The Internet, 1,000 Times Faster - Global Challenges
Using a technique called “flow switching,” researchers from MIT are developing a model Internet that is significantly faster and more energy-efficient than today’s technologies.
With fiber-optic communication expanding throughout the world, our current Internet is quickly gaining speed. Still, downloading high-resolution pictures or streaming online videos can take time. Luckily for YouTube addicts, researchers from MIT are devising an Internet 100 to 1,000 times faster than today’s connection speeds. To transmit data, the Internet relies on an international system of optical fibers, which are more efficient than electrical signals. When optical signals reach routers, however, they are temporarily converted to electrical signals. Because routers organize large amounts of data from many different places, they must temporarily store information. They achieve this by using electrical signals, which are easier to manipulate than optical signals. In order to be retransmitted, the signals must be converted back to optical. Although currently necessary, this process wastes time and energy; the Internet thus becomes slow and environmentally unfriendly.