Japanese engineers have smashed records, unleashing a staggering 22.9 petabits per second through a single optical fiber – which is over 20 times the entire global internet traffic per second.
This was more than double their previous world record of 10.66 petabits per second, as per the press release.
Over 20 times the global internet traffic per second
Global internet traffic per second refers to the total volume of data transmitted across the entire global internet network in a single second. It includes all types of online activities, such as web browsing, video streaming, file downloads, online gaming, and any other data exchanged between devices connected to the internet worldwide.
While most of the world navigates the internet at a pace of a few hundred megabits per second, this groundbreaking speed achieved by Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) leaves even the speediest consumer connections in the dust.
To handle more internet traffic, NICT researchers explored multiplexing technologies that utilize space and wavelength in optical fiber communications. It’s like widening roads, using various lanes and traffic signals to make the internet faster and handle more data.
Breakthrough in data transmission
The researchers found that each core in the fiber cable could transmit data at a speed between 0.3 to 0.7 petabits per second. When they added up all the cores, the total speed reached 22.9 petabits per second.
The NICT team accomplished this feat by embracing cutting-edge technologies. Rather than relying on a solitary data-transmitting core, their cable has 38 cores, each capable of transmitting data in three modes, totaling an impressive 114 spatial channels.
This increases the total transmission capacity by using various independent data channels across different wavelength bands.
Each mode is nestled in its spatial channel, with 750 wavelength channels across the S, C, and L bands, culminating in a bandwidth of 18.8 terahertz.
This concoction results in a data transmission rate of 22.9 petabits per second. The NICT experts hint that with further optimization in error correction, the system could potentially rev up to an eye-watering 24.7 petabits per second, which is over 1,000 times faster than current optical fiber communication systems.
“Demo is a major step toward the realization of future ultra-large capacity optical communication networks,” said the researchers in the press release.
NASA’s internet speed seems like dial-up in comparison.
The paper was presented at the 49th European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC 2023) in October.
