THUWAL: Saudi Arabia could soon enjoy low-cost, high-speed internet wired into every device, thanks to the telecommunications experts at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Experts in telecommunications at KAUST and Taara at X, the moonshot factory, successfully tested a wireless “network-in-the-box” laser optics system in the Red Sea — a promising step toward cheap but fast full connectivity for the Kingdom.  A team of researchers led by KAUST’s Prof. Mohamed-Slim Alouini and doctoral candidate Fahad Al-Qurashi are testing the viability of a low-cost, laser-based technology, known as free space optics, as an alternative to fiber optics, which is costly, and radio frequency in the Kingdom. FSO is a line-of-sight technology that uses light propagating in free space to wirelessly transmit video, voice and data at high speeds of tens of gigabits per second. The system brings a tradeoff — the lasers deliver the desired high speeds at low cost, but they are exposed to the atmosphere, unlike fiber optics, which are protected by cables. To address this challenge, the research team will install weather stations at FSO deployment sites to monitor and test the technology throughout the coming year. The equipment will assess how conditions such as temperature variations, wind speeds, and humidity might affect the system’s performance, factoring in variables such as duration, distance and outages. The data will be used to refine the system, with the eventual goal to deploy it broadly to other areas across the Kingdom. KAUST and Taara successfully established a FSO high-speed connection at 20 Gbps between the KAUST shore and a small island 2 km away, marking the first time that Taara’s FSO has been deployed in the Kingdom for maritime communication. Taara’s regional lead in Middle East and Africa, Bhavesh Mistry, said: “Taara’s mission is to expand global access to fast and reliable internet, and we are proud to be working with KAUST to deploy Taara’s technology in regions where fiber can be hard to deploy, to close the connectivity gap.” Alouini said: “With 71 percent of the Earth’s surface covered by water, the rising presence of oceanic activities has highlighted the importance of dependable maritime communication technologies. “In this regard, the utilization of FSO communications holds the potential to achieve remarkable data rates, paving the way for diverse innovative applications that rely on maritime communication.” This wireless connectivity could bring life-changing benefits to unconnected rural areas and isolated maritime locations.