Internet connectivity consistency and speeds have improved significantly in recent times, particularly with fiber broadband internet services reaching more corners of India and the rest of the world. However, no matter how fast our home internet becomes, any consumer internet service remains only a fraction of what the outright fastest internet speed in the world can be, at any given point in time. While that continues to remain true, we now have an even faster internet speed record among us.
A team of researchers at Japan’s National Institute of Information and and Communications Technology (NICT) have come up with a new fiber optic broadband cable, and coupled it with more, innovative new technologies to create a new world record internet speed of 319 terabits per second, or 319 Tbps. The new speed was achieved thanks to the new fiber broadband cable, paired with laser beam projection and rare earth mineral amplification of signal, through an effective, simulated distance of just over 3,000km. Interestingly, it is almost twice as fast as the previous world record for the fastest internet speed, which was 178 Tbps.
The researchers are particularly upbeat about the new fiber broadband cable that they have built. According to them, the new fiber cable uses four cores instead of just one core found in a typical cable. The increased number of cores helped the team increase the total data throughput, and they further amplified it thanks to a 552-channel comb laser and the rare earth mineral amplifiers, which not only used the entire data throughput of the cable, but also led to reduced degeneration of data propulsion and higher efficiency over long distance transmissions.
As the researchers state, such a technology may not particularly make a big difference in terms of consumer internet services. However, where it can make a difference are in industrial applications, where they help industries such as space missions and critical defence projects relay vast troves of data from anywhere in the world to the other corner, in a matter of seconds. Commercially speaking, though, the technology may not be viable cost wise.
The full research paper has been published by the scientists, and the entire project can be read about here.
