Optical Fiber Interference is Not Noise

Research Project , 2014 – 2017

Optical fiber networks are indispensable for our society´s information infrastructure. The demands for high-capacity, reliable communications will continue to increase for many years, due to new emerging services such as cloud processing and telepresence. This project addresses one of the fundamental bottlenecks in the development of next-generation optical networks, namely interference. Interference occurs between copropagating signals on different wavelengths, or between time-multiplexed signals on the same wavelength. This interference, caused by both linear and nonlinear effects, is essentially deterministic and has been accurately modeled. However, the receivers in today´s optical networks treat this interference simply as random noise. In this project, we will challenge this design paradigm and propose a new network design paradigm based on multiuser information theory. First, we will assume that each transmitter uses a point-to-point optimal transmission scheme, known to all receivers, and design interference-aware receiver algorithms under somewhat idealized conditions. Second, we will develop transmission schemes that minimize the interference at unintended receivers. And third, the new receiver and transmitter design paradigms will be combined and adapted for use in realistic, large-scale optical networks, achieving a significant throughput increase over today´s networks.