AI/Fiber-Optic Combo Poised To Improve Telecommunications

Distributed fiber optics sense everything everywhere all at once. Paired with artificial intelligence and machine learning, it can act as an interface between the physical and digital worlds. Existing underground fiber-optic telecommunications cable networks that can be accessed through street manholes are helping a team at NEC Labs America improve wireless communications systems and the Internet of Things (IoT).

“Hundreds of millions of fiber-optic cables are already there for communications purposes,” says Shaobo Han, a researcher at NEC Labs America who focuses on the design and development of machine learning and signal-processing techniques for real-world sensing applications. “We’re turning it all into a ‘thinking’ device, using the same cable that’s already there.”