Japanese Experiment Breaks Record for Internet Traffic Speed
2024-01-04
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1Japanese researchers say they have broken the world speed record for sending internet data.
2The recent experiment involved sending data over fiber-optic lines enclosed inside cables.
3Fiber optic technology is currently the fastest way to transport, or transmit, internet data.
4Fiber-optic cables use signals of light to send data over long distances.
5The fiber material is very thin, about one-tenth the thickness of a human hair.
6Fiber-optic technology was meant to replace an older internet transmission method that uses cables made mainly of copper wiring.
7This method can also carry data over the internet, but at much reduced speeds and capacity compared with fiber-optics.
8A report released last year by the United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU) suggested current worldwide internet data transmission is reaching full capacity levels.
9The Japanese data transmission experiment used fiber-optic cables.
10But the engineers involved made some changes to the cables in an effort to greatly expand speed and capacity.
11Such methods are known as multiplexing technologies.
12They aim to increase the amount and speed of internet data with existing transmission equipment.
13These technologies combine multiple communication signals into a single transmission line.
14One multiplexing technology - called Wave Division Multiplexing (or WDM) - aims to increase the wavelength capacity within transmission cables.
15Another method - called Space Division Multiplexing (or SDM) - can involve increasing the size or number of fiber-optic centers, called cores.
16Engineers from Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NCIT) led the researchers who carried out the experiment.
17The tests measured speeds in petabits. One petabit equals 1 million gigabits.
18The record transmission demonstrated a data transmission capacity of 22.9 petabits per second in a single fiber-optic cable.
19The previous record for data transmission was 10.66 petabits per second, set by the same team at NCIT.
20Major progress has been made in recent years in internet data transmission speeds.
21In October 2022, an international group of researchers announced they had broken the world record.
22That team reported they had reached a test rate of 1.8 petabits per second using a single optical cable.
23Results of the Japanese experiment were officially presented in a paper released at the 49th European Conference on Optical Communications in October.
24The team said it was able to beat the previous record by a large amount using new methods to expand and combine different WDM and SDM elements.
25The method used a fiber-optic cable that contained 38 cores.
26The researchers said expanding the number of cores resulted in an "increased number of optical paths" for high-speed data transmission.
27One researcher was Chigo Okonkwo of Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.
28He told the country's NL Times the rate of 22.9 petabits per second represented "about 20 times the global internet traffic per second."
29Okonkwo also noted the speed is about 229 times the total capacity of the kinds of fiber-optic cables currently in use today.
30Worldwide, the estimated average internet data transmission speed in 2023 was about 46.8 megabits per second, international research service Statista reports.
31The rate reached 118.7 megabits per second in Western Europe, while Northern Africa had the lowest estimated rate at 9.8, Statista said.
32The American-based Pew Research Center studies internet data transmission rates across the United States.
33Pew reports the fastest current data transmission method available in the U.S. - called Fiber to Home - is about 10 gigabits per second.
34This amount is equal to about 10,000 megabits per second.
35Most Americans receive much slower data transmission rates, an average of just under 50 megabits per second.
36Pew estimates Fiber to Home service only accounts for about 20 percent of the U.S. internet service market.
37The NCIT team described its latest test results as "a major step toward the realization of future ultra-large capacity optical communication networks."
38But in order to reach this goal, the team said its current methods must be further perfected.
39For example, the researchers pointed to one major issue that could delay future deployments of its super-fast fiber-optic system.
40This will be the need to complete "significant upgrades" to current telecommunication hardware systems in order to support the new cable technologies.
41I'm Bryan Lynn.
1Japanese researchers say they have broken the world speed record for sending internet data. 2The recent experiment involved sending data over fiber-optic lines enclosed inside cables. Fiber optic technology is currently the fastest way to transport, or transmit, internet data. 3Fiber-optic cables use signals of light to send data over long distances. The fiber material is very thin, about one-tenth the thickness of a human hair. 4Fiber-optic technology was meant to replace an older internet transmission method that uses cables made mainly of copper wiring. This method can also carry data over the internet, but at much reduced speeds and capacity compared with fiber-optics. 5A report released last year by the United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU) suggested current worldwide internet data transmission is reaching full capacity levels. 6The Japanese data transmission experiment used fiber-optic cables. But the engineers involved made some changes to the cables in an effort to greatly expand speed and capacity. 7Such methods are known as multiplexing technologies. They aim to increase the amount and speed of internet data with existing transmission equipment. These technologies combine multiple communication signals into a single transmission line. 8One multiplexing technology - called Wave Division Multiplexing (or WDM) - aims to increase the wavelength capacity within transmission cables. Another method - called Space Division Multiplexing (or SDM) - can involve increasing the size or number of fiber-optic centers, called cores. 9Engineers from Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NCIT) led the researchers who carried out the experiment. The tests measured speeds in petabits. One petabit equals 1 million gigabits. 10The record transmission demonstrated a data transmission capacity of 22.9 petabits per second in a single fiber-optic cable. The previous record for data transmission was 10.66 petabits per second, set by the same team at NCIT. 11Major progress has been made in recent years in internet data transmission speeds. In October 2022, an international group of researchers announced they had broken the world record. That team reported they had reached a test rate of 1.8 petabits per second using a single optical cable. 12Results of the Japanese experiment were officially presented in a paper released at the 49th European Conference on Optical Communications in October. The team said it was able to beat the previous record by a large amount using new methods to expand and combine different WDM and SDM elements. 13The method used a fiber-optic cable that contained 38 cores. The researchers said expanding the number of cores resulted in an "increased number of optical paths" for high-speed data transmission. 14One researcher was Chigo Okonkwo of Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. He told the country's NL Times the rate of 22.9 petabits per second represented "about 20 times the global internet traffic per second." Okonkwo also noted the speed is about 229 times the total capacity of the kinds of fiber-optic cables currently in use today. 15Worldwide, the estimated average internet data transmission speed in 2023 was about 46.8 megabits per second, international research service Statista reports. The rate reached 118.7 megabits per second in Western Europe, while Northern Africa had the lowest estimated rate at 9.8, Statista said. 16The American-based Pew Research Center studies internet data transmission rates across the United States. Pew reports the fastest current data transmission method available in the U.S. - called Fiber to Home - is about 10 gigabits per second. This amount is equal to about 10,000 megabits per second. 17Most Americans receive much slower data transmission rates, an average of just under 50 megabits per second. Pew estimates Fiber to Home service only accounts for about 20 percent of the U.S. internet service market. 18The NCIT team described its latest test results as "a major step toward the realization of future ultra-large capacity optical communication networks." But in order to reach this goal, the team said its current methods must be further perfected. 19For example, the researchers pointed to one major issue that could delay future deployments of its super-fast fiber-optic system. This will be the need to complete "significant upgrades" to current telecommunication hardware systems in order to support the new cable technologies. 20I'm Bryan Lynn. 21The Associated Press and Reuters reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. 22_________________________________________ 23Words in This Story 24fiber optics - n. the use of very thin glass or plastic wires through which light can travel to carry data, especially for internet and computer applications 25cable - n. a set of wires covered by plastic coverings 26capacity - n. the total amount of something that can be produced or contained 27wavelength - n. the distance between two waves of energy 28upgrade - n. a piece of equipment or software that improves the quality or usefulness of a computer or machine