Scientists have developed a method of data transmission that is 200 times faster than Starlink — a record

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has set an absolute world record for the speed of data transmission from space to Earth. The TBIRD equipment, the size of a shoebox, transmitted information from space at a speed of 100 Gbps. While the maximum data transfer rate of Starlink is 500 Mbps.

As the scientists explained, Starlink satellite Internet communicates with a ground station via a radio channel for data transmission, and the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) system uses a laser beam for this purpose. Due to its higher frequency, the laser beam can transmit more data per unit of time. At the next stage of testing, the developers promised to double the transmission rate to provide scientific satellites with unprecedented communication channels.

However, the laser data transmission method has many drawbacks. For example, the Earth’s atmosphere distorts the signal and interferes with it, leading to data loss. Also, the laser must be directed to the receiver as accurately as possible (this is not necessary when using Starlink). However, MIT scientists plan to solve these problems in the future.

While US scientists have set a world record for data transmission from space, researchers from Denmark and Sweden have created a chip that can pass the entire global Internet through itself. The scientists became the first team in the world to transmit more than 1 petabit of information per second (Pbps) on Earth using only one laser and one optical chip. Note: 1 petabit corresponds to 1 million gigabits.

Interestingly, the chip does not have any optimizations for specific applications. «In fact, some of the chip’s characteristic parameters were achieved by accident rather than by design,» the researchers explained. «However, thanks to the efforts of the entire team, we are now able to redesign the process and achieve high reproducibility of microcombinations for targeted applications in telecommunications and Internet communications.»