China Communications December 2005 54

Feature Articles: Optical Fiber Communications

ABSTRACT
According to the requirement of large information
transport, 40Gb/s (STM-256) SDH optical commu-
nication system is the very useful technology for
national information infrastructure. In this paper, the
development progress has been introduced in terms
of the key technologies of 40Gb/s equipment and
system, and some test results have been showed.
Key words: 40Gb/s, STM-256, SDH, optical
communication, dispersion, PMD
I. INTRODUCTION
The total length of installed optical cable is
more than 3.38M km in China, including 646 K
km of core network and 2.73M km of local
network. But the microwave line length is only
190 K km. So we can see almost 95% of the total
information is transported through optical trans-
port network in China. On the other hand, there
are a total of 700M telephone subscribers (340M
POTS subscribers and 360M mobile phone users)
in China. This is the largest telecommunication
network in the world. Thus, more information
transportation is needed.
In this paper the development status of 40Gb/s
(STM-256) SDH optical communication system
in China is described based on the "10th five year
pl an of Nat i onal Key Technol ogi es R&D
Programme (NKTRDP)".
II. 40GB/S (STM-256) SDH OPTICAL
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
TDM is the basic technology to increase the
system's capacity or bit-rate. The highest level
of SDH hierarchy is STM-256, i.e. 40Gb/s. In
the world, there are only a few companies can
provide such equipment. In 2002, Wuhan Re-
search Institute of P&T, China (WRI) initial-
ized the STM-256 optical communication sys-
tem R&D project, or the NKTRDP project.
The final target of this project is to establish a
40Gb/s optical transmission field trial and provide
commercial use in the future. The trial system
consists of two terminal equipment and five optical
repeaters (i.e. optical amplifiers) for a linear link
system or three ADM nodes for ring systems, which
are shown in Fig 1.
This project was implemented at the end of
2004, and it was checked and accepted by MII of
China in June, 2005.
Development Progress of 40
Gb/s (STM-256) SDH Optical
System in China
Mao Qian
Professor, Wuhan Research Institute of P&T. Wuhan, Hubei, China
FEATURE ARTICLES
China Communications December 2005 55
Feature Articles: Optical Fiber Communications
III. KEY TECHNOLOGIES IN
40GB/S SYSTEM
There are several key technologies in the 40Gb/
s syst em, such as chr omat i c di sper si on
compensation, Polarization Mode Dispersion
(PMD) compensation, nonlinear control, opti-
cal amplifier technology, OSNR control and so
on. All of such problems have been well re-
solved in this system by theoretic studies, com-
puter simulations and practical experiments.
For example, the chromatic dispersion in
optical fiber could cause a pulse to pread out
progressively as it travels along the fiber. This
spreading leads to interference between adja-
cent pulses (called inter-symbol interference),
which limits the distance of system signal. The
limited distance calculation is as following
formula:
(1)
Where, L is the maximum transported distance,
C is the velocity of light,
D is the dispersion coefficient of used optical
fiber,
is the operating wavelength,
B is the bit rate of transported signal.
Table 1 shows the calculation results for trans-
ported signal from 2.5Gb/s to 40Gb/s.
So, to send the 40Gb/s signals over hundreds of
kilometers in G.652 and G.655 fiber operating at
1550nm, we must use dispersion compensation tech-
nologies to reduce the dispersion effects. Our meth-
ods combine the use of Dispersion Compensation
Fiber (DCF), tunable dispersion compensator and
chirp fiber grating. Thus system dispersion could be
compensated exactly.
Another example is PMD effect. PMD results
from the fact that light signal energy at the operating
wavelength in the fiber actually occupies two or-
thogonal polarization states or modes. The resulting
difference in propagation time between the two
(b) STN- rng (b) STN- rng (b) STN- rng (b) STN- rng (b) STN- rng
lg.+ (a) STN- lnear nk lg.+ (a) STN- lnear nk lg.+ (a) STN- lnear nk lg.+ (a) STN- lnear nk lg.+ (a) STN- lnear nk
Bit rate 1550nm(G.652) 1550nm(G.655) 1310nm(G.652)
2.5Gb/s 928km 4528km 6400km
10Gb/s 58km 283km 400km
40Gb/s 3.6km 18km 25km
Table.1 Limited distances for transported
signal from 2.5Gb/s to 40Gb/s.
China Communications December 2005 56
Feature Articles: Optical Fiber Communications
orthogonal polarization states will result in pulse
spreading. So, high bit rate signal could not be
transported to long distance due to the PMD effect.
The limited distance could be calculated using
formula (2)
(2)
Where: L is the maximum transported distance,
B is the bit rate of transported signal,
D
PMD
is the
PMD coefficient of
used opti-
cal fiber.
Fig.2 shows the
calculation results
for different bit rate
signals and PMD
coefficients.
We can see only
25km could be trans-
ported for 40Gb/s
signal in G.652A and
G.655A fiber from
Fig.2. But right now,
almost all of the
fiber's PMD coeffi-
cients are very small,
typically less than 0.
05ps/km
1/2
. So, the
limited distance of
40Gb/s signal could
reach to 2 500km, even there is no PMD compensa-
tion work needed in the general project.
For nonlinear effect, we could reduce its influence
by incidence optical power control. According to
our theoretic calculation and computer simulation, -
