Chapter 5

Transmission System Engineering

•Design the physical layer

•Allocate power margin for each
impairment
•Make trade-off

1
 5.1 System Model

 Only digital systems are considered

 Using NRZ codes
 BER is the measurement factor

2
 5.2 Power penalty
Power penalty
(1) The increase in Signal power required (dB) to maintain
the same BER in the presence of impairment.
(2) The reduction in SNR due to a specific impairment
(used in this course)
Recall (p.260)
 I1  I 2 
BER  Q    Q( r ) (4.14)
  0  1 
For PIN receiver with Gaussian noise
I 0  RP0 , I1  RP1
 R( P1  P0 ) 
BER  Q   (5.1)
  0  1 
where the decision threshold is optimal
R( 0 P1   1P0 )
I th  3
 0  1
When impairments appear, let P1 ', P0 ',  1 ' and  0 '
denote the received powers and noise standard
deviations, at the same SNR, we have
R( P1 ' P0 ')
r' 
 0 '  1 '
The power penalty in dB is
PP  10log( r )  10log( r ')
 r'
 10log  
r 
 R( P1 ' P0 ') 
  '  ' 
 10log  1 0  (5.2)
 R( P1  P0 ) 
   
 1 0  4
For the case of thermal noise dominant ,
 0   1   th ( PIN reveiver )
Thus noise is independent of the signal power
 0 '   1 '   th
 P ' P0 ' 
PPsig  indep  10 log  1 
 P1  P0 
For the APD receiver case. ( shot noise dominant )
2
Recall  shot  2eGm2 FA (Gm ) RPBe (4.4)
Assume  1  P1   1  a P1
a : constant P0  P1
If the threshold  0,  0  1
 RP1 '   P1 ' 
 1 '   1 ' 
PP  10 log    10 log  
 RP1  P1

 1    1 
 
P1 ' P1 ' P1 ' P1 P1
  , 
1 ' a P1 ' a 1 a
 P '
PP  5 log  1 
 P1 
Polarization plays an important role. When interfering signals 5
have the same state of polarization, the worst case occur.
6
 5.3 Transmitter
Design parameters
1. Output optical power (laser output, eye safety)
2. Rise/fall time
3. Extinction ratio (ER)
4. Modulation type
5. Side-mode suppression ratio
6. Relative intensity noise (RIN)
7. Wavelength stability and accuracy

7
In general the output power of a laser is
about 1mw ~10mw
Output power of optical amplifiers~50mw
ER is defined as
P1
r 
P0
P1: power of bit "1", P0 : power of bit " 0 "
For ideal case, P0  0, r  
1
average power P  P1
2
8
Practical case
r  10 or 20 or even lower 4 ~ 6
P' P ' P0 ' rP0 ' P0 '
r  1 P 1 
P0 ' 2 2
2P 2rP
P0 '  P1 ' 
r 1 r 1
The power penalty due to nonideal ER
 P ' P0 ' 
PPsig indep  10 log  1 
 1P  P 0 

 2( r  1) P 
( r  1)
 10 log   P0  0

 2P 

 
 r  1
 10 log  
 r  1
P1 '
Assume the same peak power, P1 '  P1, P0 ' 
r
 P ' P0 '   r  1
PPsig indep  10 log  1   10  
 P1   r 
9
 5.4 Receiver
Key system parameters: sensitivity and overload
Dynamic range: Pmax-Psen
Sensitivity is usually measured at BER = 10-12, and
using a pseudo-random 223-1 bit sequence.

10
 5.5 Optical Amplifiers
C-band and L-band EDFAs, Raman Amplifiers are
available.
EDFAs have BW=35nm at 1550nm and they can
amplify multiple wavelength in a WDM system.
Impairments of EDFA
1. Inducing noise
2. Nonlinear gain (depending on power)
3. Nonflat gain profile

11
5.5.1 Gain Saturation in EDFAs

12
The gain profile is approximately as
P sat G
G  1 n max (5.5)
Pin G
where
Gmax : the unsaturated gain
G : the saturated gain
P sat : the internal saturated gain
Pin : the input power
sat
Pout : the output saturated power
1
 Gmax  3dB  Gmax
2
G
(G  1) Pin  P sat n max
G
sat 1
when G  Gout  Gmax G 1
2
Pout  GPin
sat sat
Pout  Gout Pin  P sat n2 13
• The saturation power (~10mw to 100mw) is
proportional to pump and other parameters)
• Operating an EDFA in saturation has no
fundamental problem

