Terabit data speeds in fiber optics are nothing new – they have been here for years – but they haven’t been really practical until now. This is because fiber optic systems are complex and costly, so making them for commercial use is quite difficult.
However, recently the Technical University of Munich, Nokia Bell Labs, and Deutsche Telekom have conducted a field trial involving real conditions, such as traffic levels and varying channel conditions, in which they showed 1 Tbps data speed.
The reason for their success is a new modulation technique called Probabilistic Constellation Shaping. Unlike the typical fiber, this technique doesn’t use all the networking’s constellation points equally – it prefers those with lower amplitudes, or those that are less susceptible to noise. This is what helped transmissions reach up to 30% further. In fact, this approach is so effective that the researchers got close to the theoretical peak data speeds possible for fiber connection.
Still, we won’t be seeing these terabit fiber lines in regular use yet, as it will take time to make commercially available lines, but this is definitely a significant development.
Source: Engadget (https://www.engadget.com/2016/09/18/nokia-terabit-fiber-optic-speeds/)
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