Digital Subcarrier Multiplexing Research Articles

Chromatic dispersion-aware Tx and LO laser phase noise independent estimation enabled by dual pilot tones in DSCM systems

In the backbone networks employing high modulation formats such as 64QAM and metropolitan area networks, data center interconnection networks using the distributed feedback (DFB) lasers with several megahertz laser linewidths dramatically degrades system performance in the equalization enhanced phase noise (EEPN). Even though digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) systems are known for their tolerance to EEPN, they still cause performance degradation in this case. Therefore, the EEPN mitigation algorithm becomes an indispensable part of DSP algorithms in DSCM systems. A dual pilot tone-based chromatic dispersion-aware transmitter and local oscillator laser phase noise independent estimation algorithm is proposed in this paper to solve the above problem. Simulations/offline experiment results under 5 MHz laser linewidth and 1000/800 km transmission indicate that the proposed algorithm could bring about 1/0.6 dB improvement of the required SNR for the normalized generalized mutual information of 0.9 compared with the blind phase searching algorithm.

W-band photonic-aided reconfigurable multichannel vector mm-wave transmission enabled by the digital subcarrier multiplexing technique.

As multimedia service demands rise, radio-over-fiber (RoF) systems necessitate a flexible wireless resource allocation in multi-user scenarios. Optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) can meet multi-user application scenarios but has the problems of high hardware cost and complexity. In this Letter, we propose a photonic-aided reconfigurable multichannel vector millimeter-wave (mm-wave) transmission scheme in the RoF system enabled by the digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) technique. The scheme can flexibly adjust the number and frequency spacing of subcarriers as well as the bandwidth and modulation format allocated to each subcarrier, and it can be applied to multi-user scenarios without increasing the cost and complexity of hardware implementation. The off-line experiments verify the system transmission performance with different numbers, bandwidth, and frequency spacing of subcarriers, fully verifying the feasibility of the scheme. Furthermore, the Letter delves into the effects of the subcarrier number, bandwidth, and frequency spacing on overall system performance, highlighting the potential of this scheme for flexible and cost-effective wireless resource allocation in RoF systems.

Optimized design of horseshoe-and-spur filterless networks leveraging point-to-multipoint coherent pluggable transceivers

Cutting-edge network architectures and solutions are needed to empower operators to address capacity demands in metro and access networks efficiently. The horseshoe topology, along with similar topologies, is commonly employed in metro-aggregation segments due to its compatibility with the hub-and-spoke traffic pattern present in these networks and the survivability that they can provide. A filterless architecture can enhance cost-effectiveness by replacing active elements with passive components. Moreover, supporting coherent-based point-to-multipoint transceivers—enabled by digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM)—can yield additional cost savings. It is noteworthy that telecommunication network topologies often evolve to accommodate more end (leaf) nodes, extending the original horseshoe with spurs or small and short trees. This paper targets these types of networks and proposes combining the utilization of coherent pluggable transceivers leveraging DSCM to guarantee transparent communication between the hub and leaf nodes while adopting different filterless node architectures with selective amplifier deployment. Moreover, it discusses the potential advantages of the architecture using an exact optimization framework tailored to various network sizes and scenarios, which accounts for the amplifiers’ placement and the available types of power splitters/combiners/couplers. The results demonstrate that strategically deploying add/drop and express amplifiers, along with optimizing coupler ratios, can effectively meet design requirements while minimizing the number of optical amplifiers required.

Bidirectional TFDM 200 G coherent PON with a simplified receiver at the ONU side.

Time and frequency division multiplexing (TFDM) coherent passive optical networks (PONs) are considered as a promising candidate for future optical access networks due to the advantage of high sensitivity, high spectral efficiency, and flexibility. We propose a novel, to our knowledge, bidirectional TFDM 200-Gb/s coherent PON architecture based on the digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) technology. A polarization-insensitive simplified coherent receiver is achieved at the ONU side by Alamouti coding and heterodyne detection. We experimentally demonstrate this bidirectional coherent PON with a 50-Gbaud Alamouti 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal transmitted downstream and a 25-Gbaud dual polarization (DP)-16QAM signal transmitted upstream. By using a single sideband modulated transmitter, only one laser source is required at the optical network unit (ONU) side. The power budgets can reach 30 and 33 dB for the downstream and upstream, respectively, after the 20-km transmission over a standard single-mode fiber (SSMF).

