Data Transfer: Fantastic Speed and New Techniques
Illustration of light signals sent through optical fiber ( c )
Do you know what the Internet will always need? In greater throughput. Judge for yourself: the "home" revolution with 4K movies of hundreds of gigabytes is on the way. Behind a wave of video content or in parallel with it, virtual reality will develop. Speed growth is not the only area of research. Today we will tell you about the methods of data transfer, which so far look like real science fiction, but nevertheless can be implemented in the near future.
Good old cable
Researchers from the Danish Technical University in 2014 transmitted data on a single fiber-optic cable at a speed of 43 Tbps. Scientists used fiber with several cores. Nevertheless, the speed of 100 Tbit / s was achieved in 2011 in two ways : through a fiber optic core consisting of seven separate fibers, each of which provided a speed of 15.6 Tbit / s; in the second case, the data was “packed” by using laser beams of a different spectrum, with different amplitudes and phases of radiation - a total of 370 individual beams were used.
A scientific team of scientists from the Netherlands and the USA tried to squeeze everything out of one fiber cable, transmitting dataper kilometer at a speed of 255 Tbps. The researchers used an optical 7-core fiber (it is shown on the left in the picture above). What is the difference with ordinary fiber? It's simple, here light passes in each core, independently of the others. Black dots in the picture are air layers that isolate the cores from each other. Using this technology, in September 2012, it was possible to achieve a real transmission rate of one petabits per second over a cable with 12 light guide channels over a distance of 52.4 km.
Data light bulb
A few years ago, Li-Fi optical data transmission technology (short for Light Fidelity) appeared, in which a transceiver, indistinguishable from a conventional light bulb, blinks at a very high frequency, transmitting information along with the light flux. Reception and transmission of information in Li-Fi is carried out at speeds of about 150 Mbit / s. But the technology of Li-Fi, based on laser LEDs, can increase the speed of information transfer up to 100 Gbit / s. There is only one minus for such a device - it does not work outside the room.
pCell: myth or reality?
PCell technology should solve the problem of lack of frequencies in the spectrum, enabling each mobile device to work with the entire frequency band that the base station provides, regardless of the degree of congestion. According to the authors of the project from the American startup Artemis Networks, pCell will provide a speed of 50 times the current 4G LTE networks using the same frequency range and existing smartphones. Is it possible? At the end of last year, it became known that Nokia Networks will begin testing pCell technology. We only have to wait for the publication of the results of the study.
LLCD, or why do we need a laser
In 2013, the LADEE probe was successfully launched , on which the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration ( LLCD ) two-way laser communication system was installed . As a result, it was possible to achieve a data transfer rate of 622 Mbit / s from the device to the ground station and 20 Mbit / s from the ground station to the device located at a distance of 385,000 km from the Earth.
Is it possible to use a similar laser communication on Earth? Of course. Back in 2011, the results of an experiment on transmitting data on a directional laser beam with an amazing speed of 26 Tbps for a distance of 50 km were published. And then difficulties begin with the fact that the beam should be directed. In urban areas, this limitation almost eliminates the advantages of speed.
From brain to brain
One of the most fantastic methods of transmitting information is based on a simple assumption: why do we need additional channels, if ultimately we are talking about the exchange of information between one person and another. But what if you immediately connect the two brains?
Neurophysiologists from Duke University’s lab have combined the brains of the three monkeys into a “local network”. Monkeys, using the neural interface and seven hundred electrodes embedded in the motor cortex, controlled the movement of a virtual arm on a computer screen. Each animal was responsible for controlling two of the three axes of movement of the hand - X and Y, X and Z, Y and Z. Animals learned to jointly exchange information about the position of the "hand" on the screen and adjust its movement.
Body conductor
Telecommunications company NTT DoCoMo has developed Human Area Networking technology , in which a small transmitter creates an electromagnetic field around human skin. To pick up the signal on another part of the skin, a sensitive optical sensor is used, which receives the signal at a speed of about 10 Mbit / s. The human body, passing information through itself, allows you to implement interesting technological solutions. How do you like the idea of sending a document for printing by picking up a USB flash drive and touching the printer?
Through the whole universe
A team of physicists of the National Accelerator Laboratory named after Enrico Fermi (USA) in 2012 proposed a way to transfer data through any object: using neutrinos, a fundamental particle that interacts extremely weakly with matter. Thanks to the neutrino, scientists managed to transmit data through 240 meters of rock - an inaccessible indicator for any other wireless technologies. However, the data transfer rate was only 0.1 bits per second, but in the future a similar method can be used to communicate with distant space objects.
Using vodka
Yes, there is such an unusual method of data transmission, suitable for use in an environment that impedes the use of electromagnetic waves. The method is based on a molecular system that simulates work using volatile chemical compounds. Specialists used vodka vapors to transmit binary code: the presence of steam is 1 and the absence is 0. The message was sent using a desk fan to a sensor that analyzes the concentration of alcohol in the air.
Meat communications
The University of Illinois has set up an experiment to transmit ultrasound signals through animal tissue at speeds of up to 30 Mbps - a record in data transfer through meat!
The method was based on the technology of signal transmission under water. Using a 5 MHz sensor to send a signal through meat in a tank with water, in which there was a hydrophone for its reception, it was possible to transmit a signal at a speed of 20-30 Mbit / s. In the future, this technology will help broadcast live from the patient’s body or update human implant software.
Great Soviet Internet
The idea to transfer data using a pipeline was invented in the Soviet Union. Modern technology has significantly improved the method. Nethercomm patented Broadband-in-Gas (BiG) technology ten years ago to transmit signals via UWB (Ultra Wide Band) radio format at speeds up to 10 Gb / s. In the pipeline network, a chain of repeaters of a radio signal transmitted in the UWB band is mounted. Due to repeaters installed inside the pipe, this technology cannot be used inside water pipes. The radio signal is transmitted inside the existing pipes in parallel with the flow of domestic gas.
The methods of data transfer described above will change the world in the very near future. It is possible that the wide channels between the continents will make it possible to transfer all data centers to one favorable place - to Antarctica, for example, for free cooling. Communication with distant space objects can become available at high speeds. Normal wired Internet (however, like mobile) will reach incredible speed.
We do not know for sure which way the industry will develop. It is also possible that all the described methods will fade against the backdrop of new research in the next decade. In any case, times are changing, which means there will be other incredible data transfer speeds.