Researchers Develop Novel Optical Semantic Communication System Using Multimode Fiber

Researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology have developed a groundbreaking optical semantic communication system using multimode fiber (MMF) that promises significant advancements in data transmission efficiency and robustness.

The new system, detailed in a recent publication in Light Science & Applications, demonstrates a novel approach to communication that prioritizes transmitting meaningful semantic information over traditional bit-level data transfer. By leveraging intermodal dispersion in multimode fibers, the research team achieved a seven-fold increase in transmission capacity compared to conventional communication encoding methods.

Led by Professor Ming Tang and Dr. Hao Wu, the research team developed a sophisticated approach that maps symbols to distinct frequencies, enabling high-dimensional semantic encoding and decoding. The system integrates Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4 levels (PAM-4) to enhance spectral efficiency, successfully achieving 9.12 bits per second per hertz without decoding errors.

A particularly innovative aspect of the research is its application in sentiment analysis. Using the IMDb movie review dataset, the researchers demonstrated the system's ability to encode semantically similar symbols to adjacent frequencies, significantly improving noise tolerance and enabling accurate sentiment analysis even under challenging error rate conditions.

The breakthrough addresses critical challenges in contemporary communication systems, particularly the increasing demand for communication capacity. By emphasizing semantic information transmission, the method offers a more efficient and purposeful approach to data exchange.

The researchers view their development as a significant advancement in optical communications, highlighting its potential to provide robust solutions in bandwidth-constrained and noisy environments. The ability to directly transmit semantic information via optical frequencies represents a paradigm shift in communication technology.

Funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and a JD project of Hubei Province, this research underscores the continuous innovation in optical communication technologies and their potential to transform how we transmit and interpret information.