OSA/OFC/NFOEC 2011

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DWDM transmission at 10Gb/s and 40Gb/s using 25GHz grid and flexible-bandwidth ROADM
M. Filer and S. Tibuleac
ADVA Optical Networking. 5755 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., Norcross, GA 30092 mfiler@advaoptical.com, stibuleac@advaoptical.com

Abstract: DWDM transmission with flexible-bandwidth ROADM supporting 25GHz-spaced 10G channels and co-propagating 50GHz-spaced 40G channels is studied experimentally. Nonlinear and ROADM-induced OSNR penalties are measured, and XPM mitigation is demonstrated.
OCIS codes: 060.2330 Fiber optics communications; 060.2360 Fiber optics links and subsystems; 060.4230 Multiplexing

1.

Introduction

The capacity offered by the todays DWDM networks using 10Gb/s and 40Gb/s modulated wavelengths with 50GHz spacing is considered insufficient to meet the rapidly growing bandwidth requirement. In response to this market demand, DWDM systems are being developed for 100Gb/s transmission per wavelength operating on the 50GHz grid, using polarization multiplexed quadrature phase shift keying (PM-QPSK) modulation format. This modulation format has been proven to offer the optimum combination of features: highest bandwidth density with commercially available components, transmission distances comparable to 40G differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) and 10G NRZ-OOK, compatibility with existing ROADMs, and the ability to upgrade existing networks. These features come at a higher cost, increased power consumption, and increased latency compared to the modulation formats used for lower data rates. Hence, there is a need to explore other options, specifically for metro/regional networks, where cost, power consumption and latency are as important as the need for higher transmission capacity. An alternative approach to increasing capacity while maintaining the low cost points of 10Gb/s transmission employs a channel plan on the 25GHz grid. Although the spectral density and the total transmission capacity does not match that offered by 100G PM-QPSK operating on the 50GHz grid, a system with lower data rate operating on the 25GHz grid with the option of concatenating multiple 25GHz bandwidths to support higher bandwidth signals offers a viable alternative to the 50GHz PM-QPSK solution for metro/regional networks. Transmission on the 25GHz grid has been reported previously for long-haul [1] and submarine applications [2]. A significant drawback of implementing 25GHz-spaced DWDM transmission in metro networks has been the lack of an adequate reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer for wavelength add/drop and equalization. This roadblock is removed with recently-developed flexible bandwidth wavelength-selective switches (FB-WSS) [3], which are able to adjust power continuously across the C-band with no gaps in the spectrum. This feature enables ROADMs to operate with 25GHz add/drop granularity and up to 160 channels in a single module. This paper presents transmission experiments over an 8x85km link with 10G NRZ, 40G DQPSK and 40G DPSK operating on the 25GHz grid with different bandwidth allocations for different data rates provided by a FB-WSS. A ROADM based on FB-WSS is shown to induce no measureable bandpass penalty for add/drop and equalization of 25GHz-spaced 10G channels, while enabling a reduction in cross-phase modulation (XPM) penalty. The contiguous bandwidth control on FB-WSS allows efficient use of available bandwidth for traffic with different data rates and modulation formats. This is demonstrated in transmission experiments with 40G DPSK using 50GHz bandwidth and 10G NRZ using 25GHz bandwidth allocations on the same FB-WSS. 2. System Configuration

The experimental configuration consisted of a primary channel with 10G NRZ-OOK, 40G RZ-DQPSK or 40G NRZ-DPSK modulation followed by an appropriate amount of pre-compensating fiber (-340 ps/nm for the dispersion map used). The primary signal was coupled together with externally-modulated 10G NRZ-OOK aggressor channels at 25, 50, 75, and/or 100 GHz from the primary signal. External channels were polarization-scrambled to ensure an averaging of cross-phase modulation (XPM) impact over all polarization states. All channels were launched into an 8-span link comprised of 80-90 km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) with fiber-based dispersion compensation (80-km) in the line amp mid-stages. A 2x1 flexible-grid ROADM was placed after the 4th span to provide power equalization and add/drop functionality.

Optical Society of America

OSA/OFC/NFOEC 2011

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Fig. 1. System configuration

Optical ASE noise was coupled with the signal at the link output before demultiplexing through a 25GHz interleaver and AWG demux for 10G OOK and 40G DQPSK measurements, or through a tunable-bandwidth filter in 40G DPSK measurements. Residual dispersion was optimized using an etalon-based tunable dispersion compensator. 3. Results with 25GHz-spaced 10G

Measurements were performed using a 10G NRZ-OOK primary signal in the presence of aggressor channels spaced at 25 and 50 GHz away. A 25GHz (de)interleaver pair was used to (de)multiplex the signals at link ingress and egress. In a back-to-back configuration (no fiber spans, no adjacent channels), there was no measureable penalty due to the insertion of the ROADM in the optical path, even when configured to drop the adjacent 25GHz neighbors (i.e., tightest filtering condition indicated no passband penalty). Turning on the 50GHz neighbors yielded negligible penalty, but the addition of the 25GHz neighbors caused an OSNR penalty of 0.5 dB at 1E-4 BER. This was likely caused by adjacent-channel crosstalk from the imperfect isolation of the 25GHz interleavers. Configuring as the full multi-span system shown in Fig. 1, nonlinearities such as SPM and XPM become the dominant impairments. For this case, the primary channel was launched at a nominal power (for a 25GHz spaced system) of -1 dBm, and the aggressor channels were launched at a higher power of +4 dBm/ch in order to emphasize the impact of nonlinear effects. Results can be seen in Fig. 2a, where XPM penalties of 0.5dB due to the 50GHz neighbors (50 GHz) increases to 1.5 dB when the 25GHz neighbors are present (25 GHz).
1E-2 1E-3 1E-4 single ch 50 GHz 25 GHz 1E-2 1E-3 1E-4 drop/add (ROADM) drop/add (source) all pass

