Every time we send a message to a friend, the message is carried over a wireless signal. But how does the wireless signal span tens of thousands of kilometers? It cannot be achieved without fiber optic technology. For the global communication infrastructure, optical fiber actually carries more than 90% of the communication traffic and plays a critical role.
Optical fiber is a mature industry and requires close cooperation with the industry when working on related researches. Dr. Qunbi Zhuge, who once simultaneously worked as a system engineer at Ciena and an adjunct professor at McGill University, has acquired a unique cross-industry perspective of how to bring innovation into this already matured industry.
Dr. Qunbi’s research direction is, in a nutshell, optical fiber communication, and optical networks, data center optical interconnections, and B5G/6G optical technologies are the three application scenarios that he focuses on. From materials to devices and systems, from algorithms to networks, from light to electricity and digital, optical communication covers a wide range of research fields. Qunbi’s research focuses on solving basic scientific problems and key technological challenges at the system and network level.
At the same time, intending to build a smart optical network, his team has introduced artificial intelligence technology into the perception, modeling, and management of optical fiber channels. By accurately estimating the system's signal-to-noise ratio and operating status, the overall capacity of the optical network is greatly increased. He also innovatively combines transmission algorithms with machine learning and uses data-driven methods to mine the key information about link defects in the transmission algorithm.
Qunbi is now an associate professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University. "In my career, the training of students is one of the most important KPIs. Will my students become talents in this field in the future? Can they make great contributions to society? These things are all I care about," said Qunbi.
