Nokia Siemens Networks, and a consortium of R&D partners, say they have successfully “demonstrated a capacity record using light to transmit information down commercially deployed multi-mode optical fiber.”
The demonstration achieved a six-fold increase in optical data speed to 57.6 terabit per second (Tbps), compared to 9.6 Tbps speed available with today’s commercial systems, they said in a release.
The technique, which employed spatial multiplexing over solid-core multi-mode fiber, has been recognized at the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC).
“With this record data rate we can transmit, over a single fiber, double the capacity required for 7 billion people -- the world’s population -- to be connected over simultaneous phone calls,” said Robert Richter, head of R&D optical networks at Nokia Siemens Networks. “But this is only the beginning. By 2020, we will be able to support 100 times this capacity, which means that a single fiber would have enough capacity to deliver 40 million different TV streams -- for example one for every household in Germany -- simultaneously.”
The technical details of the demonstration were presented recently at the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) in Amsterdam.