Pseudo-Linear Transmission of High-Speed TDM Signals: 40 and 160 Gb/s

High-capacity fiber-optic communication systems transport bits of information (optical pulses) by having them first time-division multiplexed (TDM) to form a channel centered at a given wavelength. Many channels at different wavelengths are then wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) together and launched in an optical fiber for transport. A given capacity can be implemented through a large number of low-speed TDM channels or a reduced number of high-seed TDM channels. By July 2001, the highest bit rate per channel in state-of-the-art installed commercial WDM systems is 10 Gb/s. The next anticipated higher standard bit rates for the synchronous optical network (SONET) and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) standards are 40 Gb/s and 160 Gb/s.