Digital Subcarrier Multiplexing: Enabling Software-Configurable Optical Networks
Dave Welch, Antonio Napoli, Johan Bäck, S. Buggaveeti, Carlos Castro, Aaron Chase, Xi Chen, Vince Dominic, T. Duthel, Tobias A. Eriksson, Sezer Erkılınç, Peter Evans, Chris Fludger, Ben Foo, Thomas Frost, P. Gavrilovič, Steven Hand, Aditya Kakkar, A. Kumpera, V. Lal, Robert Maher, Fábio Luiz Navarro Marques, Fady Masoud, A. Mathur, Ray Milano, Miguel Iglesias Olmedo, Magnus Olson, D. Pavinski, João Pedro, Amir Rashidinejad, Parmijit Samra, Warren Sande, Azmina Somani, Han Sun, Norman Swenson, Huan-Shang Tsai, Amin Yekani, Jiaming Zhang, M. Ziari
Abstract
The various topologies, traffic patterns and cost targets of optical networks have prevented the deployment of end-to-end solutions across multi-domains, and the optimization of the network as a whole. The consequent limitations in flexibility, scalability, and adaptability of optical networks will become increasingly important with new applications, such as 5G/6G. Coherent transceivers based on digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) are proposed to address these current constraints. In particular, DSCM allows (i) the design of high-capacity point-to-point (P2P) and -multipoint (P2MP) optical networks; (ii) simplified aggregation with passive optics; and (iii) connections between low- and high-speed transceivers. Furthermore, DSCM-based networks reduce the number of opto-electro-opto stages, halve the number of bookended transceivers, and provide a better match for existing hub-and-spoke (H&S) traffic patterns in fast-growing and dynamic access/metro segments. A DSCM-based transceiver will pave the way for the deployment of next-generation flexible, adaptable, and scalable software-configurable optical networks. Key steps and elements to realize this solution are laid out, and promising applications outlined. The first real-time experimental results of coherent P2MP transceivers are presented.