Researchers at University College London Set a New World Record for Fastest Internet
By Joanna Nelius, Gizmodo
August 20, 2020 -- Imagine being able to
download every single movie and TV show on Netflix in less than a second.
Thousands of titles in a literal snap. Researchers at University College
London have the ability to do that with a new world record they set for
fastest internet—178 terabits a second, or 178,000 Gbps. Lecturer and Royal
Academy of Engineering Research Fellow Dr. Lidia Galdino and team collaborated
with Xtera and KDDI Research on the project.
According to UCL’s announcement, that
speed is “double the capacity of any system currently deployed in the
world.” To get that insanely fast speed, UCL researchers used a greater
range of wavelengths than what’s typically used in fiber-optic cables and
different amplifier technologies to boost the signal. Fiber-optic cables tend
to absorb signals (well, the photons that are transmitted through the cable to
make the signal) after a few miles because of the material the cables are made
out of. Repeaters, which are like a wifi extender, are needed to re-transmit
those signals so they can travel for a longer distance. So what the researchers
managed to do is not only extend the signal, but also massively amplify it.
Current infrastructure uses a limited
spectrum bandwidth of 4.5THz and 9THz commercial bandwidth is just starting to
enter the market. 5G on the high-band or millimeter wave spectrum operates
on 24 GHz and above and can transmit data up to at rate of 1 to 3 Gbps. But the
internet speed Dr. Galdino and team achieved uses a 16.8THz bandwidth to get
178,000Gbps. Makes 5G seem rather slow when you put
those numbers side by side.
This kind of system would be cheap to
integrate with our existing internet infrastructure, too. According to UCL,
upgrading amplifiers at certain intervals would be a fraction of what it would
cost to install new optical fiber cables, roughly $21,100 every 25-62 miles (40-100
km) versus $594,000 every 0.62 miles (1 km), based on today’s conversation
rate of £1 to $1.32). This sounds like it could be a worthwhile solution
to help shrink the digital divide, something that the current pandemic has
further illustrated the seriousness of.
“Independent of the covid-19 crisis,
internet traffic has increased exponentially over the last 10 years and this
whole growth in data demand is related to the cost per bit going down,” Dr.
Galdino said to UCL. “The development of new technologies is crucial to
maintaining this trend towards lower costs while meeting future data rate
demands that will continue to increase, with as yet unthought-of applications
that will transform people’s lives,”
Internet traffic has surged due to many
now working or attending school from home, in addition to a higher demand
of digitally-delivered entertainment like streaming movies and playing
videogames online. The internet is holding strong for now, but its clearer than
ever that it’s woefully inadequate because many do not have reliable
or affordable access to it—an issue long before the current pandemic.
The entire published paper, “Optical
Fibre Capacity Optimisation via Continuous Bandwidth Amplification and
Geometric Shaping,” is available to read at IEEE
Photonics Technology Letters.
https://gizmodo.com/researchers-at-university-college-london-set-a-new-worl-1844789699
No comments:
Post a Comment