Practically it is operated in saturation

5.5.2 Gain Equalization in EDFAs

The gain flatness becomes an important issue in
WDM systems with cascaded amplifiers
1. Preequalization (preemphasis)
2. Equalization at each stage

14
15
 5.5.3 Amplifier Cascades

 
Let the loss between two stages = e
where α: attenuation coefficient
 : amplifier
 
spacing
In general G ≧ e gain > loss
Recall G  1  P sat n Gmax (5.5)
Pin G 16
 Pin P out

ASE

At the first a few stages, the input power (signal +

noise) to a stage increases as the number of
stages increases, consequently, the amplifiers
begin to saturate and gain drops. (Fig 5.3)

17
It reached steady-state condition where the
amplifier output power, P out , and gain G remain
the same from stage to stage
The total input power +ASE = the total output power
 
P out e   G  2 Pn B0 (G  1)  P out (5.6)
where P out e    the total input power to the stage.
Recall
P sat Gmax
G  1 n (5.5)
Pn G
P sat Gmax
 G  1  
n (5.7)
P out e G
From (5.6) to (5.7) we can compute G and P out
( prob. 5.11) 18
   
Consider the case Ge  1 G  e
There are L  amplifiers (Fig 5.5)
Using the equation (4.5), we have the total
noise power at the output as
total
Pnoise  2 Pn B0 (G  1) L

 2 Pn B0 (e   1) L

Given a desired OSNR,
P
OSNR  total
Pnoise
The launched power P must satisfy
total
P  (OSNR )Pnoise  (OSNR )2 Pn B0 (e   1) L

19
( Pn  nsp hf c )

20
 5.5.4 Amplifier Spacing Penalty
In a cascaded Amplifiers WDM system,

G e
If  is small we may use a small gain amplifier. In
this section, we will study the relation between
penalty and spacing.
The ASE noise power at the output of a cascade of
L amplifiers is

tot
Pnoise  2 Pn B0 (e   1) L (5.8)

when G  e ,   nG 
tot
Pnoise  2 Pn B0 (G  1) L (5.9)
nG
21
 tot
Ideally when G=1 P  0,
noise

the minimum noise power is achieved.

(perfectly distributed gain)
(N=∞ NInG=αL)
The power penalty for using lumped
G 1
amplifier is given lumped
PP  , G 1
nG
99 99
If G  20dB, PPlumped    21.5  13.3 dB
n100 4.6
If G  10dB, PPlumped  5.9dB,
tot
Pnoise is reduced by 7dB
22
For α = 0.25dB/km
We reduce the spacing from 80km→40km
However we have double the number of
amplifiers
Recall (4.11) page. 257
Noise figure Fn=2nsp
If an amplifier with Fn=3.3dB is used
It can be viewed as having an effective
NF = 3.3dB - 13.3dB = -10dB
23
5.5.5 Power Transients and Automatic
Gain Control

If some of channels fail, input power

and the amplifier gain
In Fig 5.7 λ8 will be amplified unusually
=> receiver overloaded
=> We need an AGC. 24
(a)

ED Fiber
input output

power pumping
monitor diode

25
(b)

(c) monitoring wavelength

26
 5.5.6 Lasing Loops
In ring networks, if the amplifier gain is larger than the loss,
the ring may lase.
OXC
ADD/Drop

OXC

Lasing may occur even for a single wavelength

Solutions ：
a. Gain is less than the loss being compensated for
=> degrade SNR 27
a. No loop
 5.6 Crosstalk
Filters, Mux/Demuxs, switches, optical amplifiers
and fibers can induce crosstalk.
Two kinds of crosstalk ： (a) interchannel crosstalk,
(b) intrachannel crosstalk (coherent crosstalk)
Crosstalk results in a power penalty.

5.6.1 Intrachannel Crosstalk

Causes ： (a) reflection
(b) leakage
The penalty is high when the polarization is
matched or out of phase.
28
 In the worst case (polarization matched, out of phase)
Let P be the average received signal power and
 P be the average crosstalk power from other signal
channel.
The electrical field at the receiver is
E (t )  2 Pd s (t )cos 2 f ct   s (t )
 2  Pd x (t )cos 2 f ct   x (t )
where d s (t ), d x (t )  0, 1
 s (t ) and  x (t ) are random phases
Assume the extinction ratio r  
The received power is
Pr  Pd s (t )  Pd x (t )  2 Pd s (t )d x (t )cos( s (t )   x (t ))  higher order term
Assume 1  ,
and out of phase  s (t )   x (t )  
cos( s (t )   x (t ))  1
29
2cos  cos B  cos(  B )  cos(  B )
During 1 bit d s (t )  d x (t )  1


