5 ms·

Chip can transmit all of the internet's traffic every second

60 points by jonbaer 4y ago

throwaway290 4y ago
This could be a game changer in terms of some architectural decisions if it is realized.
MrWiffles 4y ago
I’m not sure if i totally buy this. It sounds legit, but THAT much of an increase?! I don’t know. I’m skeptical. If it’s so much more than any existing computer can transmit…how valid is the test data, i mean, really? Even if they got only a third of that performance in reality, it’s still a game changer. But I’m nonetheless skeptical.
- petra 4y ago
  Random test data is often used for testing telecom systems. It's valid. Probably, they discovered how to implement the last missing part/s of such chip, so finally they could use the power of decades of moore's law to miniaturize everything into a chip.
  - WastingMyTime89 4y ago
    It’s a photonic integrated circuit. It doesn’t follow Moore law. Light is used for the computation not electron. The field has seen major development in the last two decades. It’s extremely promising for fibre-optic communication.
    - hinkley 4y ago
      In particular, in early treatments on the subject they asserted that there is a lot of latency in the path converting from light to electricity and back again, so they theorized that a functional photonic network switch would be able to haul some serious ass. I don’t know if anyone was saying “the entire internet” out loud but maybe someone was dreaming it.
CharlesW 4y ago
> Next, each of these channels was split into 223 data chunks that existed in individual slices of the electromagnetic spectrum. As someone who's naive about fiber-optic communications, I'm very surprised that this was not already happening. Is it that the idea is new, or that it's just recently become possible/practical? EDIT: It looks like the idea itself goes back to at least 1980: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4102348 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4102348
- dafelst 4y ago
  Managing all those frequencies on a single solid state chip is the novel part here, based on my (admittedly dated) understanding.
- GekkePrutser 4y ago
  I worked with glass fibre multiplexers that used multiple colours of might back in 2000. It's called DWDM. I moved on to different things so I don't know if it's still used, I assume so because it had no real drawbacks. But it was definitely a thing used on many expensive long distance fibres. On the short ones it wasn't used because the equipment was more expensive than just laying more fibre.
  - hinkley 4y ago
    Whatever happened with polarized light? I recall at one point them deciding it needed either a different chemical formula for the fiber or tighter tolerances on the surface? Either way the problem was that yes they could shove more bandwidth down the pipe but you needed to run new fiber to get it. I didn’t hear anything after that.
    - GekkePrutser 4y ago
      If you have to run more fibre, there is no point. Because the main cost of running fibre is the work, not the material. And it's so thin you can run as many as you want. So, if you're going to run new fibre anyway, just run 10x as much as you need. In fact this is pretty standard procedure with most telcos. Not sure about the polarisation by the way, when I was working with this it was not yet a thing but it's decades ago.
klyrs 4y ago
Back of the envelope, you could use this with a kilometer of fiber optic cable for almost gigabyte of ultra-volatile delay line memory. Excellent for criminal masterminds who don't want to leave a trace when their compound is inevitably breached.
- alexvoda 4y ago
  About that, are there any modern forms of delay line memory available?
  - GekkePrutser 4y ago
    Criminal mastermind there or just asking for a friend? ;)
    - hinkley 4y ago
      I mean is he really your friend or just using you?
- hinkley 4y ago
  If my math is right, you can fit 230k into about a foot, which would make an interesting cache architecture. 128k folded on the back side of the chip, 0.5 nanosecond latency.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ankaAr 4y ago
I want to learn how they managed the distance based on wavelength penetration or if they used all or almost all the soectrum. I'm even thinking about CDNs based on colors and distance that a wave can travel. It is promising

60 points by jonbaer 4y ago

This could be a game changer in terms of some architectural decisions if it is realized.

I’m not sure if i totally buy this. It sounds legit, but THAT much of an increase?! I don’t know. I’m skeptical. If it’s so much more than any existing computer can transmit…how valid is the test data, i mean, really? Even if they got only a third of that performance in reality, it’s still a game changer. But I’m nonetheless skeptical.

petra 4y ago
Random test data is often used for testing telecom systems. It's valid. Probably, they discovered how to implement the last missing part/s of such chip, so finally they could use the power of decades of moore's law to miniaturize everything into a chip.
- WastingMyTime89 4y ago
  It’s a photonic integrated circuit. It doesn’t follow Moore law. Light is used for the computation not electron. The field has seen major development in the last two decades. It’s extremely promising for fibre-optic communication.
  - hinkley 4y ago
    In particular, in early treatments on the subject they asserted that there is a lot of latency in the path converting from light to electricity and back again, so they theorized that a functional photonic network switch would be able to haul some serious ass. I don’t know if anyone was saying “the entire internet” out loud but maybe someone was dreaming it.

CharlesW 4y ago

> Next, each of these channels was split into 223 data chunks that existed in individual slices of the electromagnetic spectrum. As someone who's naive about fiber-optic communications, I'm very surprised that this was not already happening. Is it that the idea is new, or that it's just recently become possible/practical? EDIT: It looks like the idea itself goes back to at least 1980: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4102348 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4102348

dafelst 4y ago
Managing all those frequencies on a single solid state chip is the novel part here, based on my (admittedly dated) understanding.
GekkePrutser 4y ago
I worked with glass fibre multiplexers that used multiple colours of might back in 2000. It's called DWDM. I moved on to different things so I don't know if it's still used, I assume so because it had no real drawbacks. But it was definitely a thing used on many expensive long distance fibres. On the short ones it wasn't used because the equipment was more expensive than just laying more fibre.
- hinkley 4y ago
  Whatever happened with polarized light? I recall at one point them deciding it needed either a different chemical formula for the fiber or tighter tolerances on the surface? Either way the problem was that yes they could shove more bandwidth down the pipe but you needed to run new fiber to get it. I didn’t hear anything after that.
  - GekkePrutser 4y ago
    If you have to run more fibre, there is no point. Because the main cost of running fibre is the work, not the material. And it's so thin you can run as many as you want. So, if you're going to run new fibre anyway, just run 10x as much as you need. In fact this is pretty standard procedure with most telcos. Not sure about the polarisation by the way, when I was working with this it was not yet a thing but it's decades ago.

klyrs 4y ago

Back of the envelope, you could use this with a kilometer of fiber optic cable for almost gigabyte of ultra-volatile delay line memory. Excellent for criminal masterminds who don't want to leave a trace when their compound is inevitably breached.

alexvoda 4y ago
About that, are there any modern forms of delay line memory available?
- GekkePrutser 4y ago
  Criminal mastermind there or just asking for a friend? ;)
  - hinkley 4y ago
    I mean is he really your friend or just using you?
hinkley 4y ago
If my math is right, you can fit 230k into about a foot, which would make an interesting cache architecture. 128k folded on the back side of the chip, 0.5 nanosecond latency.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

ankaAr 4y ago

I want to learn how they managed the distance based on wavelength penetration or if they used all or almost all the soectrum. I'm even thinking about CDNs based on colors and distance that a wave can travel. It is promising