OFweek Optical Communications Network News This year marks the 50th anniversary of the invention of optical fiber.
At the "2016 Optoelectronics·China Expo" held in Beijing from May 9th to 11th, many well-known experts and scholars at home and abroad reviewed and summarized the glorious history and fruitful results of optical fiber communications, and introduced optical fiber The current development status and future trends of communication technology at home and abroad.
"Optical fiber is the physical foundation of the Internet, and the birth of optical fiber triggered a revolution in communication technology.
" Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, China Optical Fiber. Zhao Zisen, the father of the invention, explained the importance of optical fiber in this way.
How was this technological revolution initiated? Where will it go?
50 years: Optical fiber changes the world
As an emerging technology in the technological revolution, optical fiber communications are developing rapidly and are constantly becoming intelligent. To adapt to new needs such as mobile Internet and Internet of Things
The optical fiber technology that changed the world was proposed by the Chinese.
In 1966, Kao Kun, the father of optical fiber in the world, published a paper and pioneered The basic principle of using quartz glass to make optical fibers (referred to as optical fibers) and its application in communications was proposed. An epoch-making revolution in communication methods was born, which had an important and far-reaching impact on human society.
In 2009, Kao Kun won the Nobel Prize in Physics
Fiber optic communication uses optical fiber cables to replace traditional metal cables, using program-controlled digital switching Instead of traditional electromechanical exchange, digital communication replaced analog communication. As an emerging technology in the technological revolution, it has developed rapidly in the past few decades.
《Scientific American》 The magazine once commented: "Fiber optic communication is one of the four most significant inventions since World War II.
Without optical fiber communications, there would be no Internet and communications networks today.
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“No one would have imagined 50 years ago that today everyone has a mobile phone and is connected to the world.
Modern people’s lives are inseparable from the Internet and optical fiber communications.
" Yu Shaohua, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief engineer of the Wuhan Institute of Posts and Telecommunications, said that optical fiber communication has wide bandwidth, large capacity, long transmission distance, small size, light weight, anti-electromagnetic interference, good confidentiality, and rich raw materials. Easy to get, no alternative media found yet
"Now, fiber optic communication backbone bandwidth doubles every 9 to 12 months, faster than Moore's Law.
It continues to refresh high-speed, large-capacity, and long-distance records, continues to achieve intelligence, continues to increase flexibility, continuously reduces costs, and adapts to new needs such as mobile Internet and the Internet of Things.
" Yu Shaohua said that currently there are 4 billion Internet users, 7 billion mobile communication users, and 1.7 billion wired communication users in the world enjoying the convenience of optical fiber communication.
< p style="padding: 0px 0px 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-size: 14px; font-family: simsun, Arial; white-space: normal;">The rapid popularization of optical fiber technology has brought about a huge market.According to statistics, the annual market capacity of optical network equipment is 58.5 billion yuan domestically and 107 billion US dollars globally.
With the development of the network, human society’s demand for optical fiber communication technology is also getting higher and higher.
Cyberspace has become the fifth dimension after sea, land, air and space. American economist Brian Arthur predicts that by around 2030, the scale of the network economy will approach the real economy.
Research results released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology at the end of last year also show that China is expected to catch up with South Korea and Japan in 2016 and build the world's leading "optical fiber"-led broadband network. Users of optical fiber broadband networks The proportion will reach 70% to 75%
The "Broadband China" strategy released by the State Council in 2013 has positioned "broadband network" as the "broadband network" for economic and social development. Strategic public infrastructure".
Wu Hequan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, pointed out that with the implementation of the "Broadband China" strategy, China's broadband construction has greatly improved.
"China 2015 The annual optical fiber penetration rate (proportion of optical fiber to households) is 56.7%, far exceeding the world average.
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400G: Meet the changes of the times
Fiber optic technology is moving towards low loss, low cost, The development of new materials and new processes has laid a good foundation for the 400G system
From the Internet era to the information economy era, whoever takes the lead in occupying market share will become the winner of the era, and in this change , fiber optic broadband is an indispensable and important role.
What direction will fiber optic technology develop in the future?
Yu Shaohua believes that the current development trend of optical fiber is two "low" and two "new" ”, that is, “low loss, low cost, new materials, and new processes.”
“Currently, the production capacity of ordinary single-mode optical fibers for communications is relatively excess, and ultra-low loss, large effective area single-mode optical fibers are being commercialized. change.
"Yu Shaohua said.
This coincides with the statement of Wang Ruichun, director of the R&D Center of YOFC Optical Fiber and Cable Co., Ltd.: "Ultra-low Loss and large effective area will definitely be the two directions of optical fiber development. The development of new optical fibers is in full swing, laying a good foundation for the future development of 400G.
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Reporter from Optoelectronics It was learned at the expo that the industry is actively exploring new terrestrial optical fiber technologies with ultra-low loss and large effective area in preparation for 400G.
Currently, 100G systems are already in operation in major However, due to the massive amount of digital media content, the traffic on the telecommunications backbone network is growing rapidly at an annual rate of 50% to 80%. The 400G system can further increase network capacity and reduce the cost per bit of transmission on the basis of 100G, effectively solving operational problems. Business traffic and network bandwidth continue to grow, and it is expected to be gradually commercialized around 2017.
