Investigation of performance issues affecting optical circuit and packet switched WDM networks

Optical switching represents the next step in the evolution of optical networks. This thesis describes work that was carried out to examine performance issues which can occur in two distinct varieties of optical switching networks. Slow optical switching in which lightpaths are requested, provisioned and torn down when no longer required is known as optical circuit switching (OCS). Services enabled by OCS include wavelength routing, dynamic bandwidth allocation and protection switching. With network elements such as reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) and optical cross connects (OXCs) now being deployed along with the generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) control plane this represents the current state of the art in commercial networks. These networks often employ erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) to boost the optical signal to noise ratio of the WDM channels and as channel configurations change, wavelength dependent gain variations in the EDFAs can lead to channel power divergence that can result in significant performance degradation. This issue is examined in detail using a reconfigurable wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) network testbed and results show the severe impact that channel reconfiguration can have on transmission performance. Following the slow switching work the focus shifts to one of the key enabling technologies for fast optical switching, namely the tunable laser. Tunable lasers which can switch on the nanosecond timescale will be required in the transmitters and wavelength converters of optical packet switching networks. The switching times and frequency drifts, both of commercially available lasers, and of novel devices are investigated and performance issues which can arise due to this frequency drift are examined. An optical packet switching transmitter based on a novel label switching technique and employing one of the fast tunable lasers is designed and employed in a dual channel WDM packet switching system. In depth performance evaluations of this labelling scheme and packet switching system show the detrimental impact that wavelength drift can have on such systems

Communication under siege: the example of Steven Sotloff

The kidnapping and murder of Steven Sotloff is one of the most horrific examples of brutality against a journalist in memory. Sotloff was captured in 2013, ending up in the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. After remaining in captivity for over a year, Sotloff was executed in September 2014 by beheading a month after another captured journalist, James Foley, was also beheaded. Since Steven Sotloff’s loss, his parents have supported Hostile Environments and Emergency First Aid Training (HEFAT) for young aspiring journalists not unlike their son. The original presentation of this keynote was enhanced by two videos, one describing the HEFAT training, and the other interviewing a recent GJS/2Lives Memorial Scholarship training graduate explaining how he used the skills he learned to survive an attack by drug traffickers in northern Mexico, including applying first aid to his wounded producer who survived

Performance issues in hybrid fiber radio communication systems due to nonlinear distortion effects in laser transmitters

With the increasing demand for broadband services, it is expected that hybrid fiber radio systems may be employed to provide high capacity access networks for both mobile and fixed users. In these systems, the radio frequency data signals are modulated onto an optical carrier at a mobile switching centre and then sent over fiber to a number of base stations, before being transmitted over air to the users. A possible method of generating the optical radio frequency data signals for distribution over fiber is to directly modulate the electrical signal onto an optical carrier using a laser diode. The major problem with this technique is that nonlinearities in electncal-to-optical conversion may seriously degrade the system performance. In this work we initially examined the distribution of a wideband code division multiple access signal (centered around 6 GHz) through an optically fed microwave system. Our results show that the adjacent channel leakage ratio is degraded from -52 to -32 dBc after passing through the optical system. We then examined the technique of externally injecting light into the directly modulated laser, to extend the bandwidth of the laser diode and hence, increase it’s linear region to beyond the frequency of interest With this technique an improvement of over 10 dB in the adjacent channel leakage ratio of the signal was achieved. We subsequently went on to examine the distribution of a 5-channel radio frequency signal (each channel carrying 10 Mbit/s) through a hybrid fiber system As in the previous work, we examined how external light injection into the directly modulated laser could be used to improve system performance, and our results show an improvement of up to 5 dB. Finally a model was designed using Matlab, which simulated the 5-channel system mentioned above. It used the laser rate equations to mimic the nonlinear effects of the laser diode Good correlation was observed between experimental and simulated results

Applied constant gain amplification in circulating loop experiments

The reconfiguration of channel or wavelength routes in optically transparent mesh networks can lead to deviations in channel power that may impact transmission performance. A new experimental approach, applied constant gain, is used to maintain constant gain in a circulating loop enabling the study of gain error effects on long-haul transmission under reconfigured channel loading. Using this technique we examine a number of channel configurations and system tuning operations for both full-span dispersion-compensated and optimized dispersion-managed systems. For each system design, large power divergence was observed with a maximum of 15 dB at 2240 km, when switching was implemented without additional system tuning. For a bit error rate of 10-3, the maximum number of loop circulations was reduced by up to 33%

Dynamic circulating-loop methods for transmission experiments in optically transparent networks

Recent experiments incorporating multiple fast switching elements and automated system configuration in a circulating loop apparatus have enabled the study of aspects of long-haul WDM transmission unique to optically transparent networks. Techniques include per-span switching to measure the performance limits due to dispersion compensation granularity and mesh network walk-off, and applied constant-gain amplification to evaluate wavelength reconfiguration penalties

Optical IP switching a solution to dynamic lightpath establishment in disaggregated network architectures

The landscape of the telecommunications environment is constantly evolving; in terms of architecture and increasing data-rate. Ensuring that routing decisions are taken at the lowest possible layer offers the possibility of greatest data throughput. We propose using wavelengths in a DWDM scheme as dedicated channels that bypass the routing lookup in a router. The future trend of telecommunications industry is, however, toward larger numbers of interlinked competing operator networks. This in turn means there is a lack of a unified control plane to allow current networks to dynamically provision optical paths. This paper will report on the concept of optical IP switching. This concept seeks to address optical control plane issues in disaggregated networks while providing a means to dynamically provision optical paths to cater for large data flows

Fast wavelength switching lasers using two-section slotted Fabry-Pérot structures

Fast wavelength switching of a two-section slotted Fabry–PÉrot laser structure is presented. The slot design enables operation at five discrete wavelength channels spaced by 10 nm by tuning one section of the device. These wavelengths operate with sidemode suppression ratio in excess of 35 dB, and switching times between these channels of approximately 1 ns are demonstrated

10Gbit/s modulation of a fast switching slotted Fabry-Pérot tunable laser

The device used is a three-section, 3mum wide ridge waveguide laser based on commercially available material. During the fabrication a series of slots are introduced into the front and back sections, which act as sites of internal reflections. The slots are etched to a depth that just penetrates the top of the upper waveguide resulting in an internal reflectance of-1% at each slot. The front, middle, and back sections are 180, 690 and 170 microns long respectively. In this work the back and middle sections are tied together electrically allowing simpler control of the device. By varying the applied DC currents, eight discrete channels are observed over a range of approximately 19nm

Effects of crosstalk in WDM optical label switching networks due to wavelength switching of a tunable laser

rosstalk caused by switching events in fast tunable lasers in an optical label switching (OLS) system is investigated for the first time. A wavelength-division-multiplexed OLS system based on subcarrier multiplexed labels is presented which employs a 40-Gb/s duobinary payload and a 155-Mb/s label on a 40-GHz subcarrier. Degradation in system performance as the transmitters switch between different channels is then characterized in terms of the frequency drift of the tunable laser