A new technology may finally solve the problem of internet connection slowing down by up to 30% during peak times, with a new hardware capable of providing consistently high-speed broadband connectivity

The new receiver technology developed by the University College London (UCL), allows dedicated data rates at more than 10,000 megabits-per-second (Mb/s), granting a super-fast connection at low-cost prices for UK homes.

“UK broadband speeds are woefully slow compared to many other countries, but this is not a technical limitation. Although 300 Mb/s may be available to some, average UK speeds are currently 36 Mb/s. By 2025, average speeds over 100 times faster will be required to meet increased demands for bandwidth-hungry applications such as ultra-high definition video, online gaming, and the Internet of Things,” observed lead researcher Dr Sezer Erkılınç (University College London, Electronic & Electrical Engineering).

“The future growth in the number of mobile devices, coupled with the promise of 5G to enable new services via smart devices, means we are likely to experience bandwidth restrictions; our new optical receiver technology will help combat this problem.”

The study was published on the 19th of October in the scientific journal Nature Communications and was funded by the EPSRC UNLOC Programme and Huawei Technologies. The research involved a collaboration between scientists from the UCL Optical Networks Group and the University of Cambridge, who developed an innovative receiver to be used in optical access networks, which consists in the links connecting internet service providers and their customers.

“To maximise the capacity of optical fibre links, data is transmitted using different wavelengths, or colours, of light. Ideally, we’d dedicate a wavelength to each subscriber to avoid the bandwidth sharing between the users. Although this is already possible using highly sensitive hardware known as coherent receivers, they are costly and only financially viable in core networks that link countries and cities. Their cost and complexity has so far prevented their introduction into the access networks and limits the support of multi Gb/s (1 Gb/s=1000 Mb/s) broadband rates available to subscribers,” said co-author and Head of the Optical Networks Group, Professor Polina Bayvel (UCL Electronic & Electrical Engineering).

The new developed tool keeps the basic functions of the traditional receivers but comes in a simplified cheaper and smaller version, requiring just a quarter of the detectors used in conventional receivers.

To develop such simplified version, a coding technique belonging to the fibre connection area was exploited. More specifically, the coding technique was originally designed to prevent connection drops and signal fading in wireless communication. By implementing such technique, the researchers managed to include additional cost-saving benefit by using the same optical fibre for both upstream and downstream data.

“This simple receiver offers users a dedicated wavelength, so user speeds stay constant no matter how many users are online at once. It can co-exist with the current network infrastructure, potentially quadrupling the number of users that can be supported and doubling the network’s transmission distance/coverage,” added Dr Erk?l?nç.

The new prototype was tested on a dark fibre network installed between Telehouse, University College London and Powergate, respectively located in East, Central and West London, and effectiveness and speed of transmission were analysed. The researched succeeded in sending data data over 37.6 km and 108 km to eight users who were able to download/upload at a speed of at least 10 Gb/s, which is over 30 times faster than the currently available fastest broadband available in the United Kingdom at the moment.

“BT Openreach recently announced that fibre access is a key focus and must improve. With high-capacity broadband a priority for the UK government, we will be working to reduce the electrical power requirements of this technique to make this commercially viable in the nearest future. We believe that it has real potential to provide high-speed broadband connectivity to every home, which will support the growing digitally enabled economy in the years to come,” concluded Professor Bayvel.

Written by: Pietro Paolo Frigenti

Journal Reference: M. S. Erkılınç, D. Lavery, K. Shi, B. C. Thomsen, R. I. Killey, S. J. Savory, P. Bayvel. Bidirectional wavelength-division multiplexing transmission over installed fibre using a simplified optical coherent access transceiver. Nature Communications, 2017; 8 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00875-z