Japanese researchers recently set a new record for data transmission speed, achieving a maximum of 1.02 pb/s More importantly, this breakthrough was achieved on existing infrastructure compatible fiber optic cables. As a reference, 1 petabit is equivalent to 1million gigabits, that is to say, this new record is 100000 times that of the current home gigabit network.
Even the esnet6 network that NASA plans to launch in 2023 can only achieve 400 gb/s. According to the team, at the speed of 1 pb/s, theoretically you can play 10million 8K resolution video channels per second.
This new record was set by researchers at the National Institute of information and communication technology (NICT) in Japan using a variety of emerging technologies. First, the fiber contains four cores - glass tubes that transmit signals - rather than the usual core. Thanks to a technology called wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), the transmission bandwidth has been extended to a record 20 THz.
The bandwidth consists of a total of 801 wavelength channels distributed in three bands - the commonly used C-band and L-band, and the experimental S-band. With the help of other new optical amplification and signal modulation technologies, the team achieved a record speed of 1.02 pb/s and transmitted data through 51.7 km (32.1 miles) of optical cable.
This is not the first time that NICT scientists have exceeded the 1-pb/s data transmission milestone. In december2020, the team reported the current record of 1.01 pb/s, using single core optical cable and data coding as 15 "modes". Although this feat is impressive, it requires some complex signal processing to interpret the data, which means that if the technology is to be popularized on a real scale, application specific integrated circuits must be developed and deployed.
The new breakthrough is not only faster, but also each core transmits data in only one mode, which means that it can be read by widely used technologies. Most importantly, the diameter of the four core fiber optic cable is the same as that of the standard cable, which is 0.125 mm, which means that it should be compatible with the existing infrastructure and manufacturing process.