Modeling of Single-Channel Optical

Transmission Systems with High-Order ASK and

PSK Modulation Formats
Daniel Benedikovi*, Jn Litvk* and Milan Dado*
*Universityof ilina/Faculty of Electrical Engineering/Telecommunication and Multimedia, ilina, Slovakia,
e-mail:  
 




AbstractThis paper is focused on numerical where A0 is normalized amplitude, C is initial chirp of

investigation of optical signal propagation in the single-
channel transmission systems, which employ novel types of
high-order modulation formats. In the paper we present
comparison of two types of high-order modulation formats,
namely Amplitude Shift Keying (M-ASK) and Phase Shift
Keying (M-PSK). The investigation is based on solving the
nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) through Split-Step
Fourier Method (SSFM). The using of high-order
modulation format is one of the key solutions for future
optical networks and systems. Our aim is to describe the
behavior of modulated pulses and show the suitability of
using the investigated modulation formats, when their
transmission is influenced by various kinds of optical
channel impairments.
optical pulse, Ts is temporal pulse width related to the
symbol rate Rs = 1/Ts, ms is shape parameter of pulse.
Phase modulated optical pulse can be described by
Am ( t ) = A ( t ) H M PSK exp ( j 2 f c t ) , (2)
and HM-PSK is M-th order modulation function given by
2 ( m 1)
H M PSK = exp j . (3)
M
where m = 1, 2, M is actual state of modulation, M is
maximal states of phase modulated information [2], [7].
Various constellation diagrams are shown in fig. 1.

KeywordsNLSE, M-ASK, M-PSK, SSFM.

I. INTRODUCTION
Generally, the implementation of high-order
modulation formats in fiber optic transmission systems is Fig. 1. Constellation diagrams for M-PSK modulation formats.
very significant goal for the next generation of
communication systems. Different impairments cause M-ASK modulation format can be described as follows
problems in transmission of these kinds of modulation Am ( t ) = A ( t ) H M ASK exp ( j 2 f c t ) , (4)
formats. The numerical modeling is one of the best ways,
how to investigate the optical pulse propagation. The where HM-ASK is modulation function given by
results obtained from simulations can bring novel H M ASK = 2m 1 M , (5)
approach to the practical implementation and total where m = 1, 2, M is state of modulation, M is required
improvement of optical systems. This paper supports this number of amplitude states [2], [6].
way of investigation and provides an insight into this
rapidly developing area [3], [6], [7].
II. THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION
A. High-Order Modulation Formats
The most commonly used modulation format in fiber
optic systems was on-off keying (OOK) over years. High-
order modulations represent next step in the improvement Fig. 2. Constellation diagrams for M-ASK modulation formats.
of transmission system. There exist several types of high-
order modulation formats, M-PSK, M-ASK and M-QAM, B. Propagation of Modulated Optical Pulses
respectively. Our investigation is oriented on amplitude In general, optical fiber is nonlinear dispersive medium.
and phase modulation formats. The properties of medium, wavelength and value of input
The modulating pulse from source can be described by power have significant influence on signal behavior. The
Gaussian function as follows basic parameter of optical fiber, index of refraction n,
2 ms
depends not only on wavelength, but also on the value of
1 + jC t input power
A ( t ) = A0 exp , (1) Pin
2 T n ( , Pin ) = n ( ) + n = n ( ) + n2 , (6)
s Aeff

