Field Trial of a Flexible Real-time Software-defined GPU-based Optical Receiver

TL;DR

This paper presents a flexible, real-time software-defined GPU-based optical receiver capable of processing multiple modulation formats at high data rates, demonstrated through laboratory and field experiments over 91 km fiber.

Contribution

It introduces a novel GPU-based receiver that supports various modulation formats and real-time processing, enhancing flexibility and performance in optical communication systems.

Findings

Successfully processed multiple modulation formats at 2-16 GBaud.

Achieved real-time performance on off-the-shelf GPU hardware.

Demonstrated reliable operation over 91 km optical fiber link.

Abstract

We introduce a flexible, software-defined real-time multi-modulation format receiver implemented on an off-the-shelf general-purpose graphics processing unit (GPU). The flexible receiver is able to process 2 GBaud 2-, 4-, 8-, and 16-ary pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM) signals as well as 1 GBaud 4-, 16- and 64-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals, with the latter detected using a Kramers-Kronig (KK) coherent receiver. Experimental performance evaluation is shown for back-to-back. In addition, by using the JGN high speed R&D network testbed, performance is evaluated after transmission over 91 km field-deployed optical fiber and reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs).