Fiber-optic Communication Links Research Articles

Mode Coupling in Mode Division Multiplexing techniques for futuristic high speed optical networks and exploring optical fiber parameters to control mode coupling

Fiber optic communications are inevitable to achieve higher data rates of modern telecom networks. After utilization of Wavelength division multiplexing, higher order modulations and polarization multiplexing, mode division multiplexing is a new dimension to achieve higher transmission capacity for optical fiber communication links. Different spatial distributions of optical energy along cross sectional area of optical fiber allows simultaneous transmission of data by considering each mode as an independent channel. During such simultaneous transmissions, possibility of mixing of signals amongst modes causes signal degradations and acts as limiting factor for bandwidth – distance product of the link. This effect of mode coupling has been explored in this article by presenting its mathematical formulations. A simulation has been performed to study the impact of fiber constructional parameters on mode coupling using optical wavelengths used for telecommunication systems. The observations help to develop fibers for reduced mode coupling for particular group of modes and operating wavelengths. This article paves the way forward for study of mode coupling in micro and macro bending conditions for forthcoming research endeavours.

A Fault Location Analysis of Optical Fiber Communication Links in High Altitude Areas

Breakage and damage of fiber optic cable fibers seriously affects the normal operation of fiber optic networks, and it is important to quickly and accurately determine the type and location of faults when they occur. Unlike the old traditional methods, the advantages of wavelet transform in singular signal detection and signal filtering are used to analyze the Optical Time Domain Reflectometer curve signal and the fault detection method of fiber communication links with no relay and a large span in a high altitude area is given, which realizes the accurate detection and location of optical fiber communication link fault events under strong noise. The proposed technology detects fiber optic faults in high-altitude environments, with an average measurement accuracy improvement of 9.8%. The maximum distance for detecting fiber optic line faults is up to 250 km, which increases the system power budget. In the simulation experiment results, the infrastructure nodes of the Wuhan FiberHome Laboratory successfully verified the superiority of this technology. The method has been directly applied to the on-site detection of ultra long optical fiber links in high-altitude areas, which has good financial significance and has certain reference significance for the future real-time detection of optical fiber cables.

4*10 Gbps WDM communication system based on a tunable V-cavity semiconductor laser.

This paper is about the V-cavity tunable semiconductor laser with a 1550 nm band used as a transmitter to build a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical fiber communication link. In the experiment, a 20 km optical fiber communication link with a reasonable eye diagram and low bit error rate (BER) transmitted by 40 Gbps can be established. The experimental results show that a single laser can achieve a wavelength tuning range of 25 nm, reach 32 channels at a 100 GHz frequency interval, and the average side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) is above 39 dB. The advantages and application potential of V-cavity tunable semiconductor laser (VCL) for wavelength routing in optical communication networking are verified by experiments.

Scalable wavelength-multiplexing photonic reservoir computing

Photonic reservoir computing (PRC) is a special hardware recurrent neural network, which is featured with fast training speed and low training cost. This work shows a wavelength-multiplexing PRC architecture, taking advantage of the numerous longitudinal modes in a Fabry–Perot (FP) semiconductor laser. These modes construct connected physical neurons in parallel, while an optical feedback loop provides interactive virtual neurons in series. We experimentally demonstrate a four-channel wavelength-multiplexing PRC architecture with a total of 80 neurons. The clock rate of the multiplexing PRC reaches as high as 1.0 GHz, which is four times higher than that of the single-channel case. In addition, it is proved that the multiplexing PRC exhibits a superior performance on the task of signal equalization in an optical fiber communication link. This improved performance is owing to the rich neuron interconnections both in parallel and in series. In particular, this scheme is highly scalable owing to the rich mode resources in FP lasers.

