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A group of Australian academics and scholars has reportedly made a breakthrough that will revolutionise how people use the internet. The team from three universities has reportedly made a discovery that will allowed for internet speeds of up to 44.2 terabits per second – the fastest internet speed ever attained.
Australians are more familiar with slow internet speeds, but the work of the computer scientists from Monash, Swinburne and RMIT has resulted in speeds so fast that it would theoretically be possible to download approximately 1000 high definition movies in a single second.
To achieve these exceptional speeds the team reportedly used something called a micro-comb, which is a single device that is able to do the work of the approximately 80 lasers that are found in existing telecoms hardware and exchanges.
The addition of the micro-comb is the major change with already existing fibre-optics able to carry the volumes of data easily.
Commenting on the discovery Professor David Moss of Swinburne University told the BBC that the findings should be seen as “an enormous breakthrough.
“Micro-combs offer enormous promise for us to meet the world’s insatiable demand for bandwidth,” he said.
His colleague on the project, Bill Corcoran from Monash University added, “We’re currently getting a sneak peek of how the infrastructure for the internet will hold up in two to three years’ time, due to the unprecedented number of people using the internet for remote work, socialising and streaming.
“What our research demonstrates is the ability for fibres that we already have in the ground to be the backbone of communications networks now and in the future.”
“And it’s not just Netflix we’re talking about here, this data can be used for self-driving cars and future transportation, and it can help the medicine, education, finance, and e-commerce industries – as well as enable us to read with our grandchildren from kilometres away,” he said.