The evolution of services (AXV-R, metaverse, etc.), topologies (e.g. antennas for 5 and 6G) and users (AI LLM, distributed compilation, distributed computing) considerably increases the requirements to which access networks are subject. The response to this potential demand is already being discussed, especially by increasing data rates (50G+, including 200G).The growing technological vectors - speed and complexity - lead to an increase in the gap that bulk optics must fill, especially if we move towards coherent solutions, which leads to the emergence of new solutions in the field of optoelectronic components.In this talk, we will show some of the efforts being made to fulfil the technological vectors mentioned above, showing that PICs are the pathway for access networks evolution.
Antonio Teixeira - PICadvanced founder and CSTO - received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal, in 1994 and 1999, respectively. He holds an EC in management and leadership from MIT Sloan School and a post graduation in quality management in the field of Higher Education. He worked with Nokia Siemens Networks and Coriant as a Senior Specialist. He is currently a Full Professor at the Electronics department of the University of Aveiro and a Researcher with the Instituto de Telecomunicações, Aveiro. He was also the University Doctoral School Coordinator for the past 8 years. He has published more than 140 peer-reviewed journal articles and more than 250 conference papers. He is a Senior Member of OSA and a TPC Member of major conferences, such as OFC and ECOC, and several other conferences, such as ICTON, Networks, and GLOBECOM, and Photonics100 honouree. In 2014 he co-founded PICadvanced, a startup focused on providing solutions based on photonic integrated circuits targeting optical networks.