Working from home over the past couple of months has brought home the need for faster and more reliable internet if this is the new normal. Help may be on its way.
Researchers from Monash University, Swinburne and RMIT have recorded the world’s fastest internet speed from a single optical chip of 44.2 terabits per second. At that speed, users can download 1,000 HD movies in a split second.
This is achieved through the use of a micro-comb, an optical chip replacing 80 separate infrared lasers capable of carrying communication signals.
This technology has the capacity to support the high-speed internet connections of 1.8 million households in Melbourne, Australia, at the same time, and billions across the world during peak periods.
“What our research demonstrates is the ability for fibres that we already have in the ground, thanks to the NBN project, to be the backbone of communications networks now and in the future. We’ve developed something that is scalable to meet future needs.”
What will be required on top of the new chip, is for the NBN to revert to the previously planned ‘fibre to the home’ infrastructure rather than persisting with copper from the node that currently exists.
