NEC approaches Shannon limit with 34.9 Tbps over 6,300 km

NEC Corp. (NEC; TSE: 6701) says it has transmitted 34.9 Tbps on a single fiber over more than 6,300 km. The demonstration achieved 8.3 bps/Hz in the C-Band, which the company asserts is a 16.9% improvement over the previous record for spectral efficiency of a transoceanic transmission.

The transmission was within 0.5 dB of the Shannon limit, which is the spectral efficiency limit of optical communications.

"We are proud to have come so close to Shannon's cornerstone of communication theory," said Toru Kawauchi, general manager of the Submarine Network Division at NEC Corp. "NEC's research and development teams will continue to explore the limits of even greater subsea capacity, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness."

NEC reported the demonstration in a post-deadline paper delivered at OFC 2016 this past March. The company did not say how close the technology used in the demonstration might be to commercialization.

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