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University of Illinois Transmits Record 57Gbps Through Fiber Optic Lines (digitaltrends.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the that's-a-lot-of-data dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Digital Trends: Engineers at the University of Illinois have set a new record for fiber-optic data transmission, breaking previous theories that fiber optics have a limit in how much data they can carry. The engineers transmitted 57Gbps of error-free data at room temperature. The group, led by Professor Milton Feng, improved on its previous work in 2014, when it achieved 40Gbps. The keywords here are "error free," which is what makes this research unique from others that claim faster speeds. Fang said, "There is a lot of data out there, but if your data transmission is not fast enough, you cannot use data that's been collected; you cannot use upcoming technologies that use large data streams, like virtual reality. The direction toward fiber-optic communication is going to increase because there's a higher speed data rate, especially over distance." Engadget writes in an update to a similar report: "Reader Tanj notes that this is specifically a record for VCSEL (vertical cavity surface-emitting laser) fiber, not fiber as a whole."

34 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Re: What was the content by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

    We know it wasn't virtual reality streams, which they say will need this. Don't believe it - the future is all reality shows and reruns.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  2. Standard units please by sjbe · · Score: 4, Funny

    Please convert to standard units Library Of Congress's transmitted per micro-fortnight

    1. Re:Standard units please by Iamthecheese · · Score: 1

      Going by the book definition of 10 TB. (conveniently bypassing the question of digital archives) According to Wolfram Alpha a microfortnight is 1.21 seconds. 57 GB/s is 68.97 GB/mFn. Divide by 10,000 and you have:

      .006897 LoC/GB/mFn

      --
      If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
    2. Re:Standard units please by Sir+Holo · · Score: 1

      As long as your meter stick has nanometer markings on it.

      If you know what material your meter stick is made from, you can use it to measure distances on the nanometer scale.

      But only over short distances. Tiny temperature fluctuations (just touching it) will change the length of the meter stick due to thermal expansion.

  3. So much slower than 100GBase-RZ...? by ffkom · · Score: 4, Informative

    Excuse me, but even after reading the linked article it eludes me how this is an advancement over existing technology like 100GBase-ZR EtherNet lines (operating at ~ 120 Gbaud per fiber)?

    1. Re: So much slower than 100GBase-RZ...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I thought we were way past the Tbps mark
      http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/192929-255tbps-worlds-fastest-network-could-carry-all-the-internet-traffic-single-fiber

    2. Re: So much slower than 100GBase-RZ...? by ffkom · · Score: 1

      But still, the above linked 100GBase-ZR specs make use of only one "color" and a single fibre - for a higher data rate.

    3. Re: So much slower than 100GBase-RZ...? by Geordish · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not quite. Those optics use DP-QPSK, which uses mathematical magic to cram 4 bits worth of information into one symbol. This means the optics only need to operate at 25Gbps to supply a 100Gbps line rate.

      DP-QPSK is a whole load of magic I don't understand.

      If DP-QPSK can be used with this technology, it seems to imply 200Gbps optics are not too far away.

    4. Re: So much slower than 100GBase-RZ...? by Geordish · · Score: 1

      Nope, that is 100Gbase-(L/S/E)R4. ZR uses DP-QSPK.

    5. Re: So much slower than 100GBase-RZ...? by ChrisSlicks · · Score: 1

      The article is terrible so we don't really know what was done to achieve the results (other than it was a single fiber). Also QPSK actually only doubles the symbol rate as it sends 2-bits of information per symbol (4 possible permutations).

    6. Re: So much slower than 100GBase-RZ...? by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I love it when you talk dirty. ;-)

      No, seriously, I do. I like it when I have to double click to highlight a word, right click, search, and then figure out which result is most meaningful. I learn new and interesting ways to break things.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    7. Re:So much slower than 100GBase-RZ...? by Lumpy · · Score: 2

      Because 100GBase-ZR is useless over a 1000 mile long single mode fiber.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    8. Re: So much slower than 100GBase-RZ...? by Geordish · · Score: 1

      Yes, QPSK does send 2 symbols, but DP-QPSK doubles that to 4 symbols.

