Engineers from Japan broke the record for data transmission. The team was able to transmit a data packet larger than 20 times the estimated global Internet traffic per second through a single fiber optic cable.
Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) recorded an absolutely insane data transfer rate of 22.9 Pbps (petabits per second), reports NewAtlas. A petabit consists of one million gigabits, so this speed is enough to transmit all Internet traffic 22 times (it is estimated at about 1 Pbit) in a row with the remaining bandwidth. Even NASA only has 46 Tbps or 0.046 Pbps.
To achieve this milestone, NICT took advantage of several new technologies. Instead of one core for data transmission, the cable contains 38 cores, each of which can transmit data in three modes – a total of 114 spatial channels. Each mode in each spatial channel consists of 750 wave channels in three bands (S, C and L), providing a bandwidth of 18.8 THz.
This results in a data transfer rate of 22.9 Pbps, more than double the previous record set in 2020. The team says error correction optimizations could allow the system in its current form to achieve speeds of up to 24.7 Pbps.
However, don't expect to be able to download all of Netflix's content in a split second anytime soon. Decoding the data involves complex signal processing, which will require specialized devices called MIMO receivers to be installed throughout the network. And the cost of this cable will almost certainly be high, not to mention potential problems with mass production.