Data transfer speed increased fourfold, processing capacity eightfold
100,000 simultaneous high-definition YouTube streaming possible
Development of products supporting 1Tbps beyond 400Gbps in the future


Domestic researchers have developed an optical transceiver engine for 400Gbps signal transmission that can be used in ultra-large data centers, mobile communication base stations, etc.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on the 25th that it has successfully developed 400G optical transceiver engines and optical device technologies for large-area data centers. Existing data centers primarily used 100Gbps optical transceivers containing four laser diode (EML) devices, which could transmit at 25Gbps using four channels.

ETRI researchers created an EML device capable of 100Gbps-class transmission per channel by increasing the transmission speed fourfold. Through this, they developed an optical transceiver engine that achieves a total data transmission of 400Gbps by integrating four EML light source devices, a photodetector, an optical transmitter, and an optical receiver. This is a level where 100,000 people can simultaneously stream high-definition YouTube videos.

According to the industry, the optical transceiver market for data centers is expected to reach approximately 8.3 trillion won in 2023, with 100G or higher accounting for 78% of the total.

This optical transceiver engine can be mounted on an optical transceiver the size of an adult's finger. Thanks to miniaturization, not only the transmission speed but also the processing capacity has increased. While existing communication equipment is structured to have 32 optical transceivers plugged into the front, the engine developed by the research team can attach up to 64 to the top of the communication equipment's line card.

By attaching twice as many optical transceiver engines, which have a transmission speed four times higher than existing ones, to a single communication device, the total processing capacity has increased by up to eight times. The existing processing capacity was a maximum of 3.2 TB (terabytes), but with the application of the research team's technology, it increases to a maximum of 25.6 TB.

ETRI stated that it achieved this result by utilizing source technologies such as EML technology for creating light sources, ultra-high frequency signal line design and packaging technology, and optical signal coupling and optical detection technology. The research team plans to work on stabilizing this technology in the future and develop an optical transceiver engine capable of 1 Tbps (tera) beyond 400 Gbps.