• Existing infrastructure will be unable t

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Tuesday, April 26, 2022 22:30:46
    Existing infrastructure will be unable to support future demand for
    high-speed internet

    Date:
    April 26, 2022
    Source:
    University of Cambridge
    Summary:
    Researchers have shown that the UK's existing copper network cables
    can support faster internet speeds, but only to a limit. They
    say additional investment is urgently needed if the government
    is serious about its commitment to making high-speed internet
    available to all.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers have shown that the UK's existing copper network cables can
    support faster internet speeds, but only to a limit. They say additional investment is urgently needed if the government is serious about its
    commitment to making high-speed internet available to all.


    ==========================================================================
    The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and BT, have established
    the maximum speed at which data can be transmitted through existing
    copper cables.

    This limit would allow for faster internet compared to the speeds
    currently achievable using standard infrastructure, however it will not
    be able to support high-speed internet in the longer term.

    The team found that the 'twisted pair' copper cables that reach every
    house and business in the UK are physically limited in their ability to
    support higher frequencies, which in turn support higher data rates.

    While full-fibre internet is currently available to around one in four households, it is expected to take at least two decades before it reaches
    every home in the UK. In the meantime, however, existing infrastructure
    can be improved to temporarily support high-speed internet.

    The results, reported in the journal Nature Communications, both establish
    a physical limit on the UK's ubiquitous copper cables, and emphasise
    the importance of immediate investment in future technologies.

    The Cambridge-led team used a combination of computer modelling and
    experiments to determine whether it was possible to get higher speeds
    out of existing copper infrastructure and found that it can carry a
    maximum frequency of about 5 GHz, above the currently used spectrum,
    which is lower than 1 GHz. Above 5 GHz however, the copper cables start
    to behave like antennas.



    ========================================================================== Using this extra bandwidth can push data rates on the copper cables
    above several Gigabits per second on short ranges, while fibre cables
    can carry hundreds of Terabits per second or more.

    "Any investment in existing copper infrastructure would only be an
    interim solution," said co-author Dr Anas Al Rawi from Cambridge's
    Cavendish Laboratory. "Our findings show that eventual migration to
    optical fibre is inevitable." The twisted pair- where two conductors
    are twisted together to improve immunity against noise and to reduce electromagnetic radiation and interference -- was invented by Alexander
    Graham Bell in 1881. Twisted pair cables replaced grounded lines by the
    end of the 19th century and have been highly reliable ever since. Today, twisted pair cables are standardised to carry 424 MHz bandwidth over
    shorter cable lengths owing to deeper fibre penetration and advancement
    in digital signal processing.

    These cables are now reaching the end of their life as they cannot compete
    with the speed of fibre-optic cables, but it's not possible to get rid
    of all the copper cables due to fibre's high cost. The fibre network is continuously getting closer to users, but the connection between the
    fibre network and houses will continue to rely on the existing copper infrastructure. Therefore, it is vital to invest in technologies that can support the fibre networks on the last mile to make the best use of them.

    "High-speed internet is a necessity of 21st century life," said first
    author Dr Ergin Dinc, who carried out the research while he was based at Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory. "Internet service providers have been switching existing copper wires to high-speed fibre-optic cables, but
    it will take between 15 and 20 years for these to reach every house in
    the UK and will cost billions of pounds. While this change is happening,
    we've shown that existing copper infrastructure can support higher speeds
    as an intermediate solution." The Cambridge researchers, working with
    industry collaborators, have been investigating whether it's possible
    to squeeze faster internet speeds out of existing infrastructure as a
    potential stopgap measure, particularly for rural and remote areas.



    ==========================================================================
    "No one had really looked into the physical limitations driving the
    maximum internet speed for twisted pair cables before," said Dinc. "If we
    used these cables in a different way, would it be possible to get them
    to carry data at higher speeds?" Using a mix of theoretical modelling
    and experimentation, the researchers found that twisted pair cables are
    limited in the frequency they can carry, a limit that's defined by the
    geometry of the cable. Above this limit, around 5 GHz, the twisted pair
    cables start to radiate and behave like an antenna.

    "The way that the cables are twisted together defines how high a frequency
    they can carry," said Dr Eloy de Lera Acedo, also from the Cavendish,
    who led the research. "To enable higher data rates, we'd need the cables
    to carry a higher frequency, but this can't happen indefinitely because
    of physical limitations.

    We can improve speeds a little bit, but not nearly enough to be
    future-proof." The researchers say their results underline just how
    important it is that government and industry work together to build
    the UK's future digital infrastructure, since existing infrastructure
    can handle higher data rates in the near future, while the move to a future-proof full-fibre network continues.

    The work is part of an ongoing collaboration between the Cavendish, the Department of Engineering, BT and Huawei in a project led by Professor
    Mike Payne, also of the Cavendish Laboratory. The research was also
    supported by the Royal Society, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council, part of UK Research and Innovation.


    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Cambridge. The original
    text of this story is licensed under a Creative_Commons_License. Note:
    Content may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Ergin Dinc, Syed Sheheryar Bukhari, Anas Al Rawi, Eloy de Lera
    Acedo.

    Investigating the upper bound of high-frequency electromagnetic
    waves on unshielded twisted copper pairs. Nature Communications,
    2022; 13 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29631-8 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220426153706.htm

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