The present invention relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a dynamic dispersion detecting method and apparatus.
In an optical communication system, dispersion tolerance is in inverse proportion to the bit rate. As the bit rate increases, the dispersion tolerance of the system decreases rapidly. In the future intelligent global communication network, the add/drop and switching of channels at different nodes will be more and more complex. The receiver is unable to predict the specific path of an optical signal, and therefore the dispersion of a link is indefinite. The residual dispersion value is likely to exceed the dispersion tolerance of the system and therefore seriously impacts the performance of the system. Therefore, how to compensate for the system dispersion dynamically and efficiently becomes a hot spot of research.
In a prior art, the system dispersion is compensated dynamically according to the bit error ratio (BER, Bit Error Ratio) of the code error rate performance caused after a service is connected. Specifically:
Before the service is connected, a tunable dispersion compensator (TDC, Tunable Dispersion Compensator) performs rough tuning for the dispersion compensation and at the same time, an optical receiving module demodulates the signal. The demodulation of the signal is completed when the dispersion of the optical communication system falls within a dispersion window receivable by the optical receiving module.
After the service is connected, the rough tuning of the TDC is stopped, and the BER of the system is collected and fed back to the TDC. The TDC performs fine tuning according to the BER of the system until the fed back BER is minimum in a period of time. The TDC value then may be regarded as the best dispersion compensation value of the system. Thus, a dynamic compensation for the dispersion is completed.
During research and practice of the prior art, the inventor finds the following problems:
Because TDC tuning and signal demodulation are performed simultaneously, it is the case that the demodulation of the signal has not been completed at the same time that the TDC is tuned within the proper dispersion window of the signal, so that the service cannot be connected and the best dispersion window is missed, and then the service is disconnected. As a result, a second TDC search process is performed and the service connection time is prolonged.
The BER can be tuned only after the service is connected and error bits are transmitted. The tuning is slow and adds to the service connection time of the system.
The technical problem to be addressed by the embodiments of the present invention is to provide a dynamic dispersion detecting method and apparatus to detect the best dispersion of a system and effectively increase the system performance.
In order to address the technical problem described above, one aspect of the embodiments of the present invention provides a dynamic dispersion detecting apparatus that includes a tunable dispersion compensation module, a demodulator, a receiver, a partial band radio frequency power detecting unit, and an electrical signal ratio calculating unit, where:
the tunable dispersion compensation module is configured to send a received optical signal to the demodulator after compensating for the dispersion of the optical signal;
the demodulator is configured to demodulate the phase of the received optical signal;
the receiver is configured to convert the optical signal outputted by the demodulator into an electrical signal;
the partial band radio frequency power detecting unit is configured to sample radio frequency power of the electrical signal converted by the receiver to obtain an radio frequency signal;
the electrical signal ratio calculating unit is configured to obtain an electrical signal ratio of the radio frequency signal and send the electrical signal ratio to the tunable dispersion compensation module continuously; and
the tunable dispersion compensation module is configured to compare the value of the currently received electrical signal ratio and the values of the previously received electrical signal ratios, tune a dispersion compensation value according to the comparison result to obtain a peak electrical signal ratio, and determine a residual dispersion value of the system according to the peak electrical signal ratio.
In another aspect, a dynamic dispersion detecting method is provided, including:
demodulating the phase of a received optical signal;
converting the demodulated optical signal into an electrical signal;
sampling radio frequency power of the electrical signal to obtain an radio frequency signal;
obtaining an electrical signal ratio of the radio frequency signal; and
comparing the currently detected electrical signal ratio with the previously detected electrical signal ratios, tuning a dispersion compensation value according to the comparison result to find a peak electrical signal ratio, and obtaining a residual dispersion value of the system according to the peak electrical signal ratio.
As can be seen from the above technical solution, an optical signal is converted into an electrical signal, a peak electrical signal error is found, and then the residual dispersion value of the system is obtained according to the peak electrical signal error. Because the dispersion value related to the peak electrical signal error is the best residual dispersion value of the system, the best residual dispersion value of the system may be detected. Because the pulse broadening of the electrical signal error is narrow, the peak electrical signal error can be found more easily. When the best residual dispersion value is determined according to the electrical signal error, the accuracy is high and thus the precision of the system residual dispersion detection is increased. Further, as the detected best residual dispersion is used for dispersion compensation, the signal does not miss the best dispersion window of the system and the reliability is improved. Moreover, the tuning no longer needs to wait until the service is connected and error bits can be transmitted. Therefore, the service connection of the system is faster.
