Government provides grant to research light speed broadband

Researchers who are hoping to harness the speed of light to revolutionise broadband services and infrastructure have received over seven million pounds by way of a government grant.

It has been revealed that the government has given a grant of over seven million pounds to researchers who are hoping to revolutionise broadband services and infrastructure by harnessing the speed of light. The project is called the ‘Photonic Hyperhighway’ and research is being carried out at the University of Southampton.

The project involves the development of new hardware, which will improve the way in which internet packets are to and from millions of users on a daily basis. The new technology would be based on routing the packets using photonic switches that would route the light itself rather than the heavy duty electronic switches that involve conversions from light signals to electrons and then back to light signals.

Professor David Payne, leader of the project, said: “Now is the time to look ahead to develop the UK infrastructure of the future. Traffic on the global communications infrastructure continues to increase 80 per cent year-on-year. This is driven by rapidly expanding and increasingly demanding applications, such as internet television services and new concepts like cloud computing.”

David Willetts, the Minister for Universities and Science, added: “The Photonics HyperHighway project has the potential to truly revolutionise the internet, making it much faster and more energy-efficient. The project is also a shining example of the UK’s world-leading role in this area of research, and I look forward to the exciting breakthroughs it will bring.”

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Source – Telegraph