed
        on the same fibre. These two complementary measures when applied to cables with many fibres, will allow
        the wanted trunk capacities to be achieved.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 14 8 / 1 6                                Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s              18.6.85
                Work during the RDP, should focus on the two main evolutionary routes that are foreseen, namely:
                11.6.1    Direct detection Systems
                Direct detection systems permit increases in the transmission rate by light intensity modulation. In order to
                increase the bit rate above 2 Gbit/s using direct detection it is particularly desirable to have a light emitter
                with a spectrum which is both very narrow and stable. Appropriate optical modulation techniques are also
                required.
                11.6.2    Coherent systems
                Realization of coherent links with homodyne or heterodyne detection (the electromagnetic field of the
                light is modulated) and receivers using a local oscillator is a very attractive solution. Such links could lead
                to increase of distance between repeaters due to decrease of receiver threshold, and to simplification of the
                system due to the use of optical amplifiers. It will therefore be necessary to explore options for the most
                important components, namely stable sources, amplifiers and modulators.
                                                   Area II. 7: Dedicated communication             software
                From a software point of view telecommunications systems have already reached a level of complexity
                which exceeds the abilities of current methods, tools and techniques to control comfortably. This
                complexity arises from the fundamental nature of such systems which are highly concurrent, have strict
                real-time response constraints and severe requirements on availability of services. The difficulties are
                compounded by the need to have highly configured installations and the very long lifetimes imposed by
                economic and technical constraints.
                Introduction of IBC services will result in substantial increases in the basic functional complexity of the
                system, will generate dramatic increases in the workload to be handled and will demand even higher levels
                of response and robustness. Without a major effort to produce enhanced methods, tools and techniques
                leading to substantially improved productivity and reduced overheads, it is extremely doubtful whether
                software of the quantity and quality needed to satisfy these requirements can be produced economically
                and within the required timescales.
                Through programmes such as ESPRIT and some Member States' national programmes, there is already a
                considerable body of R & D effort underway aimed at improving the software production and maintenance
                process in the mainstream area, many results of which can either be applied directly to the telecommunica-
                tions area or can form the basis of further telecommunications-oriented R & D activity.
                Thus a first vital task in this area must be a critical review of the prevailing and anticipated future software
                development techniques deriving from such programmes with respect to their potential use in telecoms over
                the next 10 to 15 years. An important output from this task will be recommendations on the detailed
                content and the resources to be allocated to further work on telecom-related software issues.
                During the RDP, attention will be directed towards three additional tasks, each already recognized to be
                of key importance to communications software:
                II.7.1    Specification and design methods
                Major improvements in productivity and reliability of telecommunications software depend on:
                — better specification methods,
                — formal procedures to transfer the specification into an implementation,
                — formal methods to verify that the implementation conforms with the specification.
                Specification, implementation and verification belong together, and a major step forward can be made if
                these subjects are dealt with in an integrated approach. The RDP exploratory work will concentrate on the
                first of these steps, taking into account the constraints set by the subsequent steps.
                II.7.2.   A total system description model
                The aim of this task is to develop a method for describing a telecommunications system so as to generate a
                model which can be manipulated to evaluate possible implementations and configuration options including
                the generation of quantitative data. The method should also lead naturally to the development of a stan-
                dardized ^structure for the system to encourage the identification of reusable subsystems with inter-
                changeable versions of varying capacities and speeds.
                As such, this task will provide an input to Area 1.1.
 ---pagebreak--- 18.6.85                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                   N o C 14 8 /17
        II.7.3 Applications o/AI techniques
        In the telecommunications area artificial-intelligence techniques may be beneficially applied to some fields
        of application including: functional decomposition, project/configuration control, software manufacture,
        dynamic traffic management, optimal routing of assymetric traffic, diagnostics of network and (sub)systems
        and building of specific exchanges (including software production).
        These AI techniques can sometimes substitute other techniques with the advantage that the implemented
        system can easily be adapted. But also these techniques give the possibility to tackle applications which are
        not amenable to implementation by other methods.
                                      Area II.8: Large area Slat panel display technology
        IBC will provide very powerful means to transmit moving images, so that the market for displays could be
        much enhanced. Each subscriber, home and office, will have needs for several displays working at different
        places for different services: text, still pictures, moving pictures for information, education or enter-
        tainment.
        Inadequate cost/performance and characteristics (e.g. volume, weight ...) are at present major obstacles
        for a rapid build-up of use. The RDP will explore technology options offering major advances.