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

Enabling Technology in Optical Fiber Communications: From Device, System to Networking

This book explores the enabling technology in optical fiber communications. It focuses on the state-of-the-art advances from fundamental theories, devices, and subsystems to networking applications as well as future perspectives of optical fiber communications. The topics cover include integrated photonics, fiber optics, fiber and free-space optical communications, and optical networking

Digital signal processing for fiber nonlinearities [Invited]

This paper reviews digital signal processing techniques that compensate, mitigate, and exploit fiber nonlinearities in coherent optical fiber transmission systems

WDM/TDM PON bidirectional networks single-fiber/wavelength RSOA-based ONUs layer 1/2 optimization

This Thesis proposes the design and the optimization of a hybrid WDM/TDM PON at the L1 (PHY) and L2 (MAC) layers, in terms of minimum deployment cost and enhanced performance for Greenfield NGPON. The particular case of RSOA-based ONUs and ODN using a single-fibre/single-wavelength is deeply analysed. In this WDM/TDM PON relevant parameters are optimized. Special attention has been given at the main noise impairment in this type of networks: the Rayleigh Backscattering effect, which cannot be prevented. To understand its behaviour and mitigate its effects, a novel mathematical model for the Rayleigh Backscattering in burst mode transmission is presented for the first time, and it has been used to optimize the WDM/TDM RSOA based PON. Also, a cost-effective, simple design SCM WDM/TDM PON with rSOA-based ONU, was optimized and implemented. This prototype was successfully tested showing high performance, robustness, versatility and reliability. So, the system is able to give coverage up to 1280 users at 2.5 Gb/s / 1.25 Gb/s downstream/upstream, over 20 Km, and being compatible with the GPON ITU-T recommendation. This precedent has enabled the SARDANA network to extend the design, architecture and capabilities of a WDM/TDM PON for a long reach metro-access network (100 km). A proposal for an agile Transmission Convergence sub-layer is presented as another relevant contribution of this work. It is based on the optimization of the standards GPON and XG-PON (for compatibility), but applied to a long reach metro-access TDM/WDM PON rSOA-based network with higher client count. Finally, a proposal of physical implementation for the SARDANA layer 2 and possible configurations for SARDANA internetworking, with the metro network and core transport network, are presented

Fiber-based orthogonal frequency division multiplexing transmission systems

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is the underlying modulation and transmission technology behind the success of modern wireless standards for both cellular, digital television and digital radio communications and also for Digital Subscriber Line wired access. Higher data rates to handle and the special nature of electronic-optic conversions and of optical wave propagation, can hold the key as to why it is only now that OFDM signal transmission over fiber is starting to take off. In this Master Thesis Project we aim at establishing the basis of OFDM transmission over optical fiber for both direct-detection as well as coherent systems, for different optical modulation formats at the emitter; and to characterize their performance as a function of key parameters such as fiber chromatic dispersion, the amount of Cyclic Prefix, Peak to Average Power Ratio, etc. through the use of optical transmission simulation packages such as Virtual Photonics Inc

Visible Light Communication (VLC)

Visible light communication (VLC) using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or laser diodes (LDs) has been envisioned as one of the key enabling technologies for 6G and Internet of Things (IoT) systems, owing to its appealing advantages, including abundant and unregulated spectrum resources, no electromagnetic interference (EMI) radiation and high security. However, despite its many advantages, VLC faces several technical challenges, such as the limited bandwidth and severe nonlinearity of opto-electronic devices, link blockage and user mobility. Therefore, significant efforts are needed from the global VLC community to develop VLC technology further. This Special Issue, “Visible Light Communication (VLC)”, provides an opportunity for global researchers to share their new ideas and cutting-edge techniques to address the above-mentioned challenges. The 16 papers published in this Special Issue represent the fascinating progress of VLC in various contexts, including general indoor and underwater scenarios, and the emerging application of machine learning/artificial intelligence (ML/AI) techniques in VLC

Mapping multiplexing technique (MMT): a novel intensity modulated transmission format for high-speed optical communication systems