    9. Re:So much slower than 100GBase-RZ...? by ffkom · · Score: 1

      What makes you assume the technology described in the linked article is good for more than the 80+ kilometers that 100GBase-RZ achieves?

    10. Re:So much slower than 100GBase-RZ...? by ChumpusRex2003 · · Score: 1

      100GBase-ZR achieves its 120 Gbps line rate by using a complex modulation scheme to encode 3 bits per symbol. 2 bits are transmitted using QPSK and 1 bit is transmitted by choosing either horizontal or vertical polarization.

      The issue with long-haul transmission is that you only have a limited bandwidth available which works with optical amplifiers and avoids the water "dip". It's common to use DWDM techniques to cram multiple individual streams onto a single fiber. This yields just under 100 usable channels of 50 GHz bandwidth. The advantage of Juniper's proprietary "100GBase-ZR" protocol is that it needs only just over 40 GHz of bandwidth, so fits into a single channel.

      The technology described in the article is about a new type of VCSEL laser diode. These have been widely used as transmission elements, but have traditionally had limited on-off bandwidth, hence early 10 Gbps transceivers often used much more expensive lasers such as Fabry-Perot lasers, and devices operating on 25 Gbps lanes have resorted to the even more expensive Mach-Zender optical modulators. VCSELs are easy to fabricate and cheap, hence if a simple On-Off modulation is sufficient then they are ideal (not to mention that carrier-switched modulation is easy to demodulate, unlike the nightmare which is DP-QPSK). The disdvantage with OOK is that the bandwidth equals the symbol rate, so 50 Gbps OOK would not fit into a single 50 GHz channel with guard bands, and would require a larger channel allocation on a trunk fiber.

  4. Error free? Even more remarkable is (wait for it) by Provocateur · · Score: 1

    that the rooms at either end were at room temperature; just ask renown intellectual Mr Steven Wright.

    --
    WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  5. Re:Error free? Even more remarkable is (wait for i by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

    Aren't all rooms at "room temperature"? - Jerry Seinfeld*

    * this sounds like something he'd say.

  6. BT fiber @ 800Gbit nearly 3 years ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    https://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/05/24/015240/bt-runs-an-800gbps-channel-on-old-fiber

    1. Re:BT fiber @ 800Gbit nearly 3 years ago by Geordish · · Score: 1

      "The superchannel is an advanced dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) technique, created by combining multiple coherent optical signals into one channel"

  7. Error free? by rfengr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Lousy article; no details. There is no such thing as error free, so what is the threshold? 1E-9?

    1. Re:Error free? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Oh, you twat. If a transmitted unit contains an error it is retransmitted, which reduces the overall throughput. This is digital communications, so there is such a thing as error free.

  8. Error Free? by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

    For any reasonable bit error rate, it is entirely possible to build a chip that can do error correction at 57 Gbps.

    --
    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  9. Re: Record is over a petabit per second by Geordish · · Score: 1

    That was using multiple wavelengths on multiple fibres. This appears to be one wavelength on one fibre. Different kettle of fish.

    "Researchers from the NEC Labs in Princeton, NJ, USA, and from Corningâ(TM)s Sullivan Park Research Center in Corning, NY, successfully demonstrated ultra-high speed transmission with a capacity of 1.05 petabit/s (1015 bits per second) over novel multi-core fiber that contains 12 single-mode and two few-mode cores by employing the advanced space division multiplexing scheme and optical multiple-input multiple-output signal processing technique."

  10. Local speeds by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

    Researchers achieve 57Gbps through fiber optic lines. In local news, I'm still stuck at 15Mbps because Time Warner Cable is a local monopoly and thus has no incentive to upgrade their speeds.

