New platform makes transferring large volumes of data faster, greener, and more secure

FORCE Technology joins research project on digital infrastructure for faster, cheaper, greener, and more secure high-bandwidth internet connections.

10 July 2023

Data consumption, as well as the need for data centres and communication infrastructure in general, have exploded, requiring increasing amounts of energy. For this reason, service providers and operators have worked to optimise or reduce their energy consumption, although until recently, they did so with an exclusive focus on their businesses' bottom lines.

As sustainability and environmentally friendly solutions play a more significant part in corporate DNA, rising energy costs, regulatory policy, and legislative changes, this focus is shifting. Now, these companies need to be able to demonstrate and document their energy consumption and carbon footprint to their customers and regulatory agencies

Making green measurable

Together with partners in the GreenCOM project, FORCE Technology is preparing to develop and define an energy certification service for central components of digital infrastructure and services that will become the foundation for relevant, recognised certification bodies to accredit an energy certification method in the future.
Additionally, FORCE Technology is contributing to technological development in the project by developing something known as a beam steering control circuit, to be integrated with and control a 256-channel optical phased array (OPA) chip.

The OPA chip is a solid-state device that controls the direction of the beam in a LiDAR module. Before the system can be called a LiDAR module, though, a time-of-flight module must also be developed for it.

The project is expected to yield 30 ground-breaking Danish technologies for the industry, making it possible to create digital infrastructure that allows internet connections to transport much larger volumes of data in a manner much faster, much cheaper, much more secure, and much greener than today's infrastructure.
The launch of GreenCOM's technological innovation platform has the potential to achieve savings of about 10% on Denmark's total electricity consumption.

Benefiting society at large

This platform will be a boon to everything from hospitals, government ministries, wind turbines, and district heating plants to the media, the transportation and agricultural sectors, the Danish Armed Forces, and even private homes, which are experiencing a growing need for smarter digital solutions that use less energy and are better protected against cyberattacks compared to today.

With support from Innovation Fund Denmark, Denmark has the potential to become one of the world's greenest, most digital, and most resilient societies.

Today, for every tonne of CO2 emitted to operate the electrical grid, our society saves 1.5 tonnes of CO2 elsewhere as we become more efficient. This factor of 1.5 is expected to become a factor of 10 in the coming years. This makes the internet a highly impactful tool and a critical prerequisite for the green transformation in general.

About the project

Apart from FORCE Technology and one other GTS institute, the GreenCOM collaboration comprises 18 Danish businesses, 2 universities, 2 institutes, and 2 industry associations.

Investment from Innovation Fund Denmark: 40 million DKK
Total budget: 54 million DKK
Duration: 3 years.
Official title: Innovative solutions for the next generation of Green COMmunications infrastructures.