There is a huge rapid growth in the deployment of data centers, mainly driven from the increasing demand of internet services as video streaming, e-commerce, Internet Of Things (IOT), social media, and cloud computing. This led data centers to experience an expeditious increase in the amount of network traffic that they have to sustain due to requirement of scaling with the processing speed of Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology. On the other side, as more and more data centers and processing cores are on demand, as the power consumption is becoming a challenging issue. Unless novel power efficient methodologies are innovated, the information technology industry will be more liable to a future power crunch. As such, low complex novel transmission formats featuring both power efficiency and low cost are considered the major characteristics enabling large-scale, high performance data transmission environment for short-haul optical interconnects and metropolitan range data networks. In this thesis, a novel high-speed Intensity-Modulated Direct-Detection (IM/DD) transmission format named “Mapping Multiplexing Technique (MMT)” for high-speed optical fiber networks, is proposed and presented. Conceptually, MMT design challenges the high power consumption issue that exists in high-speed short and medium range networks. The proposed novel scheme provides low complex means for increasing the power efficiency of optical transceivers at an impactful tradeoff between power efficiency, spectral efficiency, and cost. The novel scheme has been registered as a patent (Malaysia PI2012700631) that can be employed for applications related but not limited to, short-haul optical interconnects in data centers and Metropolitan Area networks (MAN). A comprehensive mathematical model for N-channel MMT modulation format has been developed. In addition, a signal space model for the N-channel MMT has been presented to serve as a platform for comparison with other transmission formats under optical channel constraints. Especially, comparison with M-PAM, as meanwhile are of practical interest to expand the capacity for optical interconnects deployment which has been recently standardized for Ethernet IEEE 802.3bs 100Gb/s and in today ongoing investigation activities by IEEE 802.3 400Gb/s Ethernet Task Force. Performance metrics have been considered by the derivation of the average electrical and optical power for N-channel MMT symbols in comparison with Pulse Amplitude Modulation (M-PAM) format with respect to the information capacity. Asymptotic power efficiency evaluation in multi-dimensional signal space has been considered. For information capacity of 2, 3 and 4 bits/symbol, 2-channel, 3-channel and 4-channel MMT modulation formats can reduce the power penalty by 1.76 dB, 2.2 dB and 4 dB compared with 4-PAM, 8-PAM and 16-PAM, respectively. This enhancement is equivalent to 53%, 60% and 71% energy per bit reduction to the transmission of 2, 3 and 4 bits per symbol employing 2-, 3- and 4-channel MMT compared with 4-, 8- and 16-PAM format, respectively. One of the major dependable parameters that affect the immunity of a modulation format to fiber non-linearities, is the system baud rate. The propagation of pulses in fiber with bitrates in the order > 10G, is not only limited by the linear fiber impairments, however, it has strong proportionality with fiber intra-channel non-linearities (Self Phase Modulation (SPM), Intra-channel Cross-Phase Modulation (IXPM) and Intra-channel Four-Wave Mixing (IFWM)). Hence, in addition to the potential application of MMT in short-haul networks, the thesis validates the practicality of implementing N-channel MMT system accompanied by dispersion compensation methodologies to extend the reach of error free transmission (BER ≤ 10-12) for Metro-networks. N-Channel MMT has been validated by real environment simulation results to outperform the performance of M-PAM in tolerating fiber non-linearities. By the employment of pre-post compensation to tolerate both residual chromatic dispersion and non-linearity, performance above the error free transmission limit at 40Gb/s bit rate have been attained for 2-, 3- and 4-channel MMT over spans lengths of up to 1200Km, 320 Km and 320 Km, respectively. While, at an aggregated bit rate of 100 Gb/s, error free transmission can be achieved for 2-, 3- and 4-channel MMT over spans lengths of up to 480 Km, 80 Km and 160 Km, respectively. At the same spectral efficiency, 4-channel MMT has realized a single channel maximum error free transmission over span lengths up to 320 Km and 160 Km at 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s, respectively, in contrast with 4-PAM attaining 240 Km and 80 Km at 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s, respectively