SC102 WDM in Long-Haul Transmission Systems

Monday, March 23, 2009
8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Neal S. Bergano; Tyco Telecommunications, USA
Level: Beginner (no background or minimal training is necessary to understand course material)

Course Description

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology used in long-haul transmission systems has steadily progressed over the past few years. Newly installed state-of-the-art transoceanic systems now have terabit/s maximum capacity, while being flexible enough to have an initial deployed capacity at a fraction of the maximum. The steady capacity growth of these long-haul fiber-optic cable systems has resulted from many improvements in WDM transmission techniques and an increased understanding of WDM optical propagation. Important strides have been made in areas of dispersion management, gain equalization, modulation formats and error correcting codes that have made possible the demonstration of multi-terrabit capacities over transoceanic distances in laboratory experiments. Next-generation systems and future upgrades of existing systems will benefit from these new concepts emerging from system research.

This course will review the important issues regarding the use of WDM in long-haul transmission systems. Included will be an introduction to long-haul undersea transmission systems, the amplified transmission line, dispersion/nonlinear management, transmission formats, measures of system performance, forward error correction, the importance of polarization effects, experimental techniques and results, a transmission line design example and future trends. Next-generation systems and future upgrades of existing systems will benefit from these new concepts emerging from system research.

Benefits and Learning Objectives

This course should enable you to:

  • Explain the trade-offs made in the design of an amplifier chain.
  • Summarize the trade-offs made in the selection of dispersion maps.
  • Identify the methods used to measure system performance, such as Q-factor.
  • Identify the important polarization effects in long-haul transmission systems.
  • Compare the different methods of performing long-haul transmission experiments.
  • Discuss circulating loop experiments.
  • Discuss the future trends in long-haul transmission systems.
  • Gain insight into the optical propagation of data signals over long distances.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for the student who wants an understanding of how information is transmitted over long distances using fiber optic transmission lines. This includes new entrants into the fiber optic field with an engineering background, engineers with fiber optics exposure, people in the fiber optic telecommunications industry, and fiber optic research and development management.

Biography

Neal S. Bergano is managing director of system research and network development at Tyco Telecommunications. In 1981 he received a B.S.E.E. degree from the Polytechnic Institute of New York, and in 1983 received an M.S.E.E. degree from MIT. He holds 31 U.Ss patents in the area of lightwave transmission systems. He is a Fellow of the OSA, the IEEE, AT&T and Tyco Electronics. Bergano is the recipient of the 2002 John Tyndall Award “for outstanding technical contributions to and technical leadership in the advancement of global undersea fiber optic communication systems.”