Open AccessSensitivity improvement and carrier power reduction in direct-detection optical OFDM systems by subcarrier pairing
Author(s) -
Yi Hong,
Arthur J. Lowery,
Emanuele Viterbo
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.20.001635
Subject(s) - subcarrier , pairing , orthogonal frequency division multiplexing , sensitivity (control systems) , subcarrier multiplexing , bit error rate , interference (communication) , electronic engineering , optical power , computer science , signal to noise ratio (imaging) , optics , telecommunications , physics , engineering , decoding methods , laser , channel (broadcasting) , superconductivity , quantum mechanics
This paper introduces subcarrier pairing to optical OFDM systems and shows, using simulations, that the sensitivity of Direct-Detection Optical Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (DDO-OFDM) systems can be improved by 0.7 dB, without any coding overheads. Subcarrier pairing works because each subcarrier acquires a different electrical Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), which typically increases with the subcarrier's frequency. Pairing the good and bad subcarriers, so that information is split between them, improves the performance of the bad subcarrier more than it degrades the performance of the good subcarrier. This lowers the required Optical Signal to Noise Ratio (OSNR) for the system to give a certain Bit Error Ratio (BER).