Deep Learning-Aided Perturbation Model-Based Fiber Nonlinearity Compensation

Fiber nonlinearity effects cap achievable rates and ranges in long-haul optical fiber communication links. Conventional nonlinearity compensation methods, such as perturbation theory-based nonlinearity compensation (PB-NLC), attempt to compensate for the nonlinearity by approximating analytical solutions to the signal propagation over optical fibers. However, their practical usability is limited by model mismatch and the immense computational complexity associated with the analytical computation of perturbation triplets and the nonlinearity distortion field. Recently, machine learning techniques have been used to optimise parameters of PB-based approaches, which traditionally have been determined analytically from physical models. It has been claimed in the literature that the learned PB-NLC approaches have improved performance and/or reduced computational complexity over their non-learned counterparts. In this paper, we first revisit the acclaimed benefits of the learned PB-NLC approaches by carefully carrying out a comprehensive performance-complexity analysis utilizing state-of-the-art complexity reduction methods. Interestingly, our results show that least squares-based PB-NLC with clustering quantization has the best performance-complexity trade-off among the learned PB-NLC approaches. Second, we advance the state-of-the-art of learned PB-NLC by proposing and designing a <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">fully learned</i> structure by adopting the noiseless Manakov equation as the channel propagation model. We apply a bi-directional recurrent neural network for learning perturbation triplets that are alike those obtained from the analytical computation and are used as input features for the neural network to estimate the nonlinearity distortion field. Finally, we demonstrate through numerical simulations that our proposed fully learned approach achieves an improved performance-complexity trade-off compared to the existing learned and non-learned PB-NLC techniques.

Learned Signal-to-Noise Ratio Estimation in Optical Fiber Communication Links

This paper proposes a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimator based on recurrent neural network (RNN) in optical fiber communication links. The proposed estimator jointly estimates the linear and nonlinear components of the SNR. The input features of the proposed estimator are carefully designed based on a combination of the lower quartile and entropy extracted from the received signal. The proposed input features do not require knowledge of the transmitted symbols. In the proposed SNR estimator, three different RNN models are investigated, namely simple RNN, gated recurrent units, and long short-term memory. The overall computational complexity of the three models of the proposed estimator, including the feature extraction and RNN structures, are analyzed. Numerical results show that the three models of the proposed estimator provide a trade-off between the complexity of the RNN structure and estimation accuracy. Furthermore, the proposed estimator achieves a better SNR estimation accuracy and reduces the overall computational complexity compared to the literature.

Joint modulation format recognition and optical performance monitoring for efficient fiber-optic communication links using ensemble deep transfer learning

We propose an ensemble deep transfer learning (EDTL) method, which is a more refined multilayer feature extraction achieved by aggregating the convolutional layers of pretrained convolutional neural network models for joint optical modulation format recognition (MFR) and optical performance monitoring (OPM) in fiber-optic communication links. Modulation formats, such as quadrature phase shift keying, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and 64 QAM, are monitored for the optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) range of 20 to 30 dB by considering the dispersive effects of chromatic dispersion from 0 to 1200 ps / nm and polarization mode dispersion from 10 to 70 ps in the fiber-optic transmission path. First, the generated constellation diagrams affected by the impairments are used to optimize and evaluate the pretrained models based on classification targets. Then the proposed EDTL model is designed by aggregating the feature extractor parts of the pretrained models; it is implemented in three phases, and the results are comprehensively studied. Further, data augmentation and aggregation methods are introduced to enhance the performance of joint MFR and OPM. The results obtained prove that the proposed model provides faster convergence of MFR and better identification accuracy of OSNR toward optical signal diagnostics in optical networks for efficient optical link monitoring.

Low-crosstalk mode-group demultiplexers based on Fabry-Perot thin-film filters.

Mode-group multiplexing (MGM) can increase the capacity of short-reach few-mode optical fiber communication links while avoiding complex digital signal processing. In this paper, we present the design and experimental demonstration of a novel mode-group demultiplexer (MG DeMux) using Fabry-Perot (FP) thin-film filters (TFFs). The MG DeMux supports low-crosstalk mode-group demultiplexing, with degeneracies commensurate with those of graded-index (GRIN) multimode fibers. We experimentally demonstrate this functionality by using a commercial six-cavity TFF that was intended for 100 GHz channel spaced wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) system.