Theoretical probability distribution model and reduction techniques based on an interleaved DFT spread for PAPR in a digital sub-carrier multiplexing system

This paper presents a theoretical probability distribution model for peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) in the digital sub-carrier multiplexing (DSCM) system, which has not previously been proposed in the literature. To reduce PAPR, an interleaved discrete Fourier transform spread DSCM (I-DFT-S-DSCM) scheme is proposed, which introduces reversible correlations between subcarriers. To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes, a 64-GBaud 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) DSCM system with 4, 8, and 16 sub-carriers was constructed. In the digital domain, the results demonstrate that the proposed theoretical PAPR probability distribution model exhibits mean squared errors (MSE) below 10−5 for the observed and model-predicted complementary cumulative distribution functions (CCDF) in both DSCM and I-DFT-S-DSCM schemes. Regarding PAPR reduction, the I-DFT-S-DSCM scheme demonstrated a reduction in PAPR of up to 1.44 dB compared to the conventional DSCM scheme. To further investigate the impact of PAPR on the bit error rate (BER) performance of the DSCM system, the I-DFT-S-DSCM scheme is implemented with 8 subcarriers transmitted over a 100-km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF). A comparative analysis with DSCM indicates that I-DFT-S-DSCM achieves a PAPR reduction of approximately 1.1 dB and improves receiver sensitivity by approximately 0.7 dB at a 7% hard-decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) threshold, in 100-km single-mode fiber SSMF transmissions.

Transceiver impairment robust and joint monitoring of PDL, DGD, and CD using frequency domain pilot tones for digital subcarrier multiplexing systems

Optical performance monitoring is vital for enabling dynamically reconfigurable optical networks. This paper introduces a monitoring scheme that is robust to transceiver impairments for coherent digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) systems that simultaneously monitors polarization-dependent loss (PDL), differential group delay (DGD), and chromatic dispersion (CD). In the proposed scheme, a pair of frequency domain pilot tones (FPTs) are inserted into the X and Y polarizations of the transmitted dual-polarization signal. Both the signal and the FPTs endure identical channel impairments during fiber transmission. At the receiver side, the transmitted FPTs are extracted to monitor the channel impairments. We begin by establishing a simplified system model using a single frequency tone to analyze the effects of system impairments on the frequency domain pilots. Based on this model, CD, PDL, and DGD are jointly and accurately estimated. In addition, the influences of temporal, amplitude, and phase mismatches between in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of transceivers on channel impairment monitoring are completely eliminated. This achieves a channel impairment monitoring scheme that is robust to transceiver impairments. Experimental verification shows that the proposed scheme can jointly and accurately estimate a wide range of CD, PDL, and DGD. Additionally, the proposed monitoring scheme demonstrates strong robustness against transceiver impairments, rapid polarization fluctuations, and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise.

Spectral analysis based blind frequency offset estimation for digital subcarrier multiplexing systems with adjustable roll-off factors and various modulation formats.

We proposed a blind frequency offset estimation (FOE) method for digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSM) signals. By utilising spectral information from the DSM signal and analysing the correlation between the frequency offset (FO) and the summed power of the signal spectrum, the proposed FOE method can accurately and effectively handle various modulation schemes assigned to each subcarrier. The proposed FOE method exhibits a flexibility to the roll-off factor of the root raised cosine (RRC) spectral shaping and can achieve a high level of accuracy in FOE under different roll-off factors and subcarrier numbers, with an FOE error of less than 30 MHz under a fast Fourier transform (FFT) size of 2048. Additionally, the proposed FOE method has advantages in terms of the computational complexity compared to the existing method. The performance of the proposed FOE method is experimentally verified for 48Gbaud 16QAM DSM signals in a coherent detection system.

Enabling endogenous distributed acoustic sensing in a digital subcarrier coherent transmission system.

