Espoo, Finland – October 17, 2012
Capacity double that required for world’s population to be on simultaneous phone calls
Nokia Siemens Networks, and a consortium of R&D partners, have successfully demonstrated a capacity record using light to transmit information down commercially deployed multi-mode optical fiber. The demonstration* achieved a 6-fold increase in optical data speed to 57.6 terabit per second (Tbps), compared to 9.6 Tbps speed available with today’s commercial systems. The technique employed spatial multiplexing over solid-core multi-mode fiber. This capacity breakthrough has been recognized at the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC).
“With this record data rate we can transmit, over a single fiber, double the capacity required for 7 billion people – the world’s population – to be connected over simultaneous phone calls,” said Robert Richter, head of R&D optical networks at Nokia Siemens Networks. “But this is only the beginning. By 2020, we will be able to support 100 times this capacity, which means that a single fiber would have enough capacity to deliver 40 million different TV streams – for example one for every household in Germany – simultaneously.”
In addition, the spatial multiplexing technology is expected to have a huge impact on the world economy for example when combined with hollow-core photonic band gap fibers. High-frequency trading firms, for example, which rely on fast data connections and today account for 73% of the entire US equity trading volume, are expected to benefit from the low latency of optical transmission.**
The technical advance has been achieved by the ModeGap consortium, whose members include Nokia Siemens Networks, the University of Southampton and the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, among others***. The project was partially funded by the European Union under its seventh framework program. Under the scope of the project, components, fiber and digital signal processing concepts are being developed by the consortium for spatial multiplexing over photonic band gap fibers in the 1.55 and 2 micrometer region.
“Nokia Siemens Networks is our preferred partner in the industry, as the company provides a crucial vision of system requirements and technology roadmaps,” said Prof. David J. Richardson from the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) at Southampton University, which is renowned for its groundbreaking research in optical communication. “It was the system know-how of the Nokia Siemens Networks research team that made the record possible. Our university is very much looking forward to continuing this fruitful cooperation.”
The technical details of the demonstration were presented during the prestigious European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) in Amsterdam, as a contribution to the event’s post-deadline session.****
About Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks is the world’s specialist in mobile broadband. From the first ever call on GSM, to the first call on LTE, we operate at the forefront of each generation of mobile technology. Our global experts invent the new capabilities our customers need in their networks. We provide the world’s most efficient mobile networks, the intelligence to maximize the value of those networks, and the services to make it all work seamlessly.
With headquarters in Espoo, Finland, we operate in over 150 countries and had net sales of over 14 billion euros in 2011. http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com
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Notes:
* The demonstration was conducted over solid-core multi-mode fiber using spatial multiplexing with three propagating modes in combination with higher-order modulation. Transmissions of 200 Gbps per wavelength and mode were used, with 96 channels for each of the three spatial modes with 50 GHz spacing. The modulation format was 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) transmitted using polarization multiplexing. Accounting for overhead of Ethernet and forward error correction, a gross rate of 256 Gbps was transmitted per wavelength and mode. The transmission distance was limited to 119 kilometer with true inline multi-mode amplification and will be increased to long-haul reach in follow-up experiments. On the receiver side, proprietary digital signal processing algorithms were used to remove the cross talks between modes and recover the transmitted information.
** Hollow core photonic bandgap fibers offer low attenuation, low nonlinearity, low latency, as well as high bandwidth. Spatial multiplexing technology combined with photonic band gap fibers is expected to allow 100 times the capacity of current single-mode systems and low latency over a single fiber.
*** The ModeGap consortium includes Nokia Siemens Networks, the University of Southampton, University College Cork, Phoenix Photonics Limited, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, OFS Fitel Denmark APS, Eblana Photonics Limited, and Regie Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielle.
**** ECOC accepts a number of post-deadline papers after the submission deadline to give conference participants an opportunity to hear new and significant results in rapidly advancing, innovative areas. The papers to be presented are refereed and selected during the conference, and only papers judged to be excellent and compelling are accepted for presentation in post-deadline sessions.
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