The pandemic has increased our reliance on the internet to a massive extent. Everything happens over the internet now, be it meetings, classes, conferences, meet-ups, and even family functions. Earlier its dependence was limited to video or game streaming. While service providers are working on 5G and other related technology, the researchers at Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communication Technology were also working hard on improving data speed. Their hard work paid off as they managed to set the record for internet speed at 319Tbps. This figure is almost double the speed of the earlier record of 178Tbps which was achieved as a result of a joint project between the UK and Japan.
The NICT had to work on every single level of the data transmission to achieve this feat. They used a transmission pipeline with a four-core fibre optic cable which was the same size as the standard single-core fibre. It also used a 552-channel comb which was used to fire lasers of varying wavelengths through amplifiers made up of rare earth minerals. This had made the experiment very expensive.
The lab environment favoured the data transmission to a great extent. Real-world obstacles were absent, thereby maintaining optimum signal quality and speed. The implementation of the technology in the real world would take time and the same result won’t be guaranteed then. But over time, this technology will prove to be very useful.
