Sep 17, 2021 16:00:00

Google sister company succeeds in transferring 700TB of data to a location 5km away by 20Gbps wireless optical communication

Next-generation technology development company

X , a sister company of Google, connects a distance of up to 20 km with wireless optical communication of up to 20 Gbps in ' Project Taara ', a total of 700 TB between two cities across the Congo River flowing in central Africa Announced that it succeeded in communicating data with high accuracy.

Beaming broadband across the Congo River – The X Blog
https://x.company/blog/posts/taara-beaming-broadband-across-congo/

Alphabet's Project Taara laser tech beamed 700TB of data across nearly 5km --The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/16/22677015/project-taara-fsoc-wireless-internet-kinshasa-congo-fiber

Project Taara is a project to deploy a system that communicates with invisible laser light in areas where communication infrastructure is not sufficiently developed due to geographical conditions. You can understand what the communication system used in Project Taara is by reading the following article.

'Project Taara' that connects a maximum distance of 20km with light rays and provides an internet environment --GIGAZINE

Brazzaville , the capital of the Republic of the Congo, and Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are adjacent to each other across the Congo River, and the distance between the two cities is only 4.8 km. However, in order to connect the two cities with optical fiber, it is necessary to bypass the Congo River, which has a maximum width of about 2 km, and finally it is necessary to lay a cable for 400 km or more, which is a high construction cost. Will take.


Therefore, Project Taara's wireless optical communication (WOC) is used for communication between Brazzaville and Kinshasa.

The WOC used in Project Taara uses laser light instead of physical wires such as optical fiber cables and metallic cables, so it is not easily affected by geographical conditions. However, WOC was considered less feasible due to the disadvantage that communication would be interrupted if a bird flew or fog formed between the runner and the receiver.

In Project Taara, in order to increase the availability of WOC, the accuracy of 'shining a ray as thick as chopsticks on a target of only 5 cm at a distance of 10 km' was required. Therefore, the amount of laser output to be transmitted and the processing method of bits are automatically adjusted, and at the same time, the receiver has a built-in movable mirror to make optical corrections.

'Project Taara has communicated a total of about 700 TB of data so far, which is enough to watch FIFA World Cup games in HD quality 270,000 times for 20 days with 99.9% availability.' The WOC of Project Taara has been able to play an important role in providing fast and affordable connectivity to the 17 million residents of Brazzaville and Kinshasa.

X says, 'It's far better to be able to provide high-speed Internet up to 20 Gbps at all times than to prevent millions of people from enjoying the economic benefits of laying hundreds of kilometers of cables underground. It's a good option, 'he said, and will help enable lower-cost, higher-speed communications, not just in Congo, but around the world.