OKI Develops 160Gbps Optical 3R Regenerator for Ultra Long Haul

Oki Electric Industry Co. announced a significant milestone -- all optically regenerated transmission, which enables unlimited transmission of 160Gbps optical signals with single wavelength. To demonstrate the results of this project, OKI used an optical test-bed provided by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT)'s Japan Gigabit Network II (JGN II). The research that led to OKI's achievement was conducted as part of the "Research and Development on λ Utility Technology," under the auspices of NICT.


Specifically, OKI developed an all-optical 3R Regenerator using a specialized optical-repeater technology with functions for re-amplification, re-shaping to remove optical signal wave distortion, and re-timing to avoid timing jitter accumulation. The company said these advances, in theory, make it possible to achieve signal processing speeds of over 200Gbps.


OKI also developed a Polarization Mode Dispersion Compensator (PMDC) that adaptively mitigates the impact of the changes in transmission line characteristics that are unique to optical fiber. Polarization mode dispersion is a phenomenon whereby wave distortion increases in an oval-shaped fiber core. The dispersion value changes depending on the temperature or transmission environment. Because the faster the transmission speed, the more sensitive it is to such changes, a PMDC is indispensable for transmission systems operating at over 40 Gbps. OKI's newly developed PMDC adopts a design to fully leverage the optical 3R Regenerator.


OKI expects 160Gbps data transmission will be commercialized in 2010 or soon thereafter.http://www.oki.com/