BT has announced a new 400 Gbit/s single-carrier based technology solution for the transmission of large volumes of data over core optical networks developed by researchers at the BT Labs in Adastral Park, Ipswich in the UK.
BT noted that the trial of the technology builds on its previously demonstrated Superchannel concept, which achieved transmission speeds of 5.6 Tbit/s in 2016 by combining 200 Gbit/s wavelengths of light into a single optical fibre.
For the latest demonstration BT, working with partner Huawei, has developed a technique that combines multiple 400 Gbit/s wavelengths over a single fibre. Using the new technique, BT researchers believe that transmission speeds of more than 13 Tbit/s can be achieved using the same amount of light spectrum as in the demonstration last year.
BT’s latest Superchannel concept is based on the ultra-efficient use of light carried over optical fibre, termed spectral efficiency. The trial demonstrated that it is possible to transmit at multi-terabit speeds over existing core networks with stable, long term, error free performance and 6.25 bits/s/Hz spectral efficiency. BT claims that this spectral efficiency is the highest achieved on a real-world fibre link using production-grade hardware and software.
For the demonstration the technology was trialled on a live optical loop between BT Labs at Adastral Park and BT’s Bishops Stortford exchange over a distance of 250 km. BT is demonstrating the technology at its Innovation Week 2017 event at Adastral Park.
- In May last year, BT announced it had successfully transmitted speeds of 5.6 Tbit/s over a single optical fibre, and also that working with Huawei had demonstrated speeds of 2 Tbit/s over a live core network spanning 700 km between London and Dublin. The demonstration of 5.6 Tbit/s on an optical superchannel over a closed loop comprised 28 x 200 Gbit/s (64 GBaud/QPSK) sub-channels, bundled together to provide combined capacity with high spectral efficiency.
