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Published 11:48 IST, August 24th 2020

London based UCL researchers hit a new world record for fastest data transmission

London based researchers broke the previous record of 172 terabits per second achieved by Japan's National Institute for Communications Technology in April.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
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A team of engineers at University College London (UCL) have broken the record for developing the world's fastest data transmission, with fifth faster speed that can download Netflix’s every movie in less than one second. According to reports, the UCL team achieved internet speed rate of 178 terabits a second. London based researchers broke the previous record of 172 terabits per second achieved by Japan's National Institute for Communications Technology in April. Using 16.8 Terahertz (THz) wavelengths instead of usual 9 (THz) which is typically employed for optical fibres infrastructure, the team was able to attain the mind-blowing desirable results. 

According to reports, the method required enhanced amplifier technologies for carrying digital data through fibre-optic broadband faster, except in optical routes, and to generate power on a wider bandwidth with the help of Geometric Shaping (GS) constellations. This method cost the UCL $20,000. Further, $589,000 funding went into installing new optical cables. The team first experimented by downloading the world's first image of a black hole that apparently takes an hour to download. MIT observatory stored the image on at least on heavy hard drives. However, with the achieved internet speed, the UCL was able to download the huge black hole image in less than an hour. 

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Better use of optical fiber bandwidth

A lecturer at UCL and a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow and Lead author Dr. Galdino, said that state-of-the-art cloud data-center interconnections are capable of transporting up to 35 terabits a second. He added that the team was working with new technologies that utilizes more efficiently the existing infrastructure, making better use of optical fiber bandwidth and enabling a world record transmission rate of 178 terabits a second. Amid the pandemic, as the work culture is transported to the home based environment, researchers at UCL urged the need for faster internet speed. As per reports, almost 60 percent increase in the traffic online was witnessed over the last few months. 

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11:48 IST, August 24th 2020