Optics for AI and AI for Optics

Artificial intelligence is deeply involved in our daily lives via reinforcing the digital transformation of modern economies and infrastructure. It relies on powerful computing clusters, which face bottlenecks of power consumption for both data transmission and intensive computing. Meanwhile, optics (especially optical communications, which underpin today’s telecommunications) is penetrating short-reach connections down to the chip level, thus meeting with AI technology and creating numerous opportunities. This book is about the marriage of optics and AI and how each part can benefit from the other. Optics facilitates on-chip neural networks based on fast optical computing and energy-efficient interconnects and communications. On the other hand, AI enables efficient tools to address the challenges of today’s optical communication networks, which behave in an increasingly complex manner. The book collects contributions from pioneering researchers from both academy and industry to discuss the challenges and solutions in each of the respective fields

Neural networks for optical channel equalization in high speed communication systems

La demande future de bande passante pour les données dépassera les capacités des systèmes de communication optique actuels, qui approchent de leurs limites en raison des limitations de la bande passante électrique des composants de l’émetteur. L’interférence intersymbole (ISI) due à cette limitation de bande est le principal facteur de dégradation pour atteindre des débits de données élevés. Dans ce mémoire, nous étudions plusieurs techniques de réseaux neuronaux (NN) pour combattre les limites physiques des composants de l’émetteur pilotés à des débits de données élevés et exploitant les formats de modulation avancés avec une détection cohérente. Notre objectif principal avec les NN comme égaliseurs de canaux ISI est de surmonter les limites des récepteurs optimaux conventionnels, en fournissant une complexité évolutive moindre et une solution quasi optimale. Nous proposons une nouvelle architecture bidirectionnelle profonde de mémoire à long terme (BiLSTM), qui est efficace pour atténuer les graves problèmes d’ISI causés par les composants à bande limitée. Pour la première fois, nous démontrons par simulation que notre BiLSTM profonde proposée atteint le même taux d’erreur sur les bits(TEB) qu’un estimateur de séquence à maximum de vraisemblance (MLSE) optimal pour la modulation MDPQ. Les NN étant des modèles pilotés par les données, leurs performances dépendent fortement de la qualité des données d’entrée. Nous démontrons comment les performances du BiLSTM profond réalisable se dégradent avec l’augmentation de l’ordre de modulation. Nous examinons également l’impact de la sévérité de l’ISI et de la longueur de la mémoire du canal sur les performances de la BiLSTM profonde. Nous étudions les performances de divers canaux synthétiques à bande limitée ainsi qu’un canal optique mesuré à 100 Gbaud en utilisant un modulateur photonique au silicium (SiP) de 35 GHz. La gravité ISI de ces canaux est quantifiée grâce à une nouvelle vue graphique des performances basée sur les écarts de performance de base entre les solutions optimales linéaires et non linéaires classiques. Aux ordres QAM supérieurs à la QPSK, nous quantifions l’écart de performance BiLSTM profond par rapport à la MLSE optimale à mesure que la sévérité ISI augmente. Alors qu’elle s’approche des performances optimales de la MLSE à 8QAM et 16QAM avec une pénalité, elle est capable de dépasser largement la solution optimale linéaire à 32QAM. Plus important encore, l’avantage de l’utilisation de modèles d’auto-apprentissage comme les NN est leur capacité à apprendre le canal pendant la formation, alors que la MLSE optimale nécessite des informations précises sur l’état du canal.The future demand for the data bandwidth will surpass the capabilities of current optical communication systems, which are approaching their limits due to the electrical bandwidth limitations of the transmitter components. Inter-symbol interference (ISI) due to this band limitation is the major degradation factor to achieve high data rates. In this thesis, we investigate several neural network (NN) techniques to combat the physical limits of the transmitter components driven at high data rates and exploiting the advanced modulation formats with coherent detection. Our main focus with NNs as ISI channel equalizers is to overcome the limitations of conventional optimal receivers, by providing lower scalable complexity and near optimal solution. We propose a novel deep bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) architecture, that is effective in mitigating severe ISI caused by bandlimited components. For the first time, we demonstrate via simulation that our proposed deep BiLSTM achieves the same bit error rate (BER) performance as an optimal maximum likelihood sequence estimator (MLSE) for QPSK modulation. The NNs being data-driven models, their performance acutely depends on input data quality. We demonstrate how the achievable deep BiLSTM performance degrades with the increase in modulation order. We also examine the impact of ISI severity and channel memory length on deep BiLSTM performance. We investigate the performances of various synthetic band-limited channels along with a measured optical channel at 100 Gbaud using a 35 GHz silicon photonic(SiP) modulator. The ISI severity of these channels is quantified with a new graphical view of performance based on the baseline performance gaps between conventional linear and nonlinear optimal solutions. At QAM orders above QPSK, we quantify deep BiLSTM performance deviation from the optimal MLSE as ISI severity increases. While deep BiLSTM approaches the optimal MLSE performance at 8QAM and 16QAM with a penalty, it is able to greatly surpass the linear optimal solution at 32QAM. More importantly, the advantage of using self learning models like NNs is their ability to learn the channel during the training, while the optimal MLSE requires accurate channel state information

