Lasers could take broadband where fiber optics can’t

Virginia-based Attochron plans to use lasers to solve the “last mile” problem, which leaves people and businesses without a fast internet connection.

In the internet industry, it’s known as the “last-mile” problem: Millions of people and businesses around the world aren’t able to access broadband because they’re missing the final leg of a broadband network, which connects the user to the backbone of the internet. This critical infrastructure, ranging from a few hundred feet to a few miles, can often be too expensive or difficult to build, because of challenges with the terrain or because it would serve too few users — issues that are a bigger problem in rural and remote areas. One solution could come from a technology called “free-space optics” (FSO), which uses lasers to transfer data through the air. It was pioneered in the 1960s by NASA and for decades has been a potential game-changer for internet infrastructure. However, the technology has always faced an unavoidable obstacle: weather. Fog and rain, but even simple air turbulence, are enough to disrupt the signal, which also requires a stable, direct line of sight between transmitter and receiver. So, despite the advantage of not requiring any licensing or regulation, unlike radio signals such as 5G, FSO broadband has yet to materialize as a commercial reality. Now, Virginia-based company Attochron says it’s ready to launch its own version of it — after more than 20 years of development. Attochron, which completed a $15 million funding round in July, says it has begun low-rate production of its main hardware product, called ALTIS-7, which includes a receiver and a transmitter and looks vaguely like a security camera. The company plans to ramp up production early next year in preparation for a commercial launch.