Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has announced the successful testing of its long-distance, high-capacity WDM optical transmission system. The new system transmitted, by means of a single fiber, 65 signals of 20 Gbits/sec each, over a distance of 8,400 km. Total transmission speed was 1.3 Tbits/sec.

"1.3 Tbit/sec long distance transmission had been thought to be impossible until this point," claims Takashi Mizuochi, head researcher at Mitsubishi Electric's Information Technology R&D Center.

According to the company, the experimental results obtained were a direct result of the following technological attributes:

* A fiber effective area management methodology that ties into greatly improved signal-to-noise ratios

* A new symmetrically collided transmission protocol that suppresses the waveform distortion induced by fiber nonlinear effects

* A commercial optical transceiver capable of transmitting 20 Gbits/sec and suitable for transoceanic applications

* A wide-band, low-noise hybrid optical repeater that features a Raman/EDFA
(Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier).

With the transmission speed of each signal rising to 20 Gbits/sec, previous data volumes can now be obtained with half the number of waves, contends the company. Equipment can therefore be more compact, and maintenance and communications costs reduced. Further details of the new technology are due to be announced at the Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) Conference in Anaheim, CA, in March.

For information about Mitsubishi Electric (Amagasaki, Japan), visit the company's Web site at www.mitsubishielectric.com.