Pr (1)  P 1  2  ,   P  2 P
During 0 bit
Pr (0)  0
For the case of thermal noise dominant
the power penalty is
 P ' P0 ' 
PPsig indep  10 log  1  (5.3)
 1P  P0 

 P '
 10 log  1 
 P1 
 10 log(1  2 ) (5.11)
In amlified systems or in systems with APD
the dominant noise is signal dependent
1  P,  0  1
 P '
PPsig  dep  5 log  1  (5.4)
 P1 
 5 log(1  2 ) (5.12)
N
If there are N channels.  
i 1
i 30
31
 5.6.2 Interchannel Crosstalk
Source ： leakage of filter, switches, Mux/Demux

32
 Worst case analysis
Pr (t )  Pd s (t )  Pd x (t )
In the worst case
Pr (1)  P for d s (t )  1 d x (t )  0 P1 '  Pr (1)
and Pr (0)  P for d s (t )  0 d x (t )  1 P0 '  Pr (0)
 P1 ' P0 ' 
PPsig indep  10log  
 P1  P0 
 10log 1  (5.13)
For optical amplified or APD systems, the effective power
P1 '  P(1)  P(0)  1  P1
 P1 ' 
PPsig indep  5log  
 P1 
 5log 1  33
5.6.3 Crosstalk in Networks
Crosstalk may accumulate.

34
 5.6.4 Bidirectional Systems

The near end crosstalk is more severe than the far end
crosstalk.
35
 5.6.5 Crosstalk reduction
A. For switches
1. better switch device
2. spatial dilation
3. wavelength dilation

36
37
B. For Mux/Demux
add a filter between the demux and the
mux

38
 5.6.6 Cascaded Filters
Required 1. wavelength stability
2. wavelength accuracy

39
40
 5.7 Dispersion
1. Intermode dispersion (multimode fibers)
2. Polarization mode dispersion (imperfect core)
3. Chromatic dispersion (different wavelengths)

5.7.1 Chromatic Dispersion Limits:

NRZ Modulation
Let the pulse spreading due to chromatic
dispersion be a fraction  of the bit period.
 is specified by ITU(G.957) and Telcordia(GR-
253) for 1dB and 2dB penalty  0.309 and 0.491.
41
42
Narrow Source Spectral Width
For SLM DFB lasers, the unmodulated lasers
Δλ≦50MHz
Ideally a directly modulated laser, Δλ≈ bit rate
e.g 2.5GHz for 2.5Gb/s ook (B=1/2 Be)
When chirping occurs. Δλ≈ 10GHz
Reducing reflection, Isolator or reducing extinction
ratio can reduces Δλ
For external modulated lasers Δλ≈ 2.5 × bit rate

43
e.g, at 1.55  m, B  10Gb   2.5 B  0.2nm
s
c
Recall c   f,  
f
2
  c f   f
f 2
c

   c  2.5B
 2

D LB     (5.15)
2
D LB 
2
 0.4 
c
or B DL  0.4 
c
For D  17 ps
nm  km
B 2 L  8327(Gb )2  km
s
 narow spectral sources is widely used
44
45
 5.7.3 Dispersion Compensation
Methods to reducing the impact of dispersion
1. External modulation (reduce chirping)
2. Small dispersion fiber
3. Dispersion compensation fiber

46
If 80km fiber with 17 ps/nm-km dispersion is used,
we have 1360 ps/nm dispersion.
Then 13.5km DCF fiber with 100 ps/nm-km can
compensate the dispersion to zero as shown in
Fig 5.20.
However DCF fiber has high loss about 0.5dB/km
0.5dB/km × 13.6km=7dB
Figure of merit (MOF) for DCF fiber is
absolute amount of dispersion per unit wavelength
MOF 
loss
If the DCF fiber has -100 ps/nm-km
dispersion and loss = 0.5dB/km
then FOM = 100 ps/nm-km 0.5dB/km
= 200 ps/nm-dB
Larger FOM is desirable. 47
Chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings
In a regular fiber, chromatic dispersion
introduces larger delays for the lower frequency
components in a pulse, we can design a chirped
grating fiber with larger delays for the higher
frequency components to compress the pulse.

