96 CHINESE OPTICS LETTERS / Vol. 6, No. 2 / February 10, 2008
Novel optical packet with non-return-to-zero label and
duobinary carrier-suppressed return-to-zero payload
Kun Qiu (
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) and Yun Ling (
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)
Key Laboratory of Broadband Optical Fiber Transmission and Communication Networks,
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054
Received June 29, 2007
A novel p acket format with non-return-to-zero (NRZ) label and duobinary carrier-suppressed return-to-zero
(DCS-RZ) payload is proposed for optical packet switching networks. NRZ label is followed by DCS-RZ
payload with a certain guard time. The spectra of the low-rate NRZ label locate around the optical carrier
frequency where some parts of the corresponding spectra of the high-rate DCS- RZ payload have been
suppressed due to DCS-RZ modulation. At the switching node, the label or payload extraction can b e
realized simply through an optical bandpass or notch filter respectively. The feasibility of the scheme
is verified by the simulation on the famous p hotonic design platform designed by Virtual Ph otonics Inc.
(VPI). The effects of optical filter bandwidth on the received signal quality are discussed by analyzing bit
error rate (BER) and contrast ratio performances.
OCIS codes: 060.0060, 060.2330, 060.4080, 060.4230.
Optical packet switching, which provides the smallest
switching granularity and avoids the electronic bottle-
neck, has been one of the hottest research areas on the
next-generation optical networks
[1]
. For the convenience
of separating optical label and payload signals which will
be sent to control unit and optical switch matrix respec-
tively, several optical packet formats have been proposed,
including bit-serial label
[2−4]
, subcarrier multiplexing
(SCM) label
[5,6]
, optical code (OC) label
[7]
, orthogonal-
modulated label
[8]
and so on. For separating the label
and payload, bit-serial label or OC label requires accu-
rate timing to control optical gate or 1 ×2 optical switch.
Orthogonal-modulated label, such as differential phase-
shift keying (DPSK) label and amplitude-shift-keying
(ASK) payload, requires to decrease the extinction ratio
of payload to guarantee the correct detection of DPSK
label. In addition, a wavelength conversion module is
adopted to suppress the old DPSK label. The scheme of
SCM label is the easiest method to realize the separation
of label and payload by using optical filter, compared
with other schemes. But the linear modulation of high-
frequency subcarrrier imposes many great difficulties
and the highest bit-rate of payload is limited by the
subcarrier frequency. In this paper, a novel packet for-
mat with non-return-to-zero (NRZ) label and duobinary
carrier-suppressed return-to-zero (DCS-RZ) payload will
be introduced and the separation of label and payload
can be realized by using optical filters.
DCS-RZ modulation suppresses the optical carrier fre-
quency completely and reduces the signal bandwidth to
the same as the NRZ modulation. DCS-RZ signal can
enhance the nonlinearity and chromatic dispersion tol-
erance in the fiber transmission
[9]
. So the high bit-rate
payload with DCS-RZ modulation can enhance the fiber
transmission length. Another important characteristic of
DCS-RZ payload is the notch-shaped spectrum around
the optical carrier frequency. If the low bit-rate label is
modulated with NRZ format on the same optical wave-
length, the spectra of NRZ label will locate around the
optical carrier frequency. NRZ modulation of the label
guarantees the smallest bandwidth and decreases the in-
terference between the label and payload caused by their
spectral overlap. The spectral separation of NRZ label
and DCS-RZ payload makes it possible to extract the
label or payload by using an optical filter.
According to the introduction of the packet format
with NRZ label and DCS-RZ payload, the module of
optical packet generation consists of NRZ label genera-
tion and DCS-RZ payload generation. Figure 1 shows
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the simulation system.
1671-7694/2008/020096-04
c
2008 Chinese Optics Letters