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Imagine downloading 10,000 4K movies in just a second. A team of Japanese researchers has achieved such a mind-blowing internet speedusing a specially designed optical fiber that’s no thicker than what we use today.
The researchers set a new world record, transmitting 1.02 petabits (1.02 x 106 GB) of data per second over a distance of 1,808 kilometers (~1,118 miles) using their special coupled 19-core optical fiber. However, this achievement isn’t just about faster internet.
In their new study, the researchers claim that their newly developed optical-fiber technology can help us prepare our networks for a future where data traffic will skyrocket, thanks to AI, 6G, the Internet of Things, and beyond.
Long-distance transmission has always been challenging. That’s because the signal weakens as it travels, and amplifying it across many fiber cores without creating interference is a major technical challenge. The study authors tackled the problem by designing a special type of optical fiber—a 19-core fiber.
Think of it like replacing a single-lane road with a 19-lane superhighway, all bundled into a fiber just 0.125 mm thick, the same size as those used in existing infrastructure. Each core carried data independently, and together they allowed a huge amount of information to move simultaneously.
The researchers also developed a smart amplification system. Optical signals lose strength as they move along the fiber, so amplifiers are used to boost them. However, there’s one catch: each core had to be amplified at the same time, and across two different bands of light (C-band and L-band).
The team built a system that used a combination of special amplifiers to do this in all 19 cores without mixing up the signals. They set up 19 recirculating loops, each using one core of the fiber, and passed the signals through them 21 times to simulate a total distance of 1,808 kilometers.
At the end of the journey, a 19-channel receiver caught the signals, and a multi-input multi-output (MIMO)-based digital processor cleaned them up, removing interference and calculating the data rate.
The result was astonishing. A total capacity of 1.02 petabits per second over 1,808 km was achieved, setting a new world record for optical fibercommunication using standard-sized fibers. Even more impressive, the capacity-distance product, a key measure of fiber performance, reached 1.86 exabits per second-km, the highest ever recorded.
A table comparing the performance of different fiber-optic cables. Source: NICT
This isn’t the first time a 19-core optical fiber has been put to the test. “The transmission over an earlier generation of 19-core coupled-core fiber was limited to 1.7 petabits per second over a relatively short distance of 63.5 km,” the study authors added.
However, this is indeed the first time that this revolutionary technology has broken the distance limits by carrying data over 1,800 km. This success could completely reshape how we build the internet of tomorrow.
As the world moves into the post-5G era, with self-driving cars, AI assistants, real-time VR, and billions of connected devices, we’ll need massive data highways to keep everything running.
“In the post-5G society, the volume of data traffic is expected to increase explosively due to new communication services, and the realization of advanced information and communication infrastructure is required,” the study authors added.
Source: https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/19-core-optical-fiber-for-faster-internet
The researchers set a new world record, transmitting 1.02 petabits (1.02 x 106 GB) of data per second over a distance of 1,808 kilometers (~1,118 miles) using their special coupled 19-core optical fiber. However, this achievement isn’t just about faster internet.
In their new study, the researchers claim that their newly developed optical-fiber technology can help us prepare our networks for a future where data traffic will skyrocket, thanks to AI, 6G, the Internet of Things, and beyond.
The science of insane internet speed
For years, scientists have tried to increase the amount of data that can travel through optical fibers. While they’ve managed to send petabits per second before, they could only do it over short distances (less than 1,000 km or 621 miles).Long-distance transmission has always been challenging. That’s because the signal weakens as it travels, and amplifying it across many fiber cores without creating interference is a major technical challenge. The study authors tackled the problem by designing a special type of optical fiber—a 19-core fiber.
Think of it like replacing a single-lane road with a 19-lane superhighway, all bundled into a fiber just 0.125 mm thick, the same size as those used in existing infrastructure. Each core carried data independently, and together they allowed a huge amount of information to move simultaneously.
The researchers also developed a smart amplification system. Optical signals lose strength as they move along the fiber, so amplifiers are used to boost them. However, there’s one catch: each core had to be amplified at the same time, and across two different bands of light (C-band and L-band).
The team built a system that used a combination of special amplifiers to do this in all 19 cores without mixing up the signals. They set up 19 recirculating loops, each using one core of the fiber, and passed the signals through them 21 times to simulate a total distance of 1,808 kilometers.
At the end of the journey, a 19-channel receiver caught the signals, and a multi-input multi-output (MIMO)-based digital processor cleaned them up, removing interference and calculating the data rate.
The result was astonishing. A total capacity of 1.02 petabits per second over 1,808 km was achieved, setting a new world record for optical fibercommunication using standard-sized fibers. Even more impressive, the capacity-distance product, a key measure of fiber performance, reached 1.86 exabits per second-km, the highest ever recorded.
A powerful and practical fiber technology
This isn’t the first time a 19-core optical fiber has been put to the test. “The transmission over an earlier generation of 19-core coupled-core fiber was limited to 1.7 petabits per second over a relatively short distance of 63.5 km,” the study authors added.
However, this is indeed the first time that this revolutionary technology has broken the distance limits by carrying data over 1,800 km. This success could completely reshape how we build the internet of tomorrow.
As the world moves into the post-5G era, with self-driving cars, AI assistants, real-time VR, and billions of connected devices, we’ll need massive data highways to keep everything running.
“In the post-5G society, the volume of data traffic is expected to increase explosively due to new communication services, and the realization of advanced information and communication infrastructure is required,” the study authors added.
Source: https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/19-core-optical-fiber-for-faster-internet