1~+3dBm (for G.655 fiber) and 0~+2 dBm (for G.
652 fiber) is the optimum incidence optical power in
our system.
Due to the fact that the noise figure of Raman
optical amplifier is less than 0 dB, so we use EDFA
plus Raman optical amplifier in the line system to
ensure that the OSNR could be more than 25dB at
system sink end.
All of those technologies mentioned above have
been applied in our 40Gb/s optical communica-
tion system, and the experiment results could
show the coherence between theoretic calculation
and practical system test.
IV. TEST RESULTS OF
40GB/S TRIAL SYSTEM
We have implemented the 40Gb/s STM-256 optical
transmission system trial using NRZ line code, with-
out FEC, without PMD compensation and without
electrical regenerator over 560km (7 80km
based on Fig. 1a) in G.652 and G.655 fiber
respectively. Table 2 shows the test results of
major objectives of STM-256 trial system.
Fig. 4 shows the optical signal eye pattern at
transmitter end and receiver end after 560km
transmission respectively. We could see a very
clear eye open and there are more margins in the
lg. The mted transport dstances or derent bt rate sgnas and PND lg. The mted transport dstances or derent bt rate sgnas and PND lg. The mted transport dstances or derent bt rate sgnas and PND lg. The mted transport dstances or derent bt rate sgnas and PND lg. The mted transport dstances or derent bt rate sgnas and PND
coecents. coecents. coecents. coecents. coecents.
China Communications December 2005 57
Feature Articles: Optical Fiber Communications
Parameter Unit Objective
Application code I.256-2, L.256-2, L.256-3
Operating wavelength range nm 1530~1565
Max. -20dB spectral wide nm 0.52
Side mode suppression ratio dB 45.2
Mean launched power dBm +1.5
Min. return loss at S point dB 36
Min. extinction ratio dB 11.9
Eye pattern mask Compliance with Fig.3 and Table 3
Receiver Min. sensitivity dBm - 20.1
Receiver Min. overload 0
Max. Reflectance at R point dB - 42
S-R path penalty dB 1.8
Max. non-congestion cross Cap. Gb/s 320
Tributary signal level STM16, 64, GE
Table.2 Major objectives of STM-256 trial system
receiver end eye pattern, so it is possible to extend
more transmission distance.
We have done the trial test for 40Gb/s system trans-
mission pass through 480km in G.655 fiber over 30
days. The error performance is as follows:
B1 error: 0
B2 error: 0
B3 error: better than 2 10
-18
V. CONCLUSION
This 40Gb/s STM-256 SDH optical transmission
system is the first one in China. A transmission
distance of 560km without electrical regenera-
tors is the longest record for the single channel
40Gb/s STM-256 system in China, and even in
the world.
Another important project program is the " 863
Hi-tech Research and Development Program of
China " ( 863 in short). There is a "80 40Gb/s
DWDM transmission system" in 863 programs, which has been completed by Wuhan Research Institute of
P&T in June 2005. The longest transmission distance of 8040Gb/s DWDM signal is more than 300km both
in G652 and G655 fibers.
STM-256
X1/X4
X2/X3
X3-X2 0.2
Y1/Y2 0.30/0.70
Y3/Y4 0.25/0.25
Table.3 Parameters of eye pattern mask
lg. Eye pattern mask lg. Eye pattern mask lg. Eye pattern mask lg. Eye pattern mask lg. Eye pattern mask
China Communications December 2005 58
Feature Articles: Optical Fiber Communications
Both the single channel and the DWDM system based
on 40Gb/s will be applied in commercial telecommuni-
cation network in the near future in China.
REFERENCES
[1] ITU-T Rec. G.707/Y.1322 (10/00) " N e t -
work node interface for the synchronous digital
hierarchy (SDH)"
[2] ITU-T Rec. G.783 (10/00)
"Characteristics of synchronous digital hierarchy
(SDH) equipment functional blocks"
[3] ITU-T Rec. G.959.1 (12/03) "Optical trans-
port network physical layer interface"
BIOGRAPHY
Mr. Mao Qian, Graduated from Wuhan Posts and
Telecommunications Institute in 1964. Received Master
degree from Wuhan Research Institute of posts and
telecommunications in 1982. He is mainly engaged in R
& D on optical fiber communication equipment, systems,
optical transport networks, digital communications and
data communications and science & technologies
managements. He received national and ministerial or
province level Science & Technology Progress Award
several times. At present he works as Professor, vice
president and chief engineer of Wuhan Research Insti-
tute of posts and telecommunicationspresident of
FiberHome Technologies Institute, director of Quality
Supervision & Inspect Center of optical communication
products of MII. He is the professor of Huazhong
University of Sciences and Technologies and Dalian
University of Technologies. He is national level expert
and enjoyed special government subsidy. He is ITU-T
Study Group 15 membercouncil member and vice
chairman of transport network & access network tech-
nical committee of China communication standards
association. Also, he is the director of optical communi-
cation committee, vice director of science working
committee of China Institute of Communications, coun-
cil vice chairman and director of optical communication
committee of Communication Institute of Hubei province,
council vice chairman and director of communication
transmission
committee of
Electronics In-
stitute of Hubei
province. He
has published
three books
and more than
one hundred
papers in na-
tional & inter-
national con-
ferences and
magazines.

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