978-1-4673-1179-3/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE 22

where n() is linear index of refraction, n2 is nonlinear III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
index of refraction, Pin is input power and Aeff is effective The using of high-order modulation formats brings
area of fibers core. novel issues in the pulses propagation. After modulation
The fundamental equation governing the pulse evolution process, optical pulses obtained new properties according
in single-mode fiber is NLSE given by [1] to the type and actual state of modulation. Propagation of
A A i 2 A optical pulses with high-order modulation formats is very
= i A A + 1 2 2 A,
2
(7) different in comparison with the (OOK), where only the
z t 2 t 2
where A = A(z,t) is complex envelope of optical field,  is amplitude is changing according to the data sequence. The
attenuation, 1, 2 are first-, second-order dispersion transmitted pulses with OOK format are especially
parameters related to the group velocity vg and dispersion influenced by parameters of system and properties of
parameter D through these relations optical fiber. On the other hand has to be said that
transmitted optical pulses with high-order modulation
d d2 2
1 = = vg1 , 2 = = D. (8) formats are not only influenced by system and fiber, but
d d 2
2 c the actual state of modulation plays key role. Each
The nonlinear parameter  is given transmitted symbol has different initial properties at the
2 n2 input of fiber, so the propagation of all pulses is also
= , (9)
Aeff different.
The first term in eq. (7) is responsible for the nonlinear The influence of both relevant degradation mechanisms
effect of Self-phase modulation (SPM). Next terms (dispersion and nonlinearities) on transmitted pulses
descried the impact of linear effects [1], [3]. caused that two fundamental characteristic of pulses are
distorted, namely amplitude and phase. In fig. 4 is shown
C. Numerical Model an example, how the envelopes of corresponding
The numerical model is based on SSFM and it is transmitted symbols are degraded at the output of optical
implemented in Matlab environment. The NLSE is solved fiber for ASK modulation formats, 2-ASK (a.), 4-ASK
in time and spectral domain simultaneously. Eq. (2) can be (b.), 8-ASK (c.), respectively. The simulation parameters
rewritten into the form were: Conventional fiber (G.652) [4], Pin = 1 mW, L = 60
A   km, Rs = 10 GBd,  = 1550 nm,  = 0.2 dB/km, D = 16.6
z
= L + N A, ( ) (10) ps/kmnm and training sequence was 100 input pulses for
where linear and nonlinear operators are given purpose of investigation.

 A i 2 A 
LA = 1 2 2 A, NA = i A A
2
(11)
t 2 t 2
The solution of NLSE is found in small step h.
The solution for linear operator is given in spectral
domain using Fourier Transform (FT)
i
A ( , z ) = A ( , 0 ) exp z + 1 + 2 2 , (12)
2 2
where A ( , 0 ) = Y { A ( t , 0 )}. a.)

The solution for nonlinear operator is found in time

domain using
A ( t , z ) = A ( t , 0 ) exp z i A ( t , 0 )(( 2
)) . (13)
In fig. 3 is shown the simplified scheme of numerical
method, which was used for simulations [3], [5].

b.)

A ( , 0 ) = Y { A ( t ,0 )}

i
A (, z ) = A (,0) exp h + 1 + 22
2 2

A (t, h ) = Y 1
{ A ( , h )}
c.)
Fig. 4. Envelopes of transmitted and received symbols with M-ASK
((
A ( t , z ) = A ( t , h ) exp h i A ( t , h )
2
)) modulation format.

It is obvious from fig. 4 that transmitted symbols with

high-order amplitudes are distorted much more in
Fig. 3. Simplified scheme of numerical model using SSFM. comparison with 2-ASK. According to the used

