STREAMING

Scientists can download all content from Netflix in less than a second

Imagine the opportunity - download your entire Netflix movie library in less than a second. Unfortunately, real users will not see this soon, but scientists and experts from the UK and Japan have set a new record for the speed of data transmission over the Internet using a fiber optic channel. The value was 178 Tbit/s or 178 million Mbit/s.
In comparison, the fastest commercially available Internet is used in Japan today. There, the connection speed can reach 10 Gbps. Even the Energy Sciences Network's high-speed computer network, which serves scientists from the United States Department of Energy and its employees around the world, is capable of delivering only 400 Gbps at its peak.
Scientists and engineers from Japan KDDI Research, University College London and Xtera's subsea communications cable installation service have set a new data rate record. Together, they developed new technologies that allow more data to be transferred using the existing fiber optic infrastructure.
In most cases, the current capabilities of optical fiber allow the transmission of a signal with a frequency of up to 4.5 THz, some innovative solutions, which are just beginning to enter commercial operation, allow to increase the bandwidth range to 9 THz. In turn, the new system allows the transmission of signals with a frequency of 16.8 THz.
To set a record for the data transmission rate, experts applied several technologies to amplify the signal strength, based on the geometric modulation method of the signal constellation. It allows to minimize the possibility of distortion of the signal during its transmission, using patterns of combinations of signals that allow the most efficient use of the phase, brightness, polarization properties of the light, as well as manipulate each individual wavelength.
Since this technology can use the existing fiber optic infrastructure to operate, it will be much easier and cheaper to integrate it for commercial use than other experimental developments in this area. Just update the signal amplifiers located 40 to 100 km from each other, without changing the fiber optic cables themselves. The researchers explain that the installation of an updated signal amplifier will cost around 1,000, and the cost of laying a kilometer of fiber optic cable in an urban environment can reach 93,000.

AVnews