Experimental demonstration of a record high 11.25Gb/s real-time optical OFDM transceiver supporting 25km SMF end-to-end transmission in simple IMDD systems

Real-time demonstration of a low-complexity PS scheme for 16QAM-DMT signals in an IM-DD system

We experimentally demonstrated a low-complexity probabilistic shaping (PS) 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) scheme based on intra-symbol bit-weighted distribution matching (Intra-SBWDM) for discrete multi-tone (DMT) symbols with field-programmable gate array implementation in an intensity modulation and direct detection (IM-DD) system. Different from the traditional PS scheme such as Gallager many-to-one mapping, hierarchical distribution matching and constant composition distribution matching, the Intra-SBWDM scheme with lower computation and hardware complexity does not need to continuously refine the interval to find the target symbol probability, nor does it need a look-up table, so it does not introduce a large number of extra redundant bits. In our experiment, four PS parameter values (k = 4, 5, 6, and 7) are investigated in a real-time short-reach IM-DD system. 31.87-Gbit/s net bit PS-16QAM-DMT (k = 4) signal transmission is achieved. The results show that the receiver sensitivity in terms of the received optical power of the real-time PS scheme based on Intra-SBWDM (k = 4) over OBTB/20 km standard single-mode fiber can be improved by about 1.8/2.2 dB at the bit error rate (BER) of 3.8 × 10^-3, compared to the uniformly-distributed DMT. In addition, the BER is steadily lower than 3.8 × 10^-3 during a one-hour measurement for PS-DMT transmission system.

A Review of DSP-Based Enabling Technologies for Cloud Access Networks

Optical access networks, metro networks and mobile data networks are facing rapidly evolving demands, not only is it essential to satisfy the unyielding need for increased user bandwidths, but future networks must also support the growing wide variation in traffic dynamics and characteristics, due to various emerging technologies, such as cloud-based services, the Internet-of-Things (IoT) and 5G mobile systems, and due to growing trends, such as the proliferation of mobile devices and the rapidly increasing popularity of video-on-demand services. To be cost-effective and commercially sustainable, future optical networks must offer features, such as, dynamic reconfigurability, highly efficient use of network resources, elastic bandwidth provisioning with fine granularity, network sliceabilty and software defined networking (SDN). To meet these requirements Cloud Access Networks (CANs) are proposed which require a number of flexible, adaptive and reconfigurable networking elements. By exploiting digital signal processing (DSP) we have proposed a digital orthogonal filter-based multiplexing technique to implement CANs with multiplexed, independent optical channels at the wavelength, sub-wavelength, and orthogonal sub-band levels. This paper reviews the overall CAN concept, the operating principles of the various CAN network elements and presents an overview of the research work we have undertaken in order to validate the feasibility of the proposed technologies which includes real-time DSP-based demonstrations.

Real-time 20.37 Gb/s optical OFDM receiver for PON IM/DD systems

This paper presents the hardware architecture of an OFDM receiver suitable for optical communications. The receiver has been implemented in an FPGA device and used to demonstrate experimentally an optical OFDM transmission in a passive optical link with a directly modulated DFB laser and DAC/ADC at 5 GS/s. A bit rate of 20.37 Gb/s is achieved using an OFDM signal with subcarrier modulation format up to 512-QAM, it has been successfully transmitted over 10 km SSMF with a spectral efficiency of 8.38 bit/s/Hz.

Sparse-fast-Fourier-transform-based quick synchronization for optical direct detection orthogonal frequency division multiplexing systems

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has always been a promising candidate for optical access networks. However, it is very sensitive to synchronization errors and requires complex digital signal processing to eliminate this influence, thus increasing the computation complexity, delay, and system cost, which hampers its applications in cost-sensitive and low-latency scenarios of future optical access networks. To deal with this issue, a sparse-fast-Fourier-transform (FFT)-based quick synchronization algorithm for optical direct detection OFDM systems is proposed and demonstrated with greatly reduced computation complexity. Detailed simulations and experimental verifications along 50 km standard single-mode-fiber transmission prove the efficiency, accuracy, and feasibility of the sparse-FFT-based synchronization technique in cost- and delay-sensitive applications for next-generation optical access networks.

