If you are someone who gets extremely upset with slow internet speeds (who doesn’t?), then you are going to be delighted beyond belief after you read this.
In recent news, it has been discovered that researchers were able to crack the formulae for creating the fastest ever internet connection in the world. Wait, we are not talking about a couple of extra gigabytes here.
This connection can easily help you download the entire Netflix library in one second. Yes, you read that correctly! Sounds too good to be true? Let’s dig into it.
This particular mind-blowing breakthrough was first reported in IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, under the title – ‘Optical Fibre Capacity Optimisation via Continuous Bandwidth Amplification and Geometric Shaping’.
A team of researchers from the University of College London were able to successfully transmit data at the earth-shattering internet speed of 178 terabits per second (22250000 Mbps).
Just to put things in perspective, the world’s most popular OTT platform Netflix has over 13,900 titles. Due to the technology advancement in the last few years, Netflix is able to reduce the size of these titles by implementing the latest compression techniques without compromising with the quality of content. Still, this huge library of original and licensed content amounts to over 177.6 terabits. Netflix reportedly accounts for 12.6% of total downstream internet traffic worldwide.
By being a fifth faster than the previously recorded speed, this connection has been able to snatch the title of fastest ever internet speed transmission.
Currently, any other commercial internet connection used in the entire world provides half the speed when compared to this. Also, researches have noted that this speed is very close to the theoretical limit of data transmission which was first proposed by Claude Shannon, an American mathematician in 1949.
What Went Into Making It Possible?
According to the researches who conducted this study, they transmitted the data via a much wider range of colours than what’s generally used in a normal optical fibre. This, in turn, was able to provide them with the result of increased speed.
The researchers further went on to explain how, in order to make the best use of the properties of light which help transmit data, they combined various different amplifier technologies to specifically manipulate each individual wavelength.
Now, the sad news here is – this ultrafast internet speed is more likely to remain at the level of proof of concept only. It could very well take a few more years until home broadband users can get their hands on this miraculously fast connection.
Researchers who conducted the study and created it have remarked that it will relatively be easy to apply this technology on the existing infrastructure for internet transmission. They have also claimed that it will reasonably be cost-effective as well.
All that is needed are upgraded amplifiers that can be used on optical fibre routes which would cost £16,000 when compared to the currently used amplifiers of £450,000 per kilometre.
All in all, it is well understood that such increased speeds will definitely benefit us in the future. This study also proves that it is getting easier every passing day to create and store information and thus it will become an important benchmark to meet the future data transmission needs.
The researchers have concluded that such blazing fast speeds will also be required for ‘as yet unthought-of applications’ that holds the potential of transforming people’s lives.
What’s your take on the path-breaking invention in the internet speed? Do let us know your views in the comment section below.
