A high performance, versatile residential gateway

In a world where virtually all consumer devices will soon be speaking the same digital language, the ability to connect hardware and distribute content from one box to another creates important opportunities for extending networks into millions of consumer homes; connecting each house to the Internet represent an unprecedented opportunity to increase network traffic and expand the customer base beyond the corporate sphere. This paper outlines the work carried out in InfoGate, a European research and development project under the ESPRIT programme, that designed and implemented a multiservice residential gateway platform. A residential gateway (also called residential concentrator, residential hub, residential communications controller or integrated access device) is, in the most simple terms, a bridge between the access network (or the local loop) which connects to the core network gateways (e.g. Internet) end the home local network. The paper describes the service requirements and focuses on the wireless access and indoor interfaces.