Power-fading-mitigation approach in an intensity-modulated radio-over-fiber link using a single integrated micro-ring resonator

In this paper we address the limiting effect of power fading (PF) in fiber optic communication links, due to the fiber’s dispersive properties, and suggest a mitigation approach in intensity-modulated radio-over-fiber (RoF) applications. The proposed method is independent of the length of the optical transmission path. PF is mitigated by employing a simple integrated photonic structure, i.e., a single micro-ring resonator. The latter features a periodic notch-filter response, employed to suppress one of the sidebands in an optical double sideband (ODSB) modulation, reducing the PF of the received RF signal. The suppression ratio measured by the optical spectrum analyzer is 24 dB. In this way we succeeded in reducing the RF signal’s power ripple at the receiving end to 3 dB. The proposed approach promises an economic yet effective solution to overcoming the PF in point-to-multipoint-topology optical networks.

An Evolutionary Pathway for the Quantum Internet Relying on Secure Classical Repeaters

Until quantum repeaters become mature, quantum networks remain restricted either to limited areas of directly connected nodes or to nodes connected to a common node. We circumvent this limitation by conceiving quantum networks using secure classical repeaters combined with the quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) principle, which is a compelling form of quantum communication that directly transmits information over a quantum channel. The final component of this promising solution is our classical quantum-resistant algorithm. Explicitly, in these networks, the ciphertext gleaned from a quantum-resistant algorithm is transmitted using QSDC along the nodes, where it is read out by one node and then transmitted to the next node. At the repeaters, the information is protected by our quantum-resistant algorithm, which is secure even in the face of a quantum computer. Hence, our solution offers secure end-to-end communication across the entire network, since it is capable of both eavesdropping detection and prevention in the emerging quantum Internet. It is compatible with operational networks, and will enjoy the compelling services of the popular Internet, including authentication. Hence, it smoothens the transition from the classical Internet to the quantum Internet (Qinternet) by following a gradual evolutionary upgrade. It will act as an alternative network in quantum computing networks in the future. We have presented the first experimental demonstration of a secure classical-repeater-based hybrid quantum network constructed by a serial concatenation of an optical fiber and free-space communication link. In conclusion, secure repeater networks may indeed be constructed using existing technology and continue to support a seamless evolutionary pathway to the future Qinternet of quantum computers.

Optimal placement of wide area monitoring system components in active distribution networks

Abstract The optimal placement of micro-Phasor Measurement Units (µPMUs) reduce the cost of wide area monitoring system (WAMS) in active distribution networks (ADNs); therefore, it is becoming a popular research topic. However, µPMUs alone cannot minimize the WAMS cost. An appropriate location of Phasor Data Concentrator (PDC) and a fiber optic communication link (CL) that transfers data from µPMUs to PDCs also need to be optimized. Hence this paper proposes a hybrid algorithm that determines the optimal cost-effective solution of the placement problem of µPMUs, PDC, and CL. The proposed algorithm uses the graph theory and binary integer linear programming (BILP) with the constraints of distribution generation (DG) presence, regular network reconfiguration, and maximizing system redundancy. The proposed algorithm is tested on IEEE 69 bus, IEEE 123 bus, and 345 bus active distribution system. The results obtained show the reduction in cost mainly through the CL and optimal placement of µPMUs in decentralized WAMS.

Phase-sensitively amplified wavelength-division multiplexed optical transmission systems.

The throughput and reach in fiber-optic communication links are limited by in-line optical amplifier noise and the Kerr nonlinearity in the optical transmission fiber. Phase-sensitive amplifiers (PSAs) are capable of amplifying signals without adding excess noise and mitigating the impairments caused by the Kerr nonlinearity. However, the effectiveness of Kerr nonlinearity mitigation depends on the dispersion pre-compensation in each span. This paper investigates dense wavelength-division multiplexed PSA-amplified links using joint processing with a less complex digital domain Volterra nonlinear equalizer at the receiver. Both numerically and with experiments, it is shown that this significantly reduces the impact of the dispersion pre-compensation in each span. Also, with simulations, a substantial improvement in transmission reach is demonstrated for PSA links.

