SC147 Optical Fiber Communication Systems

Monday, May 5, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Alan Willner; Univ. of Southern California, USA

Level: Advanced Beginner (basic understanding of topic is necessary to follow course material)

Course Description
The optical fiber, with its low loss and high bandwidth, provides enormous capacity. Furthermore, there has been much excitement involving the simultaneous transmission of several independent channels, each located at a different wavelength. Such wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) provides dramatic increases in aggregate system capacity as well as wavelength-dependent network routing. Note that a key enabling technology has been the Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), which can provide gain to many channels simultaneously.

This course will be divided into two parts: (1) basic operation of optical fiber communication systems and (2) reconfigurable optical networks. Optical system design, including signal, noise and sensitivity, will be addressed in the context of high-performance transmission. We will describe the device and systems advances in wavelength-division-multiplexing, focusing on the potential gains and probable limitations of future systems. Additional topics include optical amplifiers, multi-channel systems, nonlinear effects and polarization mode dispersion. We will also delve into physical-layer issues associated with dynamic and reconfigurable WDM networks. For instance, as point-to-point links become more sophisticated, systems must dynamically adapt to changing traffic conditions in order to avoid SNR degradation. This scenario erupts into a much greater challenge when channels originate at different locations, as is the case with add/drop multiplexers, reconfigurable cross-connects, circuit-switched networking and, eventually, optical packet switching. We will identify dynamic channel degrading effects that include crosstalk, channel power equalization, tunable management of dispersion and nonlinear effects, nonuniform EDFA gain, switching-related transients and wavelength routing.

Benefits and Learning Objectives
This course should enable you to:

• Describe the basic components in an optical system.
• Explain the operation of optical data generation, transmission, amplification and detection.
• Design and analyze a viable optical transmission system.
• Evaluate signal-to-noise ratios and system power penalties.
• Understand the basic concepts of reconfigurable multi-wavelength optical systems and networks.
• Define several degrading effects in high-speed optical fiber transmission.

Intended Audience
This course is intended for engineers interested in acquiring a working and project-oriented knowledge of an optical communication system, managers and investors wanting a broad overview of the critical technologies and recent directions in optical communication systems, and educators desiring a firm understanding of the fundamental concepts with the goal of teaching a lecture or laboratory course in optical communications.

Instructor Biography
Alan Willner received his doctorate from Columbia University, has worked at AT&T Bell Labs and Bellcore, and is currently professor of electrical engineering at the University of Southern California. Willner has received the NSF Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House, the Packard Foundation Fellowship, the NSF National Young Investigator Award, the Fulbright Foundation Senior Scholar Fellowship, the IEEE LEOS Distinguished Traveling Lecturer Award, the USC Best Engineering Teacher Award, Associates Award for University-Wide Excellence in Teaching and the Armstrong Foundation Memorial Prize. He is IEEE LEOS President and an OSA and IEEE Fellow. He is also the editor-in-chief of the IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology.