Internet speed records of tens of gigabits per second a decade ago now seem "common". According to the material published by researchers at the National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT) in Japan, they just broke the record for data transfer over the internet, reaching an incredible 319 Tbps (terabits per second).
To get a better idea of the feat, in August 2020 a team of British and Japanese scientists managed to reach a transfer rate of 179 Tbps. However, as mentioned above, now the mark of 319 Tbps has been reached, almost 2 times higher than last year.
Internet record in Japan
During the phases of the experiment, the NICT was virtually updating all the information. A four-core optical fiber was used and the researchers fired a combo of 552-channel lasers at various wavelengths through amplifiers. The test was performed only in the laboratory and used a spiral fiber to transmit data over a simulated distance of approximately 3000 km without losing signal quality or speed.
Study will still take time to become generally available for application
As you can imagine, this type of experiment can take a long time to have a significant impact for commercial application. One of the reasons that prevent deployment is the four fiber cores that can easily raise the cost considerably for using the technology. Because of this, it is believed that Internet backbones or other large projects are more likely to be used because the need for high capacity is greater than the cost.
New generation of fiber optics could impact internet usage
According to the NICT researchers, they imagine that next-generation fiber production technologies (after 5G) will impact internet usage. It is possible to access news simply by switching to faster internet access.
