MODE-GAP, the European collaborative R&D project, has been officially recognised by the Guinness Book of Records for achieving the highest data transmission rate over hollow-core optical fibre. Supported within the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme the project has brought together leading European organisations to address methods of resolving the future communication network capacity crunch.
Collaborating within the MODE-GAP project, scientists and engineers have successfully achieved the world’s highest data transmission rate of 57.6Tb/s (gross rate of 73.7Tb/s) over hollow core optical fibre on Coriant’s testbed facility. This record is an astoundingly 50 times faster than the previous record.
Steering the success of the collaboration, Project Manager Dr. Ian Giles, says: “We are delighted that the work has achieved something so ground-breaking by potentially increasing the capacity of broadband core networks. The project is addressing several possible architecture solutions for Space Division Multiplexing (SDM) including the use of hollow core fibre, which is perhaps one of the more advanced approaches. All of the partners contributed to the record results and recognition of this project, with an official Guinness World Record confirms the value of collaborative R&D projects for Europe.”
The project has also made major achievements and world firsts in other areas of its work in pushing high capacity transmission networks, including the first field trial of SDM with live traffic. MODE-GAP is continuing to explore cutting edge solutions to develop the next generation internet infrastructure with a primary goal of increasing the traffic handling capability of optical networks. The project has been highly successful in that it has now been extended for a further 6 months to explore additional enhancements.
The record, which was previously acknowledged at the OFC conference in March, has followed a number of records achieved by MODE-GAP. In recent years, MODE-GAP achieved record transmission results over hollow core photonic band gap fibres for transmission in the 2000nm region, offering increased bandwidth opportunities. The project also achieved success in the areas of Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM) multimode fibres, from basic fibre and components development through to subsystems and full system validation.
Such research areas have been investigated thoroughly and driven by key European organisations, industry organisations and academia* collaborating on the project with the main objective of providing solutions to combat the capacity crunch.
Professor David Richardson, Optoelectronics Research Centre at University of Southampton says: “The MODE-GAP project has exceeded expectations in terms of technological innovation and breakthroughs. MODE-GAP has shown the potential of hollow core photonic band gap fibres to compete with conventional solid core fibre for telecommunications applications. With this wealth of knowledge and the recognised success from the Guinness World record, we are confident that our research will continue to produce many more achievements.”
Professor David Richardson continues: “Hollow core photonic band gap fibres provide a significant potential solution towards increasing transmission capacity through higher optical amplification bandwidth and virtually non-existing nonlinear distortions. With the combination of SDM technology, hollow core fibres could increase capacity 100 times greater than current infrastructure systems. Low latency characteristics also give potential in time of flight critical data network scenarios. The Guinness record is a testament to the success of the project.”
What is MODE-GAP
MODE-GAP is a key project seeking to provide Europe with a lead in the development of the next generation internet infrastructure to address the potential capacity crunch, as traffic on the world’s optical networks continues to increase dramatically. Combining the expertise of world-leading photonics partners, the project is developing transmission technologies based on specialist long-haul transmission fibres, and associated enabling technologies. These include novel rare-earth doped optical amplifiers, transmitter and receiver components and data processing techniques to increase the capacity of broadband networks.
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