Japan breaks world's Internet speed record with 319 Terabits per second!

Japanese engineers just shattered the world record for the highest internet speed, achieving a data transfer speed of 319 TB/s.

An image of a fiber optic cable (Photo from A-D net)

Monster speed!

The new record was created on a line of fibers more than 1,864 miles (3,000 km) long. It is almost twice as fast as the previous record of 178 TB/s, which was documented less than a year ago.

The paper presented at the International Conference on Optical Fiber Communications last June explains that it was attained with fiber optic infrastructure with some modifications.

Instead of using the conventional standard core, the team reported that they have used 4 cores. These cores are glass tubes positioned within the fibers that transmit the data. 

A new data transfer method breaks signals up into various wavelengths then is sent simultaneously. This technique is known as wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM).

To transmit more data, the researchers used a seldom-employed third "band", extending the distance via many optical amplification technologies.

The new system starts the transmission process with a 552-channel cam laser fired at various wavelengths. To create apparent signal sequences, dual-polarization modulation is applied to this light. After that, each of these signal sequences is fed into one of the optical fiber's four cores.

With the use of 70 km of optical fiber, data is carried until they reach optical amplifiers. The amplifiers are used to increase the signal. The signal runs through two new types of fiber amplifiers: one doped in thulium and the other in erbium. Lastly, it continues on its path in the traditional Raman amplification process.

Data is transferred via 70 kilometers of optical fiber until it reaches optical amplifiers, which boosts the signal on its long journey. The signal passes through two new types of fiber amplifiers, one doped in thulium and the other in erbium, before continuing on its path in the traditional Raman amplification process.

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Source: Interesting Engineering