Hardware-efficient signal generation of layered/enhanced ACO-OFDM for short-haul fiber-optic links

Layered/enhanced ACO-OFDM is a promising candidate for intensity modulation and direct-detection based short-haul fiber-optic links due to its both power and spectral efficiency. In this paper, we firstly demonstrate a hardware-efficient real-time 9.375 Gb/s QPSK-encoded layered/enhanced asymmetrical clipped optical OFDM (L/E-ACO-OFDM) transmitter using a Virtex-6 FPGA. This L/E-ACO-OFDM signal is successfully transmitted over 20-km uncompensated standard single-mode fiber (S-SMF) using a directly modulated laser. Several methods are explored to reduce the FPGA's logic resource utilization by taking advantage of the L/E-ACO-OFDM's signal characteristics. We show that the logic resource occupation of L/E-ACO-OFDM transmitter is almost the same as that of DC-biased OFDM transmitter when they achieve the same spectral efficiency, proving its great potential to be used in a real-time short-haul optical transmission link.

Self-seeding-based 10Gb/s over 25km optical OFDM transmissions utilizing face-to-face dual-RSOAs at gain saturation

Self-seeded passive optical networks (PONs) are currently attracting extensive research interest. In this paper, a novel self-seeded PON transmitter is, for the first time, proposed and experimentally demonstrated, which incorporates two face-to-face-positioned reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers (RSOAs) operating at their gain saturation regions: one RSOA directly driven by an upstream electrical signal and the other RSOA biased at a fixed current. Detailed experimental explorations are undertaken of the dynamic performance characteristics of the proposed transmitter. It is shown that, in comparison with previously reported self-seeded transmitters each employing a reflective mirror and a single electrical signal-driven RSOA, the proposed transmitter has a number of salient advantages including, considerably narrowed optical signal spectra, up to 16dB reduction in RINs of intensity-modulated optical signals, and residual intensity modulation crosstalk suppression as high as 10.7dB. The aforementioned features enable experimental demonstrations of real-time self-seeded 10Gb/s optical OFDM (OOFDM) transmitters. In particular, by making use of two low-cost RSOAs having their 3-dB modulation bandwidths as small as 1.125GHz, 10Gb/s over 25km adaptive OOFDM transmissions with power penalties of 0.6dB are experimentally achieved in the simple self-seeded IMDD PON systems.

Signal-carrier interleaved optical OFDM for direct detection optical communication

We propose signal-carrier interleaved (SCI) optical OFDM for direct detected transmission systems. Such a scheme can be considered as a variation of self-coherent detection where the carrier and signal are supplied at the transmitter and extracted at the receiver for coherent-like detection. This provides high OSNR sensitivity while maintaining very low carrier-to-signal power ratio (CSR). Our experiment results show that with 0 dB CSR, 43.2 Gb/s 16 QAM OFDM signal can be successfully delivered over 80 km standard single mode fiber (SSMF) with 24 dB OSNR requirements at 7% FEC limit.

Coherently wavelength injection-locking a 600-μm long cavity colorless laser diode for 16-QAM OFDM at 12 Gbit/s over 25-km SMF

The coherent injection-locking and directly modulation of a long-cavity colorless laser diode with 1% end-facet reflectance and weak-resonant longitudinal modes is employed as an universal optical transmitter to demonstrated for optical 16-QAM OFDM transmission at 12 Gbit/s over 25 km in a DWDM-PON system. The optimized bias current of 30 mA (~1.5Ith) with corresponding extinction ratio (ER) of 6 dB and the external injection power of -9 dBm is (are) required for such a wavelength-locked universal transmitter to carry the 16-QAM and 122-subcarrier formatted OFDM and data-stream. By increasing external injection-locking from -9 dBm to 0 dBm, the peak-to-peak chirp of the OFDM data stream reduces from 7.7 to 5.4 GHz. The side mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of up to 50 dB is achieved with wider detuning range between -0.5 nm to 2.0 nm under an injection power of 0 dBm. By modulating such a colorless laser diode with an OFDM data stream of 122 subcarriers at a central carrier frequency of 1.5625 GHz and a total bandwidth of 3 GHz, the transmission data rate of up to 12 Gbit/s in standard single-mode fiber over 25 km is demonstrated to achieve an error vector magnitude (EVM) of 5.435%. Such a universal colorless DWDM-PON transmitter can deliver the optical OFDM data-stream at 12 Gbit/s QAM-OFDM data after 25-km transmission with a receiving power sensitivity of -7 dBm at BER of 3.6 × 10(-7) when pre-amplifying the OFDM data by 5 dB.

