Idelfonso Tafur Monroy

IST-LASAGNE: towards all-optical label swapping employing optical logic gates and optical flip-flops

The Information Society Technologies-all-optical LAbel SwApping employing optical logic Gates in NEtwork nodes (IST-LASAGNE) project aims at designing and implementing the first, modular, scalable, and truly all-optical photonic router capable of operating at 40 Gb/s. The results of the first project year are presented in this paper, with emphasis on the implementation of network node functionalities employing optical logic gates and optical flip-flops, as well as the definition of the network architecture and migration scenarios.

100 Gbit/s hybrid optical fiber-wireless link in the W-band (75–110 GHz)

We experimentally demonstrate an 100 Gbit/s hybrid optical fiber-wireless link by employing photonic heterodyning up-conversion of optical 12.5 Gbaud polarization multiplexed 16-QAM baseband signal with two free running lasers. Bit-error-rate performance below the FEC limit is successfully achieved for air transmission distances up to 120 cm.

Multiband Carrierless Amplitude Phase Modulation for High Capacity Optical Data Links

Short range optical data links are experiencing bandwidth limitations making it very challenging to cope with the growing data transmission capacity demands. Parallel optics appears as a valid short-term solution. It is, however, not a viable solution in the long-term because of its complex optical packaging. Therefore, increasing effort is now put into the possibility of exploiting higher order modulation formats with increased spectral efficiency and reduced optical transceiver complexity. As these type of links are based on intensity modulation and direct detection, modulation formats relying on optical coherent detection can not be straight forwardly employed. As an alternative and more viable solution, this paper proposes the use of carrierless amplitude phase (CAP) in a novel multiband approach (MultiCAP) that achieves record spectral efficiency, increases tolerance towards dispersion and bandwidth limitations, and reduces the complexity of the transceiver. We report on numerical simulations and experimental demonstrations with capacity beyond 100 Gb/s transmission using a single externally modulated laser. In addition, an extensive comparison with conventional CAP is also provided. The reported experiment uses MultiCAP to achieve 102.4 Gb/s transmission, corresponding to a data payload of 95.2 Gb/s error free transmission by using a 7% forward error correction code. The signal is successfully recovered after 15 km of standard single mode fiber in a system limited by a 3 dB bandwidth of 14 GHz.

High-Capacity Wireless Signal Generation and Demodulation in 75- to 110-GHz Band Employing All-Optical OFDM

We present a radio-frequency (RF) and bit-rate scalable technique for multigigabit wireless signal generation based on all-optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) and photonic up-conversion. Coherent detection supported by digital signal processing is used for signal demodulation and data recovery. In order to demonstrate the RF frequency scalability and bit-rate transparency, the system is tested at 60 GHz and in the 75- to 110-GHz band at the baud rates of 5 and 10 Gbaud. In terms of the bit rate, the proposed system is experimentally tested up to 40 Gb/s for wireless signal generation and demodulation. The wireless transmission is not considered in this letter. Additionally, a novel digital carrier phase/frequency recovery structure is employed to enable robust phase and frequency tracking between the beating lasers.

STOLAS: switching technologies for optically labeled signals

GMPLS-based labeled optical burst switching (LOBS) networks are being considered as the next-generation optical Internet. GMPLS includes wavelength switching next to label and fiber (space) switching. We present a new concept of optically labeling bursts of packets suitable for LOBS networks supported by GMPLS. It is based on angle modulation, which enables control information to modulate the phase or frequency of the optical carrier, while payload data are transmitted via intensity modulation (IM). In particular, the optical label is orthogonally modulated, with respect to the payload, using either frequency shift keying or differential phase shift keying. We present a performance analysis of the modulation schemes by means of simulations where the influence of the payload IM extinction ratio and laser linewidth are investigated. In addition, the transmission performance of an IM/FSK combined modulated signal is experimentally validated at 10 Gb/s, demonstrating at the same time an FSK label swapping operation. Finally, a suitable optical label-controlled switch design is proposed that takes advantage of these novel labeling techniques, and efficiently combines widely tunable, fast switching lasers and SOA-MZI wavelength converters with an arrayed waveguide grating router.