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    1. Re:Local speeds by KGIII · · Score: 1

      At home, I pay for 12 and get about 14. Honestly, that's more than adequate for my needs. :/

      I do wish I could actually throttle it back a little and use some of it for upload as upload is only about 1.5 Mb/sec, averaged out. I'd go down to 10 down for 5 up. I'd still be fine. I host all sorts of things off it. I hang stuff off the network like a Christmas tree - though I do have three disparate lines and everything on the network is actually heavily locked down BUT I am, technically, using it right now.

      Right now, I'm connected via VNC and sending this to you. I've been doing this since September of last year when I hit the road. (It helps to have a static IP but that's not required.) Of course, only a certain subset of IPs are allowed to connect at all - the rest get dumped to the bit bucket - but, damn it, there's all sorts of neat things running. I just don't want *you* to access 'em without permission. ;-)

      As an aside, in the lower-right... Sometime in the past few days, a 1x1 pixel called js.gif has appeared. Doth the tracking pixel of doom rear its ugly head? (It's blocked by default so it's a silly looking failed loading icon - I've not yet masked it with uBlock.) Web beacons haven't died an ugly death yet? *sighs* I'm in the process of building a new site - in fact, a network of 'em (ideally). One of the things I'm trying really hard to do is to keep everything hosted locally. However, it's gonna end up with the almighty Google AdSense on it so I'll probably have that and the damned analytics. They're just too damned handy. However, I'll go so far as to tell everyone how to block 'em. ;-) (It's the principle, not the money - and a long story.)

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  11. Fiber optics have a limit by manu0601 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Summary says:

    breaking previous theories that fiber optics have a limit in how much data they can carry

    In other words, fiber optics would have no limit in how much data they can carry, which it utterly bullshit. How someone could write that?

  12. Re:Error free?Even more remarkable is (wait for it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    close but no cigar. google steven wright

    captcha "jammed" as in comedy

  13. Awesome by Dunbal · · Score: 1

    Able to reach your monthly data cap in less than 6 seconds!

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  14. Re: What was the content by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

    Even if it was for VR, I suspect it would be very easy to get away with literally streaming your game from scratch with only a 50mbit downstream link. They could always adopt the approach Blizzard uses to allow WoW to be played long before you finish downloading all of the game assets, and with a 50mbit link, it would be totally seamless.

  15. Re: Record is over a petabit per second by Geordish · · Score: 1

    Multiple cores, multiple fibres. Effectively the same thing. I believe this test was over 1 core. That's the big difference.

  16. Re:No hard drive can write data that fast by ledow · · Score: 1

    What idiot would use a hard drive to store and record everything they send? No, this is about processed data.

    P.S. Large storage arrays, especially those tied to high end data systems, can easily manage this.

    You think Amazon aren't pushing Gbps? Google? You think millions of people transferring stuff to their DropBox isn't collectively more than this?

    You really need to think before posting on an IT board.

  17. Re:Error free?Even more remarkable is (wait for it by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

    Watched a few videos of him. Thanks.

  18. Program a map to display frequency of data... by ChoosyBeggar · · Score: 1

    "At a hundred million megabytes per second, you begin to make out certain blocks in midtown Manhattan, outlines of hundred-year-old industrial parks ringing the old core of Atlanta...” -William Gibson, Neuromancer

  19. Re: Record is over a petabit per second by macpacheco · · Score: 1

    Its NEVER single fiber. Its always two strand (two fibers) one TX, one RX. DWDM requires one fiber for each lane.
    Anyhow, nobody lays optical cables with 2 strands for long range networks.
    Its always 12-288 strand cable. And 12 stand is being really cheap. 36 strand is a more common low end.
    So a 36 stand cable allows for 18 DWDM systems, 1 Tbps each, or 18Tbps of bandwidth on a low end cable.
    This is another case of state of the art (regardless of cost) advancing, which someday will trickle down to real world optical links on land networks first, then years later onto oceanic cables (which require very long distances between active regenerations).