According to reports, the EU scientist team is using the next generation of laser pointer technology to create a speed-of-speed broadband connection, eliminating Internet data bottlenecks caused by increased demand.
The research team is funded by the European Union and consists of researchers from nine countries (Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Israel, France, Japan and South Korea) and 14 different organizations. The team calls itself "PASSION", meaning: applied to future large-capacity metropolitan area networks, based on scalable spectrum/spatial aggregation of programmable transmission and switching module systems for photonics (creatively selecting letters in English words, The combination is abbreviated as PASSION).
The team's researchers are using vertical cavity-emitting laser pointer (VCSEL) light sources with photonic integrated circuits, optical switches and semiconductor optical amplifiers to develop long-wave, high-capacity communication technologies. This will pave the way for light-speed metro connections, as well as new smart services such as future games and on-demand TV.
VCSELs are less expensive to produce and more energy efficient than conventional laser sources. In the future, ultra-high-speed components are expected to revolutionize the huge amount of intelligent services with a transmission rate of 112 Tb/s, which means that it takes only one second to send 28,000 HD movies.
VCSEL's high transmission efficiency and low energy consumption are also the main reasons why the PASSION team chose to develop VCSEL light sources. Paola Parolari, PASSION project manager, said: "VCSELs may become the next major leap in metro communications. Currently, VCSELs are widely used in communications applications such as data communications, short-range connections within data centers, etc."
PASSION project coordinator Pierpaolo Boffi said: "VCSEL is now a buzzword. It has the advantages of low drive current, high optical power conversion efficiency and high directivity, making it a 'low-cost, energy-efficient transmission of large amounts of data'. Ideal choice."
Boffi added that the goal of the PASSION team is to reduce the current Internet energy consumption by a factor of 10. He said: "If PASSION's goal is successful, it will be able to provide new technologies for high-capacity optical transmission with reduced space consumption and reduced energy consumption."
Cisco, the US Internet technology company, predicts that Internet traffic will grow at an unprecedented rate of 3.3 terabytes per year between 2016 and 2021.
Boffi added: "If we value the citizen's online experience: improve broadband services such as telecommuting, enhance entertainment experiences such as high-definition 3D TV on demand or games, realize telemedicine, life assistance, and enhance social networks such as 'network learning'. Then, we It requires a fiber network that is more advanced than current technology."
PASSION will develop new transmission, detection and routing solutions based on VCSEL, as well as advanced network architecture.
The PASSION team has received funding from the European Commission for €5,537,747 for the H2020 project and has been funded by the Photonics Public Private Partnership (Photonics PPP). PASSION team members include: Politecnico di Milano, SM Optics, CTTC, Telefonica, VLC Photonics, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Effect Photonics, Finnish National Technical Research Center (VTT), Vertilas, OpSys Technologies, EPIC, NICT, and ChemOptics.
Researchers at the PASSION team are working on the specifications and design of the new laser pointer device to define subsystems. Researchers expect to be able to implement and test these new devices in a few months.