Optical telecommunication networks are being put under huge strain by the rise in mobile video, video-on-demand and other bandwidth intensive services. New disruptive innovations are needed to avoid the impending 'capacity crunch' that that has the potential to affect the growth of the Internet with knock-on adverse effects for the European and global economy and society. Optical Frequency Comb Sources represent one such disruptive innovation. Optical Frequency Combs allow new modulation techniques to be used that increase the data carrying capacity and spectral efficiency of these networks. The benefits of Optical Frequency Combs are well known, but to date no-one has figured out a cost-efficient means to employ them in network equipment. Pilot Photonics Ltd., an Irish SME has licensed a suite of intellectual property around Optical Frequency Combs that has the potential to disrupt the market and displace the single mode lasers that have been used in long haul optical transport equipment for two decades. The intellectual property offers two capabilities: The cost-effective generation of a suitable optical comb, and the cost-efficient demultiplexing of that optical comb for modulation. Both techniques are suitable for photonic integration and can be fabricated using foundry compatible processes, enhancing their viability greatly. The comb generation technique is currently being marketed in bench-top form factor, while integrated prototypes have been produced. The demultiplexing concept has been proven in both bench-top experiments and in photonic integrated circuits. The innovation is in their combination to create value beyond the sum of the parts. The PICOMB project will examine the economic feasibility of this disruptive innovation, through detailed interaction with potential customers and partners. The outputs will be a detailed market survey, desired customer specifications, and cost model which will be combined into a comprehensive business plan.

Data will grow tenfold by 2025 to 163 ZetaBytes. The rise in mobile video, video-on-demand, cloud and other bandwidth intensive services are putting strain on the optical communication networks that make up the internet. Laser technology is at the core of moving all of this data between users and datacentres. Data storage and processing innovations have outpaced transmission innovations leading to a data transmission bottleneck. Next generation laser technologies are needed to remove this bottleneck. Pilot Photonics has developed a disruptive laser technology that can displace the “single mode” lasers that have been used in this market for more than two decades. Our opportunity is to licence and sell our differentiated solutions into the $13BN laser market. Known as Optical Combs, these new lasers offers the disruptive value proposition of reduced cost, footprint and power consumption, with a simultaneous increase in performance, and capacity. Pilot Photonics’ competitive advantage is its ability to generate optical combs using photonic integration. This state-of-the-art technique combines multiple optical functions on a single photonic chip, and is analogous to the development of microchips in the 1960s which combined multiple electronic functions on a single silicon chip. The use of photonic integration drives huge efficiencies in cost, footprint, power consumption and performance and Pilot Photonics has patent protection on the world’s smallest and most versatile optical comb source, making it suitable for use in long haul optical networks for the first time. This Phase 2 project will see the technology reach market acceptance. The project will enable Pilot Photonics to generate revenue of more than €50m from this product alone, within 5 years of the project start representing a >10% share of the $500m market segment. The company will create 26 new jobs, grow its portfolio of IP, and increase the competitiveness of the European Photonics industry.

Future 6G networks demand ultra-high data rates (>100 Gb/s per cell), forcing a shift to frequencies above 100 GHz, where current electronic RF hardware is inefficient and costly. With global demand surging in telecom, satellite, and sensing markets, new technology is essential. Pilot Photonics’ PICO-6G addresses this challenge using integrated photonics to generate stable, ultra-low phase-noise RF signals (4–220 GHz) via optical frequency comb (OFC) technology. Our patented monolithic chip integrates comb generation, active demultiplexing, amplification, and detection—delivering improvements in performance, signal quality, power efficiency and footprint versus conventional approaches. With core technology validated by Airbus, Adtran, Nokia and NRAO, PICO-6G reduces complexity, power, and cost, positioning Europe to lead in next-generation wireless connectivity.

The volume of data produced, managed and consumed continues to grow exponentially driven by emerging technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence and blockchain. Demand for compute power to support these services is growing at 10X every 18 months and datacenter operators are struggling to keep up. Significant challenges have emerged in datacentre networks around bandwidth, signal integrity, power and face-plate density. The migration of the optical interconnect to the board (Co-Packaged Optics, CPO) and to the chip (Optical I/O, OIO) has been proposed as a potential solution, however only a few years into this new paradigm, two of the available dimensions for system scaling (fiber, and wavelength count) are already heavily utilised, posing scaling challenges in the near term. Today’s CPO/OIO systems use intensity modulation/direct detection, but given these pressures, a transition to coherent is inevitable. COCOPOP will deliver the first coherent-capable external laser source (ELS) which benefits today’s systems, and also future-proofs them by enabling full exploitation of the third scaling dimension-bit rate/wavelength-through coherent communication. In doing so, Pilot Photonics will capture for Europe a key position in this strategically important market segment, forecasted to grow to $2.2bn by 2032. Building upon developments in EIC “PICOMB”, the chip-scale frequency comb that will be matured and commercialised through COCOPOP brings many benefits over commercial state of the art DFB arrays, such as unmatched linewidth, relative intensity noise, output power, and wavelength stability derived from the synchronisation and locking of independent lasers with a low linewidth, frequency-locked optical frequency comb (OFC). PILOT has a proven track record in commercially exploiting the outcomes of advanced R&D programmes in the area of chip-scale OFC technology and we intend for the COCOPOP ELS to be on the market within two years of COCOPOP project end.