6G network speed greatly improved, Chinese team set a new record of terahertz 100Gbps transmission

5G network technology has increased the speed of wireless networks to over 1Gbps, up to 10Gbps, but this is not the end of network speed. Countries are still developing 6G network technology, which may use the terahertz frequency band. Recently, several domestic scientific research teams have achieved a new world record of over 100Gps under terahertz frequency band.

According to Science and Technology Daily, the reporter learned from the Purple Mountain Laboratory of Network Communications and Security on the 5th that the laboratory, in collaboration with teams from Southeast University, Pengcheng Laboratory, Fudan University and China Mobile, has built the first 360-430GHz frequency band 100/200Gbps real-time wireless transmission communication experimental system with the support of projects such as the National Key R&D Program 6G Special Project.

For the first time, terahertz real-time wireless transmission was achieved with a single-wavelength net rate of 103.125Gbps and a dual-wavelength net rate of 206.25Gbps. The communication rate was increased by 10-20 times compared with 5G, creating the highest real-time transmission record of terahertz real-time wireless communication publicly reported in the world.

The terahertz band has extremely rich frequency resources and can support ultra-high-speed wireless communications of 100Gbps-1Tbps, thereby increasing the peak transmission rate of existing 5G by one to two orders of magnitude, and meeting the needs of new applications such as future 6G holographic communications and the metaverse.

Traditional electronic terahertz technology is constrained by the inherent properties of electronic devices. The parameters of high-frequency electronic devices are gradually approaching the theoretical limits, facing a series of difficult-to-solve challenges such as large transmission losses, limited frequency and bandwidth, etc.

Professor You Xiaohu, deputy director and chief scientist of Purple Mountain Laboratory, introduced that Purple Mountain Laboratory has chosen photonic terahertz wireless communication as a new breakthrough direction for 6G, and has gathered advantages to build a domestically leading and world-class photonic terahertz experimental environment.

After more than three years of hard work, the team pioneered a real-time transmission architecture that integrates photonic terahertz and optical fiber, completed the development of a photonic terahertz real-time wireless communication experimental system, and broke the publicly reported world record of a terahertz communication system with a real-time transmission net rate of more than 100Gbps. The results were selected for the 2022 OFC Demo Zone, the top academic conference in the field of international optical communications. This is also the only Demo Zone paper independently completed by mainland Chinese scholars in the history of OFC terahertz communications.

It is reported that this achievement can be integrated with the existing fiber optic network to expand to form 100-1000Gbps outdoor and indoor ultra-high-speed wireless access, replacing the existing mobile network and optical fiber to achieve rapid deployment, replace the massive cables in the data center, significantly reduce costs and power consumption, and can be used for intersatellite communications, integrated space and air access, etc.