The Internet has changed most areas of our lives over the past few decades, and technology continues to improve: Researchers have created a new record for data transmission rates, an incredible speed logging (TBPS) of 178 terabytes per second.
It is about a fifth faster than previous records set by a team of researchers in Japan, and nearly twice as fast as the Internet available today.
With 4K movies of around 15GB in size, you can download 1,500 of them at a new speed in a second.
It can also be more than a super-fast lab experiment – according to the scientists behind the project, the technology used to access 178 Tbps records can be added relatively easily to existing optical fiber pipes.
Today’s Internet is built on optical fiber routes that use amplifiers to prevent light signals from degrading.
Researchers said that in addition to adding new technology to existing amplifiers, a distance of about 40–100 kilometers (25–62 mi) would be covered, which would be a part of the expenditure required to replace the actual fiber.
“While currently state-of-the-art cloud data-center interconnects are capable of transporting 35 terabytes in one second, we are working with new technologies that use existing infrastructure more efficiently, better utilizing optical fiber bandwidth And enable; ” Lydia Galdino, an electronic and electrical engineer from University College London in the UK, says the world record transmission rate of 178 terabytes is one second.
To hit this record-breaking speed, the team used a very wide range of wavelengths (colors of light), commonly used to transmit data.
The BeSpoke system used a bandwidth of 16.8 terahertz (THz) in a single-fiber core, four times the 4.5 THz used by most of the infrastructure in our current network.
An increase in that bandwidth is required to boost signal power and in this case combine several different amplifier techniques.
The hybrid system carefully manages the properties of each individual wavelength, optimizing signal transmission and avoiding a disruption, using a process called constellation shape.
The combination of these techniques meant that a lot of information could be packed in one place and disseminated more quickly, without the information being garbage en route.
The new 178 Tbps record is pushing the theoretical boundaries of a data transfer network.
This idea of ​​squeezing more information through existing pipes is one that many scientists are looking for, trying to strike a balance between moving data as photons of light, without those photons moving one another. Are interfering with.
If these upgrades can change to existing infrastructure, then better.
Certainly with the global epidemic many of us are forced to work and socialize on the Internet rather than face to face, the need for faster speeds and more bandwidth has never been more timely – especially the world Still with about 40 percent of the population. to be connected.
“Over the past 10 years, independent of the COVID-19 crisis, Internet traffic has grown rapidly and this entire increase in data demand is related to cost,” says Galdino.
“The development of new technologies is critical to keeping up with this trend toward lower costs while meeting future data rate demand, which will grow with yet-unaffected-applications that will change people’s lives.”
The research is published in the IEEE Photonics Technology paper.