The record was set in Japan
Japanese engineers have set a new record for data transfer speed over a single fiber optic cable (22.9 petabits per second, or 22.9 million Gbps), which is more than 20 times the entire world Internet traffic per second. This was more than double the previous world record of 10.66 petabits per second, according to the press release.
Global Internet traffic per second refers to the total amount of data transferred throughout the global Internet in one second. This includes all types of online activities such as web browsing, video streaming, file downloading, online gaming and any other data exchanged between internet-connected devices around the world.
One cable transmitted data at a speed of 22.9 million Gbit/s – this is 20 times faster
To handle more Internet traffic, NICT researchers studied multiplexing technologies that utilize space and wavelength in fiber optic communications. The researchers found that each strand of a fiber optic cable could transmit data at speeds of 0.3 to 0.7 petabits per second. The total speed reached 22.9 petabits per second.
The NICT team achieved this by applying advanced technology. This cable has 38 cores, each of which is capable of transmitting data in three modes, giving a total of an impressive 114 spatial channels. This increases overall throughput by using different independent data channels in different wavelength ranges.
NICT experts hint that with further optimization and bug fixes, the system could potentially reach an impressive 24.7 petabits per second, which is more than 1,000 times faster than current fiber optic communication systems.