Comparative Analysis of DCF based Dispersion Compensation Techniques in Optical Fiber Communication Link using Different Input Transmitter Conditions at 10 Gbps

In this paper, Dispersion Compensating Fiber (DCF) based various dispersion compensating techniques (pre, post and symmetrical) with different modulation format like Non Return to Zero(NRZ), Return to Zero(RZ), Carrier Suppressed Return to Zero(CSRZ) and Duo Binary(DB) along with PN, FCC and Walsh code input sequences are implemented. Simulation and analysis of these implemented techniques were done at 10 Gbps bit rate and input laser power ranging from 1 mW to 10 mW at transmission distance of 240 km using BER Analyzer in Optisystem 17.0 software. Comparison between different techniques was done in terms of Q factor and BER versus input CW laser power for different modulations and input sequences. From the analysis, it is concluded that when Walsh code as user defined input sequence are used for all the implementation, it gives higher value of Q factor and lower value of Bit Error Rate as compared to PN and FCC codes for most of the input CW laser power.

High speed pulse generators with electro-optic modulators based on different bit sequence for the digital fiber optic communication links

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The paper outlines the simulation of various pulse generators for the enhancement of optical fiber access transmission networks within flow rate of 10 Gbps and transmission range of 100 km. The pulse generators are gaussian, hyperbolic secant, triangle, sine, raised cosine in the transmission stage. Proposed pulse generators are mixed with both electro-absorption modulator (EAM) and mach-zehnder modulator (MZM) for efficient transmission. We have compared the max. the quality factor with using proposed pulse generators against nonreturn to zero (NRZ) return to zero (RZ) pulse generators in the previous research works for different bit sequences. The signal power amplitude is tested for both optical fiber and PIN photodetector optical time-domain visualizer and RF spectrum analyzer by using in the optimum cases for different bit sequence. It is observed that proposed pulse generators/EAM have presented an efficient increase in Q-factor value compared with proposed pulse generators/MZM for different bit sequences.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Analysis of Silica Based Single-Mode Fiber Doped with Germanium at Different Transmission Window

In this paper, a germanium doped silica-based single-mode fiber for high speed optical communication link has been proposed. It is found that the proposed fiber is suitable for three transmission widows an excellent result at the third transmission window. Here, attenuation loss, dispersion, mode field diameter, bending loss, and material loss of the proposed fiber has been analyzed. It is found that dispersion such as material dispersion and waveguide dispersion is very low at the third transmission window (1550 nm), which is used for high speed optical fiber communication link. In addition to this, at the third transmission window, micro bending loss is almost disappeared and macro bending loss is also very low (0.00101 dB/km). All these analysis has been done using FDTD technique.

Efficient Implementation of 400 Gbps Optical Communication FEC

We focus on a hardware implementation of the concatenated forward error-correction (FEC) decoder defined in 400ZR implementation agreement to provide a throughput of 400 Gbps over fiber-optical communication links. We propose a soft-input hard-output low-complexity decoding algorithm for the inner Hamming code. We demonstrate that the algorithm leads to an efficient hardware design with low silicon area and power dissipation. We then propose a hardware implementation architecture of the outer staircase decoder. It features a highly optimized low-power implementation of Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) component decoders and the staircase decoder memory that can be efficiently accessed by either vertical or horizontal component decoders. Finally, we analyze the hardware implementation of the entire 400ZR decoder and investigate the trade-off in terms of power, area, and speed, that results from the inner/outer decoder concatenation and is dictated by the bit-error rate at the output of the inner decoder.

OPTICAL FIBER FAULT DETECTION AND LOCALIZATION IN AN OPTICAL ACCESS NETWORK DOMAIN

Fault detection and localization in optical fiber communication links are important in the optical access network (OAN) due to the passive nature of the network elements involved. Any failure in the link can resort to a huge amount of data loss in the network. However, deployment of fault detection and localization devices is extremely limited due to the reliability and financial implications of the devices. Several fault monitoring solutions in the OAN domain have been investigated by the researchers over the decades; the challenges for these monitoring techniques are the cost and complexity of their deployment. Thus, this work proposes a cost-effective solution for the detection and localization of a fault in the OAN based on Fiber-to-the-x (FTTx) network using optical reflectors. The reflected signal from the monitors in the network will be utilized to detect and locate the optical link with fault. Experimental results obtained show the techniques capability to detect and localized fault in the network, in-service over a distance of 20 km.