An optical IM/FSK coding technique for the implementation of a label-controlled arrayed waveguide packet router

In this paper, we present a new concept of optical packet/burst switching suitable for generalized multiprotocol label switched (GMPLS)-based optical networks. In such networks, optical labeled switched paths are being established in a similar way as label-switched paths in MPLS. We use a wavelength label as well as an orthogonally modulated label, with respect to the payload modulation format, and which is encoded using either frequency-shift keying (FSK) or differential phase-shift keying (DPSK). Wavelength is used for switching in the node, whereas the orthogonal label defines the label-switched path. We present both simulation and experimental results to assess transmission performance of the proposed combined modulation scheme. In addition, we propose a suitable optical node architecture that can take advantage of this stacked label concept. Toward this, we use widely tunable wavelength converters to efficiently route IM/FSK (or IM/DPSK) optically labeled packets in an arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG)-based node structure. We present performance simulation results in terms of packet loss ratio and internal block probability. Internal blocking is an inherent problem of AWG optical routers, and a specific wavelength assignment algorithm has been developed to minimize it. Finally, the feasibility of IM/FSK transmission is experimentally demonstrated over an 88-km single-mode fiber span, and novel aspects of FSK generation and detection techniques are presented.

Energy efficiency analysis for flexible-grid OFDM-based optical networks

As the Internet traffic grows, the energy efficiency gains more attention as a design factor for the planning and operation of telecommunication networks. This paper is devoted to the study of energy efficiency in optical transport networks, comparing the performance of an innovative flexible-grid network based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with that of conventional fixed-grid Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) networks with a Single Line Rate (SLR) and with a Mixed Line Rate (MLR) operation. The power consumption values of the network elements are introduced. Energy-aware heuristic algorithms are proposed for the resource allocation both in static (offline) and dynamic (online) scenarios with time-varying demands for the Elastic-bandwidth OFDM-based network and the WDM networks (with SLR and MLR). The energy efficiency performance of the two network technologies under different traffic load conditions have been demonstrated for different network sizes through simulations based on the proposed algorithms. The results in energy efficiency and network blocking highlight the benefits of the bandwidth elasticity and the flexibility of selecting different modulation formats offered by OFDM networks.

Digital Coherent Receiver for Phase-Modulated Radio-Over-Fiber Optical Links

A novel digital signal processing-based coherent receiver for phase-modulated radio-over-fiber (RoF) optical links is presented and demonstrated experimentally. Error-free demodulation of 50-Mbaud binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) and quadrature phase-shift keying data signal modulated on a 5-GHz radio-frequency (RF) carrier is experimentally demonstrated using the proposed digital coherent receiver. Additionally, a wavelength- division-multiplexing (WDM) phase-modulated RoF optical link is experimentally demonstrated. A 3times50 Mb/s WDM transmission of a BPSK modulated 5-GHz RF carrier is achieved over 25 km for the WDM channel spacing of 12.5 and 25 GHz, respectively.

Distribution of photonically generated 5 Gbits/s impulse radio ultrawideband signals over fiber.

We propose an approach to generate ultrawideband (UWB) pulses with tunable high-speed modulation based on pulse compression. Flexible generation of up to a record 5 Gbits/s on-off keying impulse radio UWB signals are successfully demonstrated as well. We also investigate 5 Gbits/s on-off keying bit-error-rate (BER) performance after 40 km single mode fiber transmission by employing a digital signal processing receiver, and the BER below forward error correction limit is achieved.

High-capacity transmission over polymer optical fiber

Polymer optical fiber (POF) is a promising transmission medium to provide broad-band telecommunication services within the customers premises. POF offers several attractive features for data transmission such as broad bandwidth and low cost for in-house, access, and local-area-network (LAN) applications. This paper presents a review on optical transmission systems using POF and their enabling technologies. A summary is given of experimental data links with record capacity over record transmission distances. To conclude, we discuss trends for further development and research.