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Japanese researchers say they have broken the world speed record for sending internet data.
日本研究人员表示，他们已经打破了发送互联网数据的世界速度纪录。
The recent experiment involved sending data over fiber-optic lines enclosed inside cables. Fiber optic technology is currently the fastest way to transport, or transmit, internet data.
最近的实验涉及通过封装在电缆内的光纤线发送数据。光纤技术目前是传输互联网数据的最快方式。
Fiber-optic cables use signals of light to send data over long distances. The fiber material is very thin, about one-tenth the thickness of a human hair.
光纤电缆利用光信号在长距离传输数据。光纤材料非常薄，大约是人类头发厚度的十分之一。
Fiber-optic technology was meant to replace an older internet transmission method that uses cables made mainly of copper wiring. This method can also carry data over the internet, but at much reduced speeds and capacity compared with fiber-optics.
光纤技术旨在取代一种使用主要由铜线制成的较旧的互联网传输方法。这种方法也可以在互联网上传输数据，但速度和容量远远不及光纤。
A report released last year by the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union (ITU) suggested current worldwide internet data transmission is reaching full capacity levels.
联合国国际电信联盟（ITU）去年发布的一份报告表明，当前全球互联网数据传输正在接近满负荷水平。
The Japanese data transmission experiment used fiber-optic cables. But the engineers involved made some changes to the cables in an effort to greatly expand speed and capacity.
日本的数据传输实验使用了光纤电缆。但参与其中的工程师们对电缆进行了一些改动，以极大地提高速度和容量。
Such methods are known as multiplexing technologies. They aim to increase the amount and speed of internet data with existing transmission equipment. These technologies combine multiple communication signals into a single transmission line.
这些方法被称为多路复用技术。它们旨在通过现有的传输设备增加互联网数据的数量和速度。这些技术将多个通信信号合并到一个传输线路中。
One multiplexing technology – called Wave Division Multiplexing (or WDM) – aims to increase the wavelength capacity within transmission cables. Another method – called Space Division Multiplexing (or SDM) – can involve increasing the size or number of fiber-optic centers, called cores.
一种多路复用技术称为波分复用（WDM），旨在增加传输电缆中的波长容量。另一种方法称为空分复用（SDM），可以增加光纤中心的大小或数量，被称为芯。
Engineers from Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NCIT) led the researchers who carried out the experiment. The tests measured speeds in petabits. One petabit equals 1 million gigabits.
日本国家信息和通信技术研究所（NCIT）的工程师领导了进行实验的研究人员。测试中测量的速度以每秒的petabit为单位。一个petabit等于1百万gigabit。
The record transmission demonstrated a data transmission capacity of 22.9 petabits per second in a single fiber-optic cable. The previous record for data transmission was 10.66 petabits per second, set by the same team at NCIT.
创纪录的传输显示了单根光纤电缆的每秒22.9 petabits的数据传输容量。之前的数据传输纪录是由NCIT的同一团队创下的，为每秒10.66 petabits。
Major progress has been made in recent years in internet data transmission speeds. In October 2022, an international group of researchers announced they had broken the world record. That team reported they had reached a test rate of 1.8 petabits per second using a single optical cable.
近年来，互联网数据传输速度取得了重大进展。在2022年10月，一组国际研究人员宣布他们已经打破了世界纪录。该团队报告称，他们使用一根光缆达到了每秒1.8 petabits的测试速率。
Results of the Japanese experiment were officially presented in a paper released at the 49th European Conference on Optical Communications in October. The team said it was able to beat the previous record by a large amount using new methods to expand and combine different WDM and SDM elements.
日本实验的结果在去年十月份的第49届欧洲光通信大会上正式发表。该团队表示，他们使用新方法扩展和组合不同的WDM和SDM元素，成功地大幅超过了之前的纪录。
The method used a fiber-optic cable that contained 38 cores. The researchers said expanding the number of cores resulted in an “increased number of optical paths” for high-speed data transmission.
这种方法使用了一根含有38个核心的光纤电缆。研究人员表示，扩大核心数量导致了“光学路径的增加”，以进行高速数据传输。
One researcher was Chigo Okonkwo of Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. He told the country’s NL Times the rate of 22.9 petabits per second represented “about 20 times the global internet traffic per second.” Okonkwo also noted the speed is about 229 times the total capacity of the kinds of fiber-optic cables currently in use today.
其中一名研究人员是荷兰埃因霍温科技大学的Chigo Okonkwo。他告诉荷兰的NL Times，每秒22.9 petabits的速率代表着“大约是全球每秒互联网流量的20倍”。Okonkwo还指出，这个速度大约是目前正在使用的各种光纤电缆的总容量的229倍。
Worldwide, the estimated average internet data transmission speed in 2023 was about 46.8 megabits per second, international research service Statista reports. The rate reached 118.7 megabits per second in Western Europe, while Northern Africa had the lowest estimated rate at 9.8, Statista said.
据国际研究服务Statista报告，全球2023年的估计平均互联网数据传输速度约为46.8兆位每秒。Statista表示，西欧的速度达到每秒118.7兆位，而北非的估计速度最低为9.8兆位。
The American-based Pew Research Center studies internet data transmission rates across the United States. Pew reports the fastest current data transmission method available in the U.S. – called Fiber to Home – is about 10 gigabits per second. This amount is equal to about 10,000 megabits per second.
总部位于美国的皮尤研究中心研究了美国境内的互联网数据传输速度。皮尤报告称，美国目前最快的数据传输方法是家庭光纤，每秒约为10 gigabits。这相当于每秒约1万兆位。
Most Americans receive much slower data transmission rates, an average of just under 50 megabits per second. Pew estimates Fiber to Home service only accounts for about 20 percent of the U.S. internet service market.
大多数美国人接收到的数据传输速度较慢，平均只有每秒不到50兆位。皮尤估计，家庭光纤服务只占美国互联网服务市场的约20%。
The NCIT team described its latest test results as “a major step toward the realization of future ultra-large capacity optical communication networks.” But in order to reach this goal, the team said its current methods must be further perfected.
NCIT团队将其最新的测试结果描述为“朝着未来超大容量光通信网络实现的重要一步”。但为了达到这个目标，该团队表示必须进一步完善其当前的方法。
For example, the researchers pointed to one major issue that could delay future deployments of its super-fast fiber-optic system. This will be the need to complete “significant upgrades” to current telecommunication hardware systems in order to support the new cable technologies.
例如，研究人员指出了一个可能会延迟其超高速光纤系统未来部署的主要问题。这将需要对当前的电信硬件系统进行“重大升级”，以支持新的电缆技术。
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Words in This Story
fiber optics – n. the use of very thin glass or plastic wires through which light can travel to carry data, especially for internet and computer applications
cable – n. a set of wires covered by plastic coverings
capacity – n. the total amount of something that can be produced or contained
wavelength – n. the distance between two waves of energy
upgrade – n. a piece of equipment or software that improves the quality or usefulness of a computer or machine