23
modulation, each transmitted symbol has different
amplitude level, which has significant influence for pulse
distortion. Higher amplitude level causes that the impact
of SPM is the most dominant factor influencing pulse
propagation. The dispersion properties of optical fiber
cannot balance this nonlinear influence and impact of
dispersion increases total distortion of transmitted
symbols. The 2-ASK modulation format seems to be the
best choice for long-haul transmission systems. The
higher types of M-ASK format show that they are not
suitable for this kind of transmission, because they are
highly sensitive to linear and nonlinear impairments, so
the using of these formats will be unsatisfactory. The
impact of various kinds of fiber impairments is higher for
higher modulation state. With increasing system
parameter such as length of system or input power, the
distortion also increases, what is unacceptable and using
high-order formats for required small input power levels
and short lengths of optical fiber. From this point of view
we can say that using and practical implementation of M-
ASK modulation formats is not suitable for long-haul
telecommunications purposes. The using of high-order
ASK formats can be suitable for short distances (to 20
km), for example in Passive Optical Networks (PONs),
where the demands for capacity are lager and transmission
of more than one bits for short distance could solve the
problems with capacity.
The different situation is for M-PSK modulation. In fig.
5 are shown examples of transmitted symbols, 2-PSK (a.),
4-PSK (b.) and 8-PSK (c.), respectively. The simulation
parameters were: Conventional fiber (G.652) [4], Pin = 1
mW, L = 60 km, Rs = 10 GBd,  = 1550 nm,  = 0.2
dB/km, D = 16.6 ps/kmnm and training sequence was the
same such as in case of investigation of M-ASK.
a.)
b.)
c.)
Fig. 5. Envelopes of transmitted and received symbols with M-PSK
modulation format.
24
From the fig. 5 can be seen that the transmitted pulse
distortion is very low. For M-PSK modulation format, the
information is modulated into the different phase levels. In
general, the fiber impairments such as dispersion and SPM
cause problems during optical pulse propagation, where
the phase of transmitted symbol is changing. In the C-
optical band, where the dispersion parameter D has
positive sign (2 is negative anomalous dispersion
regime), what leads to the fact that phase changes caused
by dispersion has also negative sign. On the other hand,
the influence of SPM causes positive changes in the phase
during transmission. The result is that the phase changes
caused by linear and nonlinear effects can be very well
balanced and they compensate each other. That means that
each transmitted symbol is not degraded for long distance
compare to the case of transmission of M-ASK modulated
symbols. The level of M-PSK modulation does not have
influence for signal distortion. This means that 2-PSK
modulation format have nearly the same degradation like
4-, 8- or 16-PSK. This is very good result and higher order
PSK formats are much more preferred in optical signal
transmission. The M-PSK modulation formats are more
resistant to the impairments in optical transmission
channel. The choice of transmission optical band is very
important issues, because the dispersion properties of
optical fiber are different. For conventional optical fiber,
the using of C and L optical band is very good for
transmission of M-PSK modulated signals. The higher
value of dispersion can be very well suppressed by
increasing the input power.
In fig. 6 are shown the dependences of average time
broadening factor ave on length of fiber L for different
values of input power Pin.
Fig. 6. Dependence of time broadening factor on length of fiber for
different values of input power for PSK modulation format.
The parameter ave we defined as follows
ave = out ( m) in ( m) / M , (14)
where out is full width at half maximum at the output of
optical fiber, in is full width at half maximum at the input
of optical fiber, m is actual modulation state and M is total
number of modulation states.
From fig. 6 we can see that high-order PSK modulation
formats are very good choice for using in fiber
transmission systems. For low value of input power Pin =
0.01 mW and Pin = 0.1 mW, the transmission of PSK
modulated symbols are influenced by dispersion. From
this point of view, we are talking about linear regime of
propagation. The influence of dispersion can be
compensated by using different type of optical fiber with
negative sign of dispersion parameter D. The time
broadening caused by dispersion is about 5 ps at 100 km
of fiber length, what is very good result. The impact of
SPM is very low, what ensures that transmitted symbols
are not very distorted. For higher values of Pin = 1 mW
and more, we can observe that the time broadening factor
ave has negative sign. This fact is caused by the
domination of SPM effect against the dispersion influence
and optical pulses are compressed. The pulse compression
can be useful, but for higher values of Pin as can be seen
from fig. 6, the value of ave is very high and the
dominance of SPM causes significant distortion of
transmitted optical pulses. For input power to 5 mW we
could be able to ensure suitable pulse propagation without
dramatic pulse degradation.
IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we were focused on investigation of optical
pulse propagation that employ new types of high-order
modulation formats, namely M-ASK and M-PSK. From
simulations we can said that using of high-order ASK
modulation formats is not suitable for todays
communication purposes, because their signal properties
are very sensitive for fiber length and input power. On the
other hand, they do not provide any useful advantages for
their practical implementation for long-haul fiber
systems. Only the 2-ASK modulation format show
optimal resistance against fiber impairments, but we can
omit it, because this format does not bring new approach
into the fiber optic systems.
The M-PSK modulation formats showed that they are
very good and suitable choice for using it in todays
transmission systems. The sensitivity of phase changes
can be balanced through suitable combination of linear
and nonlinear effects, what makes from these modulation
25
formats very good candidates for practical
implementation in the next generation fiber optics
systems.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the Slovak Research and
Development Agency under the project APVT-20-022404
(Technologies for optical signal processing for next
generation optical digital networks), APVV COST-0041-
06 (Towards Digital Optical Networks) and Slovak
Grant Agency VEGA 1/1271/ (Studying the influence of
degradation effects in physical layer on transmission
mechanisms in high-speed optical networks).
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