Power margin improvement for OFDMA-PON using hierarchical modulation

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a hierarchical modulation scheme to improve power margin for orthogonal frequency division multiple access-passive optical networks (OFDMA-PONs). In a PON system, under the same launched optical power, optical network units (ONUs) have different power margins due to unequal distribution fiber lengths. The power margin of the PON system is determined by the ONU with the lowest power margin. In our proposed scheme, ONUs with long and short distribution fibers are grouped together, and downstream signals for the paired ONUs are mapped onto the same OFDM subcarriers using hierarchical modulation. In a pair of ONUs, part of the power margin of the ONU with short distribution fiber is re-allocated to the ONU with long distribution fiber. Therefore, the power margin of the ONU with the longest distribution fiber can be increased, leading to the power margin improvement of the PON system. Experimental results show that the hierarchical modulation scheme improves the power margin by 2.7 dB for an OFDMA-PON system, which can be used to support more users or extend transmission distance.

Experimental demonstrations of record high REAM intensity modulator-enabled 19.25Gb/s real-time end-to-end dual-band optical OFDM colorless transmissions over 25km SSMF IMDD systems

Record-high 19.25Gb/s real-time end-to-end dual-band optical OFDM (OOFDM) colorless transmissions across the entire C-band are experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, in reflective electro-absorption modulator (REAM)-based 25km standard SMF systems using intensity modulation and direct detection. Adaptively modulated baseband (0-2GHz) and passband (6.125 ± 2GHz) OFDM RF sub-bands, supporting signal line rates of 9.75Gb/s and 9.5Gb/s respectively, are independently generated and detected with FPGA-based DSP clocked at only 100MHz as well as DACs/ADCs operating at sampling speeds as low as 4GS/s. The two OFDM sub-bands are electrically multiplexed for intensity modulation of a single optical carrier by an 8GHz REAM. The REAM colorlessness is experimentally characterized, based on which optimum REAM operating conditions are identified. To maximize and balance the signal transmission performance of each sub-band, on-line adaptive transceiver optimization functions and live performance monitoring are fully exploited to optimize key OOFDM transceiver and system parameters. For different wavelengths within the C-band, corresponding minimum received optical powers at the FEC limit vary in a range of <0.5dB and bit error rate performances for both baseband and passband signals are almost identical. Furthermore, detailed investigations are also undertaken of the maximum aggregated signal line rate sensitivity to electrical sub-band power variation. It is shown that the aforementioned system has approximately 3dB tolerance to RF sub-band power variation.

Chemokine guidance of central memory T cells is critical for antiviral recall responses in lymph nodes

A defining feature of vertebrate immunity is the acquisition of immunological memory, which confers enhanced protection against pathogens by mechanisms that are incompletely understood. Here, we compared responses by virus-specific naive T cells (T(N)) and central memory T cells (T(CM)) to viral antigen challenge in lymph nodes (LNs). In steady-state LNs, both T cell subsets localized in the deep T cell area and interacted similarly with antigen-presenting dendritic cells. However, upon entry of lymph-borne virus, only T(CM) relocalized rapidly and efficiently toward the outermost LN regions in the medullary, interfollicular, and subcapsular areas where viral infection was initially confined. This rapid peripheralization was coordinated by a cascade of cytokines and chemokines, particularly ligands for T(CM)-expressed CXCR3. Consequently, in vivo recall responses to viral infection by CXCR3-deficient T(CM) were markedly compromised, indicating that early antigen detection afforded by intranodal chemokine guidance of T(CM) is essential for efficient antiviral memory.

REAM intensity modulator-enabled 10Gb/s colorless upstream transmission of real-time optical OFDM signals in a single-fiber-based bidirectional PON architecture

Reflective electro-absorption modulation-intensity modulators (REAM-IMs) are utilized, for the first time, to experimentally demonstrate colorless ONUs in single-fiber-based, bidirectional, intensity-modulation and direct-detection (IMDD), optical OFDM PONs (OOFDM-PONs) incorporating 25 km SSMFs and OLT-side-seeded CW optical signals. The colorlessness of the REAM-IMs is characterized, based on which optimum REAM-IM operating conditions are identified. In the aforementioned PON architecture, 10Gb/s colorless upstream transmissions of end-to-end real-time OOFDM signals are successfully achieved for various wavelengths within the entire C-band. Over such a wavelength window, corresponding minimum received optical powers at the FEC limit vary in a range as small as <0.5 dB. In addition, experimental measurements also indicate that Rayleigh backscattering imposes a 2.8 dB optical power penalty on the 10 Gb/s over 25 km upstream OOFDM signal transmission. Furthermore, making use of on-line adaptive bit and power loading, a linear trade-off between aggregated signal line rate and optical power budget is observed, which shows that, for the present PON system, a 10% reduction in signal line rate can improve the optical power budget by 2.6 dB.

