OPTICAL FIBRE will be getting a capacity boost thanks to signal to noise reduction technology developed over the last two years by a European Union project.

Led by the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre, the research has solved the problem of interference from signal amplifiers and the deleterious interaction between the many different signals travelling through the fibre. Because of the growing use of video on the Internet and the prospects for High Definition and 3D video taking up even more bandwidth, fibre data capacity had become an issue.

Noise sources limit the amount of data that can be sent through optical fibre. The solution involves some nifty electronics and software that cleans up the incoming signal, regenerating it for transmission onward through the network. The technology can also better differentiate between noise and signal for that cleaning process.

The Optoelectronics Research Centre deputy director, professor David Richardson said, "Our regenerator can clean noise from incoming data signals and should allow for systems of extended physical length and capacity. In order to achieve this result...significant advances in both optical fibre and semiconductor laser technology [were made]."

The project includes Chalmers University of Technology, the Tyndall National Institute at University College Cork, the National and Kapodestrian University of Athens, the Swiss company Onefive, Ireland's Eblana Photonics and the Broendby, Denmark office of the US optics company OFS. µ