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1E-5 1E-6 1E-7 1E-8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 OSNR [dB] 17 18 19 20

1E-5 1E-6 1E-7 1E-8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 OSNR [dB] 17 18 19 20

Fig. 2. 10G OOK (a) multi-span with ROADM and SPM + XPM, (b) reduction of XPM with diverse routing at ROADM node

It is important to point out that a reduction in the XPM effect is observed when the neighboring channels are dropped and added back at the same ROADM node though a different port on the FB-WSS than the channel under test. This ROADM-enabled XPM reduction, demonstrated previously in simulations [4], is explained by the group delay introduced between adjacent channels through propagation along different paths within the ROADM node. This explanation is confirmed by the further decrease in XPM penalty with increased group delay between the adjacent channels generated by splitting the adjacent channels at the transmit end of the link and recombining them with the test channel at the ROADM node (Fig. 2b drop/add (source)). However, the short delay introduced by a typical length of a patchcord connecting the drop splitter with the Nx1 WSS in a typical ROADM provides most of the benefits in XPM reduction (Fig. 2b drop/add (ROADM)). 4. Flexible-grid with 10G and 40G

The transmission capacity was increased while maintaining the 25GHz grid spacing, using a common modulation format, DQPSK at 40Gb/s. The OSNR penalty induced by 25GHz interleaver filtering was ~1dB, and with optimum pre-compensation, a nonlinear penalty of ~2dB was measured over 8 spans with adjacent 10G channels. The FBROADM generates high penalties in filtering the wide-bandwidth 40G signal, but improves performance in pointpoint applications by equalizing power levels without measureable penalty, as illustrated in Fig.3.

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1 -1 -3 -5 -7 -9 -11 -13 -15 1528.5 1531 1533.5 1536 1538.5 1541 1543.5 1546 1548.5 1551 1553.5 1556 1558.5 1561 1563.5

Fig. 3. Power equalization with FB-WSS of 158 wavelengths with 25GHz spacing after 8 spans including one 40G DQPSK channel at 1554 nm and 4 adjacent 10G channels

Support for mixed channel plan with optimized bandwidth allocation per channel was demonstrated in a hybrid 10G/40G transmission system using the wider bandwidth NRZ-DPSK modulation at 40Gb/s. The setup is illustrated in Fig. 1, where 10G NRZ-OOK aggressor channels were placed 50, 75, and 100 GHz away from the primary signal, with a full 50GHz channel slot allocated to the 40G wavelength. The 25GHz (de)interleaver pair was replaced by a passive combiner on the transmit side, and a tunable-bandwidth filter on the receive side. Measurements were made in the back-to-back configuration, both with and without the ROADM in place, as well as over the multi-span link. Fiber launch powers were set to +1 dBm for the primary channel and +4 dBm/ch for the neighboring channels in order to exaggerate the XPM impact. In the back-to-back configuration, there was no observable penalty due to the addition of adjacent channels or from the ROADM device itself, even when configured to drop the adjacent 50GHz neighboring channels. Measurable penalties were observed over the 8-span link, in which SPM and XPM become the dominating impairments (Fig. 4). For the case when the 40G signal is propagating with no aggressor channels, the penalty due to SPM alone was 1.3 dB at BER = 1E-4 1E-2 (single ch). Adding in the aggressor back-back single ch channels at 50, 75, and 100 GHz, the 1E-3 drop/add (source) penalty increased to approximately 2.5 dB all pass 1E-4 (all pass). However, as in the 10G case, the XPM penalty could be mitigated 1E-5 somewhat by the dropping/adding of the 1E-6 neighboring channels. In this case, only the 50GHz neighbors were dropped and added 1E-7 back at the ROADM (drop/add (source)). 1E-8 This resulted in a reduction of the XPM 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 penalty by about 0.5dB, for an overall OSNR [dB] nonlinear penalty of 2 dB. Fig. 4. 40G DPSK measurements on hybrid 40G/10G flexible-grid link 5. Conclusions Flexible bandwidth WSS offer a low-cost alternative to bandwidth increase by utilizing 10G channels on the 25GHz grid without sacrificing add/drop capabilities required in todays networks. These devices also allow upgrades to higher-bandwidth 40G signals, as demonstrated in this paper. The ability to allocate the minimum bandwidth required for a given data rate and modulation format makes efficient use of the available bandwidth in the C-band. This feature can be exploited to provide transmission at 100G, or higher data rates using either a wider-bandwidth modulation on a single wavelength, or multiple carriers with narrow-bandwidth modulation formats. 6. References
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[1] C. Hullin, et al. Ultra long haul 2500 km terrestrial transmission of 320 channels at 10Gbit/s over C+L bands with 25GHz wavelength spacing, Proceedings ECOC 2002, paper 1.1.3. [2] G. Vareille et al. 3Tbit/s (300x11.6Gbit/s) transmission over 7380km using C+L band with 25GHz channel spacing and NRZ format, Proceedings OFC 2001, paper PD22-1. [3] T. A. Strasser and J. L. Wagener, "Wavelength-Selective Switches for ROADM Applications," IEEE J. Selec. Topics in Quant. Elec. 16, 1150-1157 (2010) [4] O. Vassilieva et al. Suppression of XPM penalty in dispersion managed hybrid 10G/40G/100G DWDM networks using group delay managaement, ECOC 2009 Proceedings, paper P4.04.