A Taiwan research team led by professor Lu Hai-han of National Taipei University of Technology’s Department of Electro-Optical Engineering has scored a double breakthrough in the speed and distance of red laser-based data transmission, the ROC Ministry of Science and Technology said April 16.
Lu’s system transmits data at 10 gigabits per second over a distance of up to 17.5 meters, meaning that a 90-minute movie can be downloaded in under half a second.
An important feature of light-based communication systems is that they can be used in places such as hospital operating theaters or airplane cockpits to reduce or prevent electromagnetic interference.
The team is already working hand in hand with local manufacturers to roll out a commercial version of the system, with a production prototype slated to be ready by June and full-scale manufacture sometime next year.
The breakthroughs are a great success for the MOST-funded Fiber Optics CATV and Optical Communications Industry and Academic Alliance, under which technology transfer for this project in recent years has amounted to NT$3.2 million (US$106,000).
Previous attempts to develop similar systems based on light-emitting diode, or LED, light sources reached an upper limit of 1 Gbps and about 5 meters.
In the future, the team aims to increase the rate of reliable data transmission by the system to 400 Gbps, deemed the next major breakthrough in the development of visible-light communication technology to facilitate cloud server data transmission.
Lu’s team has been working for several years in this field, with six papers published in journals Optics Express and Optics Letters in the past three years, including one article honored by the former as top download. The work has also been covered by U.K.-based science journal New Scientist.
Lu was elected a fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics this year for his achievements in fiber-optic communications.
Source: http://www.taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=216518&ctNode=445