Experimental demonstration of record high 19.125 Gb/s real-time end-to-end dual-band optical OFDM transmission over 25 km SMF in a simple EML-based IMDD system

Record high 19.125 Gb/s real-time end-to-end dual-band optical OFDM (OOFDM) transmission is experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, in a simple electro-absorption modulated laser (EML)-based 25 km standard SMF system using intensity modulation and direct detection (IMDD). Adaptively modulated baseband (0-2GHz) and passband (6.125 ± 2GHz) OFDM RF sub-bands, supporting line rates of 10 Gb/s and 9.125 Gb/s respectively, are independently generated and detected with FPGA-based DSP clocked at only 100 MHz and DACs/ADCs operating at sampling speeds as low as 4GS/s. The two OFDM sub-bands are electrically frequency-division-multiplexed (FDM) for intensity modulation of a single optical carrier by an EML. To maximize and balance the signal transmission performance of each sub-band, on-line adaptive features and on-line performance monitoring is fully exploited to optimize key OOFDM transceiver and system parameters, which includes subcarrier characteristics within each individual OFDM sub-band, total and relative sub-band power as well as EML operating conditions. The achieved 19.125 Gb/s over 25 km SMF OOFDM transmission system has an optical power budget of 13.5 dB, and shows almost identical bit error rate (BER) performances for both the baseband and passband signals. In addition, experimental investigations also indicate that the maximum achievable transmission capacity of the present system is mainly determined by the EML frequency chirp-enhanced chromatic dispersion effect, and the passband BER performance is not affected by the two sub-band-induced intermixing effect, which, however, gives a 1.2dB optical power penalty to the baseband signal transmission.

First real-time experimental demonstrations of 11.25Gb/s optical OFDMA PONs with adaptive dynamic bandwidth allocation

End-to-end real-time experimental demonstrations are reported, for the first time, of aggregated 11.25Gb/s over 26.4km standard SMF, optical orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OOFDMA) PONs with adaptive dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA). The demonstrated intensity-modulation and direct-detection (IMDD) OOFDMA PON system consists of two optical network units (ONUs), each of which employs a DFB-based directly modulated laser (DML) or a VCSEL-based DML for modulating upstream signals. Extensive experimental explorations of dynamic OOFDMA PON system properties are undertaken utilizing identified optimum DML operating conditions. It is shown that, for simultaneously achieving acceptable BERs for all upstream signals, the OOFDMA PON system has a >3dB dynamic ONU launch power variation range, and the BER performance of the system is insusceptible to any upstream symbol offsets slightly smaller than the adopted cyclic prefix. In addition, experimental results also indicate that, in addition to maximizing the aggregated system transmission capacity, adaptive DBA can also effectively reduce imperfections in transmission channel properties without affecting signal bit rates offered to individual ONUs.

Design studies for ASIC implementations of 28 GS/s optical QPSK- and 16-QAM-OFDM transceivers

We designed at the register-transfer-level digital signal processing (DSP) circuits for 21.8 Gb/s and 43.7 Gb/s QPSK- and 16-QAM-encoded optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transceivers, and carried out synthesis and simulations assessing performance, power consumption and chip area. The aim of the study is to determine the suitability of OFDM technology for low-cost optical interconnects. Power calculations based on synthesis for a 65 nm standard-cell library showed that the DSP components of the transceiver (FFTs, equalisation, (de)mapping and clipping/scaling circuits) consume 18.2 mW/Gb/s and 12.8 mW/Gb/s in the case of QPSK and 16-QAM respectively.

Theoretical and experimental evaluation of clipping and quantization noise for optical OFDM

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has recently gained substantial interest in high capacity optical fiber communications. Unlike wireless systems, optical OFDM systems are constrained by the limited resolution of the ultra high-speed digital-to-analog converters (DAC) and analog-to-digital converters (ADC). Additionally, the situation is exacerbated by the large peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) inherent in OFDM signals. In this paper, we study the effects of clipping and quantization noise on the system performance. We analytically quantify the introduced distortion as a function of bit resolution and clipping ratio, both at the DAC and ADC. With this we provide a back-to-back signal-to-noise ratio analysis to predict the bit error rate of the system, assuming a fixed received optical power and ideal electrical-optical-electrical conversion. Simulation and experimental results are used to confirm the validity of the expressions.

Dynamic λ-OFDMA with selective multicast overlaid

This paper experimentally demonstrates a novel dynamic λ-OFDMA architecture with selective differential phase shift keying (DPSK) overlaid and colorless optical network unit (ONU). The wavelength can be dynamically assigned to the splitter node in demand through a group of optical switches. Multicast control is realized through an alternative local oscillator at the optical line terminal (OLT). The 10-Gb/s × 4-channel 16QAM-OFDM unicast signal with 2.5-Gb/s DPSK overlaid and 1.25-Gb/s upstream signal have been transmitted over 25-km fiber successfully.

