A decoder for determining an estimate of a vector of information symbols carried by optical signals propagating along a multi-core fiber in an optical fiber transmission channel according to two or more cores is provided. The decoder is implemented in an optical receiver. The optical signals are encoded using a space-time coding scheme and/or scrambled by at least one scrambling device arranged in the optical fiber transmission channel according to a predefined scrambling function. The decoder comprises a processing unit configured to adaptively: determine, in response to a temporal condition, one or more channel quality indicators from the optical signals; determine a decoding algorithm according to a target quality of service metric and on the one or more channel quality indicators; update the predefined scrambling function and/or the space-time coding scheme depending on the target quality of service metric and on the one or more channel quality indicators. The decoder further comprises a symbol estimation unit configured to determine an estimate of a vector of information symbols by applying the decoding algorithm to the optical signals.

A method and apparatus for monitoring in-line signal quality and a system. The method for monitoring in-line signal quality includes: according to signal to noise ratios (SNRs) of subcarriers obtained in a transmission initialization period, setting a subcarrier with a highest SNR to be a pilot subcarrier and other subcarriers to be data subcarriers; determining bit allocation and power allocation of the pilot subcarrier and bit allocation and power allocation of the data subcarriers; setting data-decision-based SNR measurement thresholds for the data subcarriers according to the bit allocation of the data subcarriers; and comparing the SNRs of the data subcarriers obtained through data-decision-based SNR measurement in a transmission period with the SNR measurement thresholds of the data subcarriers, and when an SNR of a data subcarrier is less than its SNR measurement threshold, trigger pilot-based SNR measurement of the data subcarrier. Hence, not only temporally continuous in-line signal quality monitoring may be provided, but also accuracy of the monitoring result may be guaranteed.

A controller for a front-exciting Raman-amplifier that amplifies an optical signal transmitted from one end of an optical fiber to other end by inputting an excitation light to the one end, the controller includes a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to acquire communication-related information regarding communication of the optical signal in the optical fiber, when the acquired communication-related information does not indicate the communication of the optical signal, set a Raman gain of the front-exciting Raman amplifier based on a first light intensity of an amplified spontaneous scattered light of the excitation light, and when the acquired communication-related information indicates the communication of the optical signal, set the Raman gain based on a second light intensity of the optical signal output from the optical fiber.

An error correction circuit includes a first error correction circuit, a second error correction circuit and a controller. The first error correction circuit performs an error correction in a first correction scheme. The second error correction circuit performs an error correction in a second correction scheme. A correction performance of the second correction scheme is lower than a correction performance of the first correction scheme. The controller makes the first error correction circuit perform error correction of a received signal when a capacity of the received signal is smaller than or equal to a processing capacity of the first error correction circuit, and makes the first error correction circuit and the second error correction circuit perform error correction of the received signal when the capacity of the received signal is larger than the processing capacity of the first error correction circuit.

A technique is provided for producing a quality of transmission estimator for optical transmissions. The technique includes defining a local dispersion value, defining a dispersion increment, and performing a propagation calculation of an optical signal along an elementary section. The elementary section is a propagation medium characterized by the local dispersion value. The elementary section length may correspond to the dispersion increment. The optical signal, which is incoming in the elementary section, is previously affected by a cumulative dispersion value equal to an integer number of the dispersion increment. For each elementary section, a variance of noise is determined, the noise representing a distortion due to Kerr nonlinear field contributions in the elementary section. For each couple of elementary sections, a covariance of noise is determined between the couple of elementary sections. The variances and covariances may be stored in a look-up table of a data repository.

A technique is provided for determining an optical transmission system description. The technique includes determining a dispersion map of the optical transmission system, placing a set of discrete cumulative dispersions onto the dispersion map, and defining a plurality of sequential system segments of the optical transmission system. Each system segment has an input point that corresponds to a point in the optical transmission system where the input cumulative dispersion matches a cumulative dispersion of the set of discrete cumulative dispersions. For each system segment, an input power of the system segment and a local dispersion value of the system segment is determined. Also, for each system segment, a sequence number of the system segments is stored. Furthermore, for each system segment, the input power and the local dispersion value determined in relation with the input cumulative dispersion of the system segment in a data repository is stored.

An optical transmission system includes an optical transmitter, an optical receiver, and a control apparatus. The control apparatus repeatedly performs an adjustment process for adjusting power of an optical signal of a frequency band to be adjusted while switching the frequency band to be adjusted between at least two frequency bands including at least a frequency band where stimulated Raman scattering occurs among frequency bands that are multiplexed in a multiplexed optical signal transmitted by the optical transmission system. In the adjustment process, when power of an optical signal of the frequency band to be adjusted transmitted from the optical transmitter has been changed, the control apparatus determines the power of the optical signal of the frequency band to be adjusted on the basis of a signal quality measured by the optical receiver that has received the optical signal.

A data communication system for transmitting packets over one or more optical fibers includes a transponder with a number of digital signal processors that transmit data packets on different optical channels. The transponder includes a switch that receives a data packet on an input and selects one of the digital signal processors to transmit the packet based on quality metrics for the different optical channels and/or information included in an OSI header for the data packet.

An apparatus and a method for monitoring in-band OSNR (Optical Signal-to-Noise Ratio) which monitors the in-band OSNR by using two parallel Mach-Zehnder-interferometers with different optical time delays are disclosed. The apparatus and method can be resistant to chromatic dispersion, polarization mode dispersion and polarized noise, can measure the coherence characteristics of the signal without removing the noise, and can be manufactured into a semiconductor integrated device and be applied in the future high-speed optical network.

A system for troubleshooting signals in a cellular communications network, and in particular, for determining the cause of distortion or corruption of such signals, includes a robotic or other type of switch. The robotic switch can tap into selected uplink fiber-optic lines and selected downlink fiber-optic lines between radio equipment and radio equipment controllers in a wireless (e.g., cellular) network to extract therefrom the I and Q data. The selected I and Q data, in an optical form, is provided to an optical-to-electrical converter forming part of the system. The system includes an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or the like, and an analytic computer unit, or web server, and SSD (Solid State Drive) and magnetic disk storage, among other components of the system. The system analyzes the I and Q data provided to it, and determines the cause, or at least narrows the field of possible causes, of impairment to transmitted signals. The system includes a display which provides the troubleshooting information thereon for a user of the system to review, or other form of a report, and may communicate the analytical findings to a remote location over a public or private internet protocol network.