An Overview on Application of Machine Learning Techniques in Optical Networks

Today's telecommunication networks have become sources of enormous amounts of widely heterogeneous data. This information can be retrieved from network traffic traces, network alarms, signal quality indicators, users' behavioral data, etc. Advanced mathematical tools are required to extract meaningful information from these data and take decisions pertaining to the proper functioning of the networks from the network-generated data. Among these mathematical tools, Machine Learning (ML) is regarded as one of the most promising methodological approaches to perform network-data analysis and enable automated network self-configuration and fault management. The adoption of ML techniques in the field of optical communication networks is motivated by the unprecedented growth of network complexity faced by optical networks in the last few years. Such complexity increase is due to the introduction of a huge number of adjustable and interdependent system parameters (e.g., routing configurations, modulation format, symbol rate, coding schemes, etc.) that are enabled by the usage of coherent transmission/reception technologies, advanced digital signal processing and compensation of nonlinear effects in optical fiber propagation. In this paper we provide an overview of the application of ML to optical communications and networking. We classify and survey relevant literature dealing with the topic, and we also provide an introductory tutorial on ML for researchers and practitioners interested in this field. Although a good number of research papers have recently appeared, the application of ML to optical networks is still in its infancy: to stimulate further work in this area, we conclude the paper proposing new possible research directions

Theory and applications of artificial neural networks

In this thesis some fundamental theoretical problems about artificial neural networks and their application in communication and control systems are discussed. We consider the convergence properties of the Back-Propagation algorithm which is widely used for training of artificial neural networks, and two stepsize variation techniques are proposed to accelerate convergence. Simulation results demonstrate significant improvement over conventional Back-Propagation algorithms. We also discuss the relationship between generalization performance of artificial neural networks and their structure and representation strategy. It is shown that the structure of the network which represent a priori knowledge of the environment has a strong influence on generalization performance. A Theorem about the number of hidden units and the capacity of self-association MLP (Multi-Layer Perceptron) type network is also given in the thesis. In the application part of the thesis, we discuss the feasibility of using artificial neural networks for nonlinear system identification. Some advantages and disadvantages of this approach are analyzed. The thesis continues with a study of artificial neural networks applied to communication channel equalization and the problem of call access control in broadband ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) communication networks. A final chapter provides overall conclusions and suggestions for further work

Coherent Optical OFDM Modem Employing Artificial Neural Networks for Dispersion and Nonlinearity Compensation in a Long-Haul Transmission System