48
For WDM systems, we need to use a
different grating for each wavelength as
shown in Fig 5.22.

49
 5.7.4 Polarization-Mode
Dispersion (PMD)
Because of the ellipticity of the fiber core, different
polarizations travel with different group
velocities. Polarization changes with time. So
PMD varies with time.
The time-averaged differential time delay is given
by
  DPMD L
 : differential group delay ( DGD )
L : length
DPMD  PMD parameter 0.5 ~ 2 ps
km
50
 Δτ is a random variable (Appendix H)
For the outrage probability (PMD≧1dB) is less than
4×10-5 (accumulative outage of about 20 minutes/yer)
  DPMD L  0.1 T
where T : bit duration
For new links, DPMD  0.1 ps
km

51
Limitations for various dispersions
(PMD limitations is not significant)

52
 5.8 Fiber nonlinearities
A. Scattering
a. stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS)
b. stimulated Raman scattering (SRS)
B. Refractive index change
a. four-wave mixing (FWM)
b. self-phase modulation (SPM) (page 83)
c. cross-phase modulation (CPM) (page 89)

• SBS, SRS, FWM transfer energy from one

channel to the others
• SPM and CPM affect the phase of signals and
cause spectral broadening => dispersion
53
5.8.1 Effective Length in Amplified Systems
on page 79
For a link without amplifies
 
1 e
e 

In a link of length L km with amplifies and spaced l km
apart
   

L
The total effective length is
1  e   L
Le  (5.24)
  54
55
( Pn  nsp hf c )

56
57
5.8.3 Stimulated Raman Scattering
(SRS)

58
To calculated the effect of SRS in WDM systems.
We approximate the Raman gain shape as a
triangle, where the Raman gain coefficient is
given by
 
gR if 0    c
g()   c
 0 otherwise

c  125nm, g R  6  10 14 m ( at 1.55  m )
w
is the peak Raman gain coefficient.
s


0 1 W 1
the system bandwidth
  (W  1)s  c 59
Channel 0 is affected the most.
Consider the worst case, all channels are
transmitting “1” bit with the same power and no
interaction between the other channels.

The fraction of the power coupled from channel 0

to channel i is given by
is PLe
P0 (i )  g R
c 2 Ae
A : effective area
P : initial power 60
The fraction of the power coupled out from
channel 0 is
W 1
g R s PLe W (W  1)
P0   P0 (i )  (5.25)
i 1 2c Ae 2
The power penalty is
PP  10log(1  P0 )
For PP  0.5dB We have P0  0.1
g R s PLeW (W  1)
0.1 
4c Ae
W (W  1)Ps Le  0.4  125nm Ae 6  10 14 m w
 40,000mw  nm  km
where Ae  50  m 2
61
The total system bandwidth
  (W  1)s
The total input power
Ptot  WP
Ptot  Le  40,000mw  nm  km
If chromatic dispersion appears, Raman scattering
decreases, we have
Ptot  Le  80,000mw  nm  km

62
To alleviate the effects of SRS, we can
(1) have small Δλs
(2) lower P (reduce the amplifier spacing)
63
 5.9 Wavelength Stability
In general, Mux/Demux made of
Silica/Silicon have coefficients of
0.01nm/℃
A thermistor and a thermo-electric cooler
can be used to control DFB laser
temperature.
In addition aging may change around
±0.1nm. If high wavelength stability is
needed, OPLL can be employed.
64
5.12 Overall Design Considerations
1. Fiber type
a. Single channel high speed systems use
dispersion shifted fibers which is hard to use
for WDM for upgrading the link capacity in the
future due to four-wave mixing.
b. WDM systems use standard single-mode
fibers or NZ/DSF.
2. Transmit Power and Amplifier Spacing
Ptot  Le  80,000 mw  nm  km
Old systems have spacing about 80 km,
New systems don’t have this restriction.
65
3. Chromatic Dispersion Compensation
4. Modulation
Most systems use NRZ
Ultra-long-haul systems use chirped RZ
modulation
5. Nonlinearities
Reducing power or having larger
effective area can reduce the effect of
nonlinearities.

66
6. Interchannel spacing and number of
wavelength
a. 100 GHz is common
b. For loop application coarse WDM is used
c. We have to consider the bandwidth of
amplifiers
d. Because the output power of amplifiers is
limited to 20~25dBm, when the number
wavelength increases, the input power per
channel decreases, such that the total
system span
is reduced.
7. All-optical Networks
67
8. Wavelength Planning
Typical spacing ≈ 0.8nm=100 GHz at 1.55μm

9. Transparent
Bit rate, protocols, modulation formats

68