Crosstalk Limitations due to Intercore Coupling on the BER Performance of an Optical Communication System with Homogeneous Multi-core Fiber

Abstract The effect of crosstalk due to inter-core coupling on the bit error rate (BER) performance of a fiber optic communication link with a homogeneous multi-core optical fiber (MCF) and a direct detection receiver with optical preamplifier is analytically evaluated and presented in this paper. Coupling coefficients due to inter-core coupling in a 7-core MCF is evaluated numerically with as a function of core-to-core distance (pitch) and relative refractive index contrast. Coupling length is determined against various index contrasts and at different core pitches. Crosstalk power, Signal to Crosstalk plus Noise Ratio (SCNR), BER and power penalty at any output core with light launched into other core of a 7-core MCF are determined analytically. The results show that there is mentionable deterioration in BER performance due to coupling induced crosstalk, and system suffers distinct power penalty at a given BER. For example, power penalty at BER of 10e-9 is found to be 4.0 dB and 4.3 dB for a MCF link of 10 km corresponding to relative refractive index difference of 0.0036 and 0.0030, respectively, for a pitch value of 30 µm and core radius of 4.5 µm.

Evaluation of Chirped Fiber Bragg Grating with APD on Designed Optical Fiber Communication Link

Abstract Application of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) in optical communication is an evolving field. In this research paper, various types of chirped FBG’s (CFBG) have been used with avalanche photodiode (APD) on the designed optical fiber communication (OFC) link. Data rate of 20 Gbps and return-to-zero modulation format has been kept as fixed parameters. The designed link has been evaluated for varying fiber lengths (100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 km), various type of CFBG’s (linear, quadratic, square root and cubic root) with Gaussian apodization function, varying grating lengths (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 mm) and operating temperatures (5°C, 10°C, 15°C, 20°C, 25°C, 30°C). The designed OFC link has also been evaluated for APD with and without CFBG. The performance evaluation matrix parameters selected are Q-factor, bit error rate and eye diagram. The OFC link employing CFBG with APD has been found to be superior. In compensating chromatic dispersion, optimum results have been observed for linear CFBG with Gaussian apodization function in comparison to other types of CFBG with 50 mm grating length for the maximum transmission distance.

Optical data signals in fiber optic communication links with fading

Introduction: This article is based on the recent research work in the field of two subjects: signal data parameters in fiber optic communication links, and dispersive properties of optical signals caused by non-homogeneous material phenomena and multimode propagation of optical signals in such kinds of wired links.Purpose: Studying multimode dispersion by analyzing the propagation of guiding optical waves along a fiber optic cable with various refractive index profiles of the inner optical cable (core) relative to the outer cladding, as well as dispersion properties of a fiber optic cable due to inhomogeneous nature of the cladding along the cable, for two types of signal code sequences transmitted via the cable: return-to-zero and non-return-to-zero ones.Methods: Dispersion properties of multimode propagation inside a fiber optic cable are analyzed with an advanced 3D model of optical wave propagation in a given guiding structure. The effects of multimodal dispersion and material dispersion causing the optical signal delay spread along the cable were investigated analytically and numerically.Results: Time dispersion properties were obtained and graphically illustrated for two kinds of fiber optic structures with different refractive index profiles. The dispersion was caused by multimode (e.g. multi-ray) propagation and by the inhomogeneous nature of the material along the cable. Their effect on the capacity and spectral efficiency of a data signal stream passing through such a guiding optical structure is illustrated for arbitrary refractive indices of the inner (core) and outer (cladding) elements of the optical cable. A new methodology is introduced for finding and evaluating the effects of time dispersion of optical signals propagating in fiber optic structures of various kinds. An algorithm is proposed for estimating the spectral efficiency loss measured in bits per second per Hertz per each kilometer along the cable, for arbitrary presentation of the code signals in the data stream, non-return-to zero or return-to-zero ones. All practical tests are illustrated by MATLAB utility.