Real-time experimental demonstration of low-cost VCSEL intensity-modulated 11.25 Gb/s optical OFDM signal transmission over 25 km PON systems

The feasibility of utilising low-cost, un-cooled vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) as intensity modulators in real-time optical OFDM (OOFDM) transceivers is experimentally explored, for the first time, in terms of achievable signal bit rates, physical mechanisms limiting the transceiver performance and performance robustness. End-to-end real-time transmission of 11.25 Gb/s 64-QAM-encoded OOFDM signals over simple intensity modulation and direct detection, 25 km SSMF PON systems is experimentally demonstrated with a power penalty of 0.5 dB. The low extinction ratio of the VCSEL intensity-modulated OOFDM signal is identified to be the dominant factor determining the maximum obtainable transmission performance. Experimental investigations indicate that, in addition to the enhanced transceiver performance, adaptive power loading can also significantly improve the system performance robustness to variations in VCSEL operating conditions. As a direct result, the aforementioned capacity versus reach performance is still retained over a wide VCSEL bias (driving) current (voltage) range of 4.5 mA to 9 mA (275 mVpp to 320 mVpp). This work is of great value as it demonstrates the possibility of future mass production of cost-effective OOFDM transceivers for PON applications.

Experimental demonstration and optimisation of a synchronous clock recovery technique for real-time end-to-end optical OFDM transmission at 11.25Gb/s over 25km SSMF

A simple, digital signal processing-free, low-cost and robust synchronous clocking technique is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, in a 64-QAM-encoded, 11.25Gb/s over 25km SSMF, real-time end-to-end optical OFDM (OOFDM) system using directly modulated DFB laser-based intensity-modulation and direct-detection (IMDD). Detailed experimental investigations show that, in comparison with the common clock approach utilised in previous experimental demonstrations, the proposed clocking technique can be implemented to achieve no system BER performance degradation or optical power budget penalty and more importantly to improve system stability. As a viable synchronous clocking solution for real-time OOFDM transmission, this work is a vital step towards the realisation of practical OOFDM transmission systems and has particular significance for synchronisation of OOFDM multiple access-based passive optical networks where highly accurate synchronisation of all network elements is essential.

A high spectral efficiency optical OFDM scheme based on interleaved multiplexing

By multiplexing two OFDM signals with the same channel space and bit rate together in an interleaved mode, a novel optical multiplexing scheme is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Since the channel space is halved, the spectral efficiency is doubled compared with conventional OFDM. It is proved that the orthogonality between the subcarriers is maintained as long as the data is real. With discrete Fourier transform, the proposed scheme has similar computational complexity as conventional OFDM and single sideband modulation is conveniently achieved. A 10 Gb/s transmission system is set up, and proves the feasibility and efficiency of the scheme experimentally.

Real-time experimental demonstration of optical OFDM symbol synchronization in directly modulated DFB laser-based 25km SMF IMDD systems

A simple optical OFDM (OOFDM) synchronization technique utilizing subtraction and Gaussian windowing at the symbol rate is proposed and implemented in FPGA-based OOFDM receivers. End-to-end real-time symbol synchronization of 128-QAM-encoded OOFDM signals at raw bit rates of 6.56Gb/s is experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, over directly modulated DFB laser-based 25km SMF intensity modulation and direct detection (IMDD) systems. Experimental investigations show that the proposed synchronisation technique offers a number of salient advantages including low complexity, fast tracking speed, high accuracy and suitability for high-capacity optical transmission systems.

Significant improvements in optical power budgets of real-time optical OFDM PON systems

Based on a comprehensive theoretical optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OOFDM) system model rigorously verified by comparing numerical results with end-to-end real-time experimental measurements at 11.25Gb/s, detailed explorations are undertaken, for the first time, of the impacts of various physical factors on the OOFDM system performance over directly modulated DFB laser (DML)-based, intensity modulation and direct detection (IMDD), single-mode fibre (SMF) systems without in-line optical amplification and chromatic dispersion compensation. It is shown that the low extinction ratio (ER) of the DML modulated OOFDM signal is the predominant factor limiting the maximum achievable optical power budget, and the subcarrier intermixing effect associated with square-law photon detection in the receiver reduces the optical power budget by at least 1dB. Results also indicate that, immediately after the DML in the transmitter, the insertion of a 0.02nm bandwidth optical Gaussian bandpass filter with a 0.01nm wavelength offset with respect to the optical carrier wavelength can enhance the OOFDM signal ER by approximately 1.24dB, thus resulting in a 7dB optical power budget improvement at a total channel BER of 1 × 10(-3).