To monitor the health of the fiber network and its ambient environment in densely populated access/metro network areas, in this Letter, an endogenous distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) has been proposed and achieved in a coherent digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) system. Rather than specially allocating a sensing probe in general integrated communication and sensing schemes, the fractional Fourier transformed (FrFT) training sequence (TS) designated for time/frequency synchronization in DSCM coherent communications has been repurposed for sensing. While achieving excellent synchronization performance of communication, the FrFT-based TS can also be concurrently utilized to perform distributed vibration sensing. Experimental results demonstrate that the FrFT-based timing/frequency synchronization sequence is repurposed to achieve a DAS sensitivity of 70 p ε/Hz at a spatial resolution of 5 m, along with 100-Gb/s 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) DSCM transmission, without a loss of spectral efficiency.

Robust, wide-range, and precise transmitter IQ impairment monitoring scheme for coherent digital subcarrier multiplexing systems.

In this Letter, we present a robust, wide-range, and precise monitoring scheme for transmitter (Tx) impairments in coherent digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) systems. The proposed scheme employs frequency-domain pilot tones (FPTs) to compensate for frequency offset (FO), polarization aliasing, and carrier phase noise, thus isolating Tx impairments from channel distortions. It then implements 4 × 4 real-valued MIMO to compensate for Tx impairments by equalizing symmetric subcarriers. Tx impairment monitoring is derived from the equalizer coefficients. By considering the phase shift caused by Tx impairments, a wide-range and precise monitoring of Tx impairments including IQ skew, IQ phase, and gain imbalances is achieved. We experimentally validated our approach using a 48-GBaud, four-subcarrier, dual-polarization coherent DSCM system. The results confirm the method's capability for a wide-range, robust, and precise Tx impairment monitoring in coherent DSCM systems, maintaining performance even in the presence of ultra-fast polarization variation.

Centralized and distributed approaches to control optical point-to-multipoint systems near-real-time

Optical point-to-multipoint (P2MP) connectivity based on digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) has been shown as a solution for the metro-access segment that is able to reduce capital and operational costs and support the capacity and high dynamicity needs of future 6G services. To achieve maximum performance, activation and deactivation of subcarriers must be done near-real-time to provide just the capacity needed to support the input traffic. In this paper, we investigate the applicability of various approaches capable of supporting the near-real-time operation requirement. Starting from the centralized approach that can be carried out on the centralized software-defined networking (SDN) controller, we also explore distributed approaches that might relieve the SDN controller from near-real-time operation. In particular, we explore the performance of deploying a multiagent system (MAS), where intelligent agents run on top of the nodes in the P2MP tree and communicate among them. Illustrative results show that the distributed approaches can achieve a performance close to that of the centralized one, while reducing communication needs. Results also show the importance of traffic/capacity prediction to anticipate the activation of subcarriers.

Beyond 100G three-dimensional flexible coherent PON with time, frequency, and power resource-allocation capabilities

Emerging services such as 8K/16K high-quality video streaming, virtual reality/augmented reality, beyond-5G mobile Internet, and edge computing are driving the need for even higher speed, capacity, and flexibility in optical access networks. Coherent passive optical networks (CPONs) have garnered significant attention in recent years due to their superior receiver sensitivity and high flexibility for 100G speeds and beyond. Research interest has surged in flexible, multi-dimensional multiplexing schemes that go beyond traditional time-division multiplexing (TDM). To further leverage the flexibility offered by CPONs, this paper proposes and experimentally demonstrates what we believe to be a novel three-dimensional flexible coherent PON (3D FLCS-CPON) for downstream applications. This system offers resource-allocation capabilities in the time, frequency, and power domains. By utilizing digital subcarrier multiplexing and power allocation in both the time and frequency domains, we achieve more flexible and adaptable access rates compared to traditional TDM and frequency-division multiplexing (FDM). We present in detail the operating principles of 3D FLCS-CPON in the downstream, along with steps for power calibration between subcarriers. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate the feasibility of 3D FLCS-CPON in the downstream using four subcarriers, achieving a peak data rate of 250Gb/s/λ over a 20-km fiber.

