VOA科学技术2024--Japanese Experiment Breaks Record for Internet Traffic Speed

Japanese researchers say they have broken the world speed record for sending internet data.

The recent experiment involved sending data over fiber¹-optic lines enclosed inside cables. Fiber optic technology is currently the fastest way to transport, or transmit, internet data.

Fiber-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.

Fiber-optic technology was meant to replace an older internet transmission method that uses cables made mainly of copper² wiring. This method can also carry data over the internet, but at much reduced speeds and capacity compared with fiber-optics.

A report released last year by the United Nations' International Telecommunication³ Union (ITU) suggested current worldwide internet data transmission is reaching full capacity levels.

The 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.

Such 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.

One multiplexing technology – called Wave Division Multiplexing (or WDM) – aims to increase the wavelength⁴ 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.

Engineers 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.

The 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.

Major 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.

Results 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.

The 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.

One 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 noted⁵ the speed is about 229 times the total capacity of the kinds of fiber-optic cables currently in use today.

Worldwide, 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.

The 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.

Most 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.

The NCIT team described its latest test results as "a major step toward the realization⁶ 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.

For example, the researchers pointed⁷ 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.

Words in This Story

fiber 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

cable – n. a set of wires covered by plastic coverings

capacity – n. the total amount of something that can be produced or contained

wavelength – n. the distance between two waves of energy

upgrade – n. a piece of equipment or software that improves the quality or usefulness of a computer or machine

1 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

2 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

3 telecommunication   

n.电信，远距离通信

参考例句：

• Telecommunication is an industry of service.电信业是一个服务型的行业。
• I only care about the telecommunication quality and the charge.我只关心通信质量和资费两个方面。

4 wavelength   

n.波长

参考例句：

• The authorities were unable to jam this wavelength.当局无法干扰这一波长。
• Radio One has broadcast on this wavelength for years.广播1台已经用这个波长广播多年了。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。