To illustrate the technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention or in the prior art more clearly, the following describes the accompanying drawings required in the description of the embodiments or the prior art briefly. Apparently, the accompanying drawings illustrate only some exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and those skilled in the art may derive other drawings from these drawings without creative efforts.
To illustrate the technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention or in the prior art more clearly, the following describes the accompanying drawings necessary for the description of the embodiments or the prior art briefly. Apparently, the embodiments described are only exemplary embodiments of the present invention and the present invention is not limited to such embodiments. Based on the embodiments herein, those skilled in the art can derive all of the other embodiments without creative efforts and such other embodiments all fall within the scope of the present invention.
Dispersion detection techniques and compensation play a core role in a dynamic dispersion compensation system. The range and precision of dispersion detection directly decide the range and precision of the dynamic dispersion compensation system. The complexity of dispersion detection also directly decides the total cost of the compensation system. The dispersion tolerance of optical modules at rates above 40 Gbps is low and therefore dispersion compensation is required. How to locate the best dispersion point becomes critical technique for dynamic dispersion compensation.
The embodiments of the present invention provide a dynamic dispersion detecting method and apparatus to detect the best dispersion of the system and effectively increase the system performance.
A dynamic dispersion detecting apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present invention includes: a tunable dispersion compensation module, a demodulator, a receiver, a partial band radio frequency power detecting unit, and an electrical signal ratio calculating unit, wherein:
the tunable dispersion compensation module is configured to send a received optical signal to the demodulator after compensating for the dispersion of the optical signal;
the demodulator is configured to demodulate the phase of the received optical signal;
the receiver is configured to convert the optical signal outputted by the demodulator into an electrical signal;
the partial band radio frequency power detecting unit is configured to sample radio frequency power of the electrical signal converted by the receiver to obtain an radio frequency signal;
the electrical signal error calculating unit is configured to obtain the electrical signal error of the radio frequency signal and send the electrical signal error to the tunable dispersion compensation module continuously;
Specifically, the electrical signal error obtained by the electrical signal error calculating unit is the ratio of the peak to the valley of the radio frequency signal detected in a predetermined period of time.
The tunable dispersion compensation module compares the value of the currently received electrical signal error with the values of the previously received electrical signal errors, tunes the dispersion compensation value according to the comparison result to find the peak electrical signal error, and determines the residual dispersion value of the system according to the peak electrical signal error.
The dynamic dispersion detecting apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present invention converts an optical signal into an electrical signal, finds the peak electrical signal error, and then obtains the residual dispersion value of the system according to the peak electrical signal error. Because the dispersion value related to the peak electrical signal error is the best residual dispersion value of the system, the best residual dispersion value of the system may be detected. Because the pulse broadening of the electrical signal error is narrow, the peak electrical signal error can be found more easily. When the best residual dispersion value is determined according to the electrical signal error, the accuracy is high and thus the precision of system residual dispersion detection is increased. Further, as the detected best residual dispersion is used for dispersion compensation, the signal does not miss the best dispersion window of the system and the reliability is improved. Moreover, the tuning no longer needs to wait until the service is connected and error bits can be transmitted. Therefore, the service connection of the system is faster.
After receiving an optical signal, the tunable dispersion compensation module 101 compensates the dispersion of the received optical signal and sends the optical signal to the demodulator 102. At the initial run of the system, the tunable dispersion compensation module 101 has an initial dispersion compensation value which may be preset by a user according to the user experience or be a system preset value.
When receiving the optical signal, the demodulator 102 demodulates the phase of the optical signal.
The receiver 103 is an optical-electrical conversion portion and mainly completes the conversion of the optical signal outputted by the demodulator 102 into an electrical signal.
The partial band radio frequency power detecting unit 104 samples the converted electrical signal at a certain frequency band and calculates the RF power of the electrical signal at the partial band. The partial band radio frequency power detecting unit 104 mainly completes the sampling of RF power of the electrical signal and sends the samples to the electrical signal ratio calculating unit 105. Main components of the partial band radio frequency power detecting unit 104 may include a power detector and a partial filter circuit.
