Demonstration of Terabit/s LAN-WDM for the Evolution of B5G/6G Fronthaul Networks
Jiao Zhang, Qingsong Wang, Junhao Zhang, Xiang Liu, Bingchang Hua, Jian Chen, Zhigang Xin, Yuancheng Cai, Mingzheng Lei, Yucong Zou, Liang Tian, Zhao Guo, Meihua Bi, Min Zhu
Abstract
Intensity modulation/direct detection (IM/DD) and coherent schemes are two kinds of promising solutions to achieve the evolution for B5G/6G fronthaul networks. IM/DD has more mature commercial deployment applications for short-reach applications with lower costs and simpler configurations compared with coherent solutions. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate a local area network-wavelength division multiplexing (LAN-WDM) IM/DD access system with a record bit rate of 2 Tb/s (250 Gbit/s×8) probabilistic shaping eight-pulse amplitude modulation (PS-PAM-8) signal with joint equalization techniques to support the evolution of future B5G/6G mobile fronthaul networks. Considering the 20% Soft Decision Forward Error Correction (SD-FEC) threshold with the bit error rate (BER) of 2×10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-2</sup> , we realize a record net bit rate of 1.6 Tb/s over 5 km fiber. This system can potentially support a 12-wavelengths transmission with the total line rate of 3 Tb/s (250 Gbit/s×12). Moreover, we analyze the challenges of the evolution, usage scenarios, digital signal processing (DSP) implementation, transmission rate and distance, and the tolerance of dispersion with different wavelengths. The LAN-WDM can be considered as a feasible and potential candidate scheme to meet the evolution and deployment of B5G/6G Terabit/s fronthaul networks.