Demand Clustering and Spectrum Allocation (DCSA) problem in P2MP network with time-varying traffic

In this paper, the Demand Clustering and Spectrum Allocation (DCSA) problem in a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) network with time-varying traffic is studied. This article introduces several heuristic techniques that can be applied to traffic aggregation for P2MP optical network architectures employing digital subcarrier multiplexing. Based on the transmitter constraint, the algorithms assign individual subcarriers (SCs) to receiving nodes with uncorrelated traffic profiles. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithms outperform the clustering methods.

Architecture for low-cost and highly flexible metro-access networks using SOA-based OADM nodes and digital subcarrier multiplexing with power loading.

Metro-access networks exploiting wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) to cope with the ever-growing bandwidth demands are sensitive to cost and need to be fast-configurable to meet the requirements of many new network services. Optical add-drop multiplexers (OADMs) are a key component in enabling fast dynamic wavelength allocation and optimization. In this Letter, we propose and demonstrate, to our knowledge, a novel architecture for high-performance metro-access networks that utilizes semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based OADM nodes, digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM), low-cost direct detection receivers, and power loading techniques, which makes the designed metro-access network cost-effective, fast reconfigurable, and flexible for bandwidth allocation on demand. Through a proof-of-concept experiment, we have successfully demonstrated a prototype horseshoe optical network consisting of up to four SOA-based OADM nodes at 40 Gb/s per wavelength channel by leveraging the proposed scheme. The flexible bandwidth allocation and dynamic add and drop operations have also been achieved in an emulated WDM optical network. All results indicate the great scalability and flexibility of the proposed architecture.

In-Advance Joint Timing/Frequency Synchronization Using FrFT Pilot for Digital Subcarrier Multiplexing Systems

In-Advance Joint Timing/Frequency Synchronization Using FrFT Pilot for Digital Subcarrier Multiplexing Systems

Non-integer-oversampling digital signal processing for coherent passive optical networks

Beyond 100G passive optical networks (PONs) will be required to meet the ever-increasing traffic demand in the future. Coherent optical technologies are the competitive solutions for the future beyond 100G PON but also face challenges such as the high computational complexity of digital signal processing (DSP). A high oversampling rate in coherent optical technologies results in the high computational complexity of DSP. Therefore, DSP running in a non-integer-oversampling below 2 samples-per-symbol (sps) is preferred, which can not only reduce computational complexity but also obviously lower the requirement for the analog-to-digital converter. In this paper, we propose non-integer-oversampling DSP for meeting the requirements of coherent PON. Complexities of complex-valued multiplication of the proposed DSP working at 9/8-sps and 5/4-sps oversampling rates can be reduced by 44.04% and 40.78% compared to that working at the 2-sps oversampling rate, respectively. A 400-Gb/s-net-rate coherent PON based on digital subcarrier multiplexing was demonstrated to verify the feasibility of non-integer-oversampling DSP. There is almost no penalty on the receiver sensitivity when non-integer-oversampling DSP is adopted. In conclusion, non-integer-oversampling DSP shows great potential in the future coherent PON.

On clustering coherent optics point-to-multipoint trees for cost-effective bandwidth assignment in MANs

Point-to-multipoint (P2MP) coherent pluggable transceivers leveraging digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) techniques are gaining momentum among telecommunication operators as a technology that can potentially provide broadband connectivity in metropolitan area networks (MANs) with flexible bandwidth allocation at reduced costs. This technology allows trees to be built where central metro (hub) nodes are interconnected with remote access/aggregation (spoke) nodes with dedicated and flexible bandwidth slices, enabling better resource management, simplified architectures, and reduced costs. This paper proposes a modified version of AI/ML clustering techniques that concentrates on the same P2MP tree as those low-rate leaf nodes with uncorrelated daily traffic patterns in a cost-effective manner, thus allowing 10%–18% tree reductions. This, when compared with fixed P2P transceivers, translates into potential CAPEX savings between 40% and 50% in the different scenarios here considered.