In order to satisfy the ever increasing demand for the bandwidth requirement in broadband services the optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OOFDM) scheme is being considered as a promising technique for future high-capacity optical networks. The aim of this thesis is to investigate, theoretically, the feasibility of implementing the coherent optical OFDM (CO-OOFDM) technique in long haul transmission networks. For CO-OOFDM and Fast-OFDM systems a set of modulation formats dependent analogue to digital converter (ADC) clipping ratio and the quantization bit have been identified, moreover, CO-OOFDM is more resilient to the chromatic dispersion (CD) when compared to the bandwidth efficient Fast-OFDM scheme. For CO-OOFDM systems numerical simulations are undertaken to investigate the effect of the number of sub-carriers, the cyclic prefix (CP), and ADC associated parameters such as the sampling speed, the clipping ratio, and the quantisation bit on the system performance over single mode fibre (SMF) links for data rates up to 80 Gb/s. The use of a large number of sub-carriers is more effective in combating the fibre CD compared to employing a long CP. Moreover, in the presence of fibre non-linearities identifying the optimum number of sub-carriers is a crucial factor in determining the modem performance. For a range of signal data rates up to 40 Gb/s, a set of data rate and transmission distance-dependent optimum ADC parameters are identified in this work. These parameters give rise to a negligible clipping and quantisation noise, moreover, ADC sampling speed can increase the dispersion tolerance while transmitting over SMF links. In addition, simulation results show that the use of adaptive modulation schemes improves the spectrum usage efficiency, thus resulting in higher tolerance to the CD when compared to the case where identical modulation formats are adopted across all sub-carriers. For a given transmission distance utilizing an artificial neural networks (ANN) equalizer improves the system bit error rate (BER) performance by a factor of 50% and 70%, respectively when considering SMF firstly CD and secondly nonlinear effects with CD. Moreover, for a fixed BER of 10-3 utilizing ANN increases the transmission distance by 1.87 times and 2 times, respectively while considering SMF CD and nonlinear effects. The proposed ANN equalizer performs more efficiently in combating SMF non-linearities than the previously published Kerr nonlinearity electrical compensation technique by a factor of 7

Application of wavelets and artificial neural network for indoor optical wireless communication systems

Abstract This study investigates the use of error control code, discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and artificial neural network (ANN) to improve the link performance of an indoor optical wireless communication in a physical channel. The key constraints that barricade the realization of unlimited bandwidth in optical wavelengths are the eye-safety issue, the ambient light interference and the multipath induced intersymbol interference (ISI). Eye-safety limits the maximum average transmitted optical power. The rational solution is to use power efficient modulation techniques. Further reduction in transmitted power can be achieved using error control coding. A mathematical analysis of retransmission scheme is investigated for variable length modulation techniques and verified using computer simulations. Though the retransmission scheme is simple to implement, the shortfall in terms of reduced throughput will limit higher code gain. Due to practical limitation, the block code cannot be applied to the variable length modulation techniques and hence the convolutional code is the only possible option. The upper bound for slot error probability of the convolutional coded dual header pulse interval modulation (DH-PIM) and digital pulse interval modulation (DPIM) schemes are calculated and verified using simulations. The power penalty due to fluorescent light interference (FL I) is very high in indoor optical channel making the optical link practically infeasible. A denoising method based on a DWT to remove the FLI from the received signal is devised. The received signal is first decomposed into different DWT levels; the FLI is then removed from the signal before reconstructing the signal. A significant reduction in the power penalty is observed using DWT. Comparative study of DWT based denoising scheme with that of the high pass filter (HPF) show that DWT not only can match the best performance obtain using a HPF, but also offers a reduced complexity and design simplicity. The high power penalty due to multipath induced ISI makes a diffuse optical link practically infeasible at higher data rates. An ANN based linear and DF architectures are investigated to compensation the ISI. Unlike the unequalized cases, the equalized schemes don‘t show infinite power penalty and a significant performance improvement is observed for all modulation schemes. The comparative studies substantiate that ANN based equalizers match the performance of the traditional equalizers for all channel conditions with a reduced training data sequence. The study of the combined effect of the FLI and ISI shows that DWT-ANN based receiver perform equally well in the present of both interference. Adaptive decoding of error control code can offer flexibility of selecting the best possible encoder in a given environment. A suboptimal ?soft‘ sliding block convolutional decoder based on the ANN and a 1/2 rate convolutional code with a constraint length is investigated. Results show that the ANN decoder can match the performance of optimal Viterbi decoder for hard decision decoding but with slightly inferior performance compared to soft decision decoding. This provides a foundation for further investigation of the ANN decoder for convolutional code with higher constraint length values. Finally, the proposed DWT-ANN receiver is practically realized in digital signal processing (DSP) board. The output from the DSP board is compared with the computer simulations and found that the difference is marginal. However, the difference in results doesn‘t affect the overall error probability and identical error probability is obtained for DSP output and computer simulations