Paired-subcarrier equalization for phase noise and transmitter IQ skew in digital subcarrier multiplexing system

The digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) transmission scheme is expected for future ultra-large baud rate transmission. However, the phase noise and transmitter (Tx) IQ skew tolerance are decreased due to the narrow sub-band transmission and conjugated interference from symmetric subcarrier. In this paper, we propose a paired-subcarrier equalization scheme to jointly mitigate the phase noise and Tx IQ skew. We use a phase locking loop (PLL) embedded 4 × 4 MIMO equalizer to simultaneously realize polarization demultiplexing, phase noise and Tx IQ skew compensation. The 4 × 4 MIMO can deal with the paired-subcarrier interference in the DSCM transmission. Besides, since the inner subcarrier suffers smaller interference from its symmetric subcarrier, we estimate the phase noise by inner subcarriers and share the phase noise information with other subcarriers to reduce the overall complexity. Through simulations of 100-GBaud 64-QAM DSCM coherent optical fiber transmission consisting of eight 12.5-Gbaud subcarriers and experiment of 10-GBaud four-subcarriers PM-16QAM transmission, we find that the PLL embedded equalizer for DSCM scheme exhibits better skew and phase noise compensation ability compared with other equalizers. Additionally, we compare the performance of single-carrier and DSCM schemes with the proposed equalizers in simulation. The influence of phase noise and Tx IQ skew on DSCM transmission can be largely relaxed.

PAPR Reduction and Nonlinearity Mitigation of Optical Digital Subcarrier Multiplexing Systems With a Silicon Photonics Transmitter

PAPR Reduction and Nonlinearity Mitigation of Optical Digital Subcarrier Multiplexing Systems With a Silicon Photonics Transmitter

Hardware-Efficient and Robust DSP Scheme for Coherent DSCM System in Presence of Transmitter IQ Impairments

In this paper, a hardware-efficient and robust DSP scheme for the coherent digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) system in presence of transmitter (Tx) in-phase/quadrature (IQ) impairments is introduced and demonstrated. An analytic complex model is given to describe the effects of IQ skew, IQ amplitude and phase imbalance (referred to as IQ mixing) on the DSCM signal. Based on the model, residual frequency offset, polarization and carrier phase noise are jointly recovered using frequency pilot tones (FPT) in presence of IQ mixing. This process avoids the coupling effect of phase noise and Tx IQ mixing in conventional schemes, which allows the Tx IQ mixing to be compensated for by the following joint equalization of conjugate symmetric subcarriers. Compared to the conventional scheme based on widely linear equalizer, the polarization and carrier phase tracking capability of the proposed scheme is robust to IQ mixing. Meanwhile, the proposed scheme can tolerate a wide range of Tx IQ mixing in the presence of residual frequency offset and carrier phase noise. Since polarization crosstalk is eliminated, the signals of the two polarizations can be equalized separately in the proposed scheme, thus reducing the computational complexity by half. For a 4-subcarrier DSCM system with baud rate of 32 Gbaud, experimental results show that the Q-factor degradation of the proposed scheme is less than 0.5dB in the presence of Tx IQ time skew within <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pm$</tex-math></inline-formula> 15 ps, IQ phase imbalance within <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pm$</tex-math></inline-formula> 20 degrees or IQ amplitude imbalance within <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pm$</tex-math></inline-formula> 3 dB. With 1dB Q-factor degradation, the proposed scheme can track polarization variation up to 10 Mrad/s, residual frequency offset of 10 MHz or carrier phase noise with 3dB linewidth of 200 kHz in the presence of Tx IQ mixing. Therefore, the proposed scheme provides a hardware-efficient and robust DSP solution for coherent DSCM targeting access network applications.

Enabling cost-effective high-performance vibration sensing in digital subcarrier multiplexing systems.

Enabling communication networks with sensing functionality has attracted significant interest lately. The digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) technology is widely promoted in short-reach scenarios for its inherent flexibility of fine-tuning the spectrum. Its compatibility with large-scale as-deployed coherent architectures makes it particularly suited for cost-sensitive integrated sensing and communication applications. In this paper, we propose a scheme of spectrally integrating the digital linear frequency modulated sensing signal into DSCM signals to achieve simultaneous sensing and communication through shared transmitter. Consequently, this cost-effective scheme has been demonstrated to achieve 100-Gb/s dual-polarization quadrature phase-shift keying (DP-QPSK) and 200-Gb/s dual-polarization 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (DP-16QAM) transmission with a distributed acoustic sensing sensitivity of 69 pε/Hz and 88 pε/Hz respectively, at a spatial resolution of 4 m.