The electrical signal ratio calculating unit 105 is mainly in charge of logic processing, and used to calculate the ESR of the RF signal detected by the partial band radio frequency power detecting unit 104. The ESR is the ratio of the peak RF to the valley RF of the detected RF signal. That is, ESR=peak RF/valley RF. The process of calculating the ESR is a process of continuous calculation. The ESRs of different periods of time may be obtained with the change of time and the calculated ESRs are sent to the tunable dispersion compensation module 101 continuously. The electrical signal ratio calculating unit 105 may be implemented by a microcontroller unit (MCU, Microcontroller Unit) or field programmable gate array (FPGA, Field Programmable Gate Array) component.
After receiving the ESR calculated by the electrical signal ratio calculating unit 105, the tunable dispersion compensation module 101 compares the value of the currently received ESR with the values of the previously received ESRs. If the received ESR keeps rising, the tunable dispersion compensation module 101 continues to tune the dispersion compensation value; and when the received ESR begins to decrease, the tunable dispersion compensation module 101 can determine that a peak ESR that is the maximum ESR has been received already appears in the previously received ESRs. The dispersion value related to the maximum ESR is the best residual dispersion value of the system. Therefore, the tunable dispersion compensation module 101 may determine the residual dispersion value of the system according to the peak ESR, and further, compensate for the residual dispersion of the system according to the residual dispersion value in time and stop tuning the dispersion compensation value.
Specifically, the peak ESR may be determined as follows: When it is found that the received ESR is smaller than the last ESR, the last ESR is regarded as the peak ESR; or when the ESR keeps decreasing in a period of time, the previously received maximum ESR is regarded as the peak ESR to avoid the error caused by the jitter of the ESR.
Specifically, the partial band RF power detecting unit may include:
a square calculator, configured to calculate the square of the electrical signal;
a low-pass filter, configured to perform low-pass filtering on the calculation result of the square calculator;
a mean square calculator, configured to calculate the MS of the filtering result of the LPF;
an amplifier, configured to amplify the RMS and output an radio frequency signal; and
an analog/digital converter, configured to convert the radio frequency signal from an analog signal to a digital signal.
Indeed, this is an embodiment of the partial band radio frequency power detecting unit implemented by obtaining radio frequency signal. Other apparatus structures may also be used provided that the structures obtain the radio frequency signal.
The above is a description of the dynamic dispersion detecting apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present invention. The use and principle analysis of the dynamic dispersion detecting apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present invention are described in the dynamic dispersion detecting method provided in the embodiment of the present invention below.
201. Demodulate the phase of a received optical signal.
202. Convert the demodulated optical signal into an electrical signal.
203. Sample the radio frequency power of the electrical signal to obtain an radio frequency signal.
204. Calculate the electrical signal ratio of the radio frequency signal.
The electrical signal ratio of the radio frequency signal is obtained. The electrical signal ratio is the ratio of the peak to the valley of the radio frequency signal detected in a predetermined period of time. That is, ESR=peak RF/valley RF. The process of calculating the ESR is a process of continuous calculation. The ESRs of different periods of time may be obtained with the change of time.
205. Obtain the residual dispersion value of the system according to the electrical signal ratio.
The value of the currently detected electrical signal ratio is compared with the values of the previously detected electrical signal ratios. If the received ESR keeps rising, the tuning of the dispersion compensation value is continued. When the received ESR begins to decrease, it may be determined that a peak ESR that is the maximum ESR has been received already appears in the previously received ESRs. The dispersion related to the maximum ESR is the best residual dispersion value of the system and therefore the residual dispersion value of the system may be determined according to the peak ESR.
Specifically, the peak ESR may be determined as follows: When it is found that the received ESR is smaller than the last ESR, the last ESR is regarded as the peak ESR; or when the ESR keeps decreasing in a period of time, the previously received maximum ESR is regarded as the peak ESR to avoid the error caused by the jitter of the ESR.
Further, the residual dispersion of the system may be compensated in time according to the residual dispersion value.
The dynamic dispersion detecting method provided in the embodiment of the present invention converts an optical signal into an electrical signal, finds the peak electrical signal ratio, and then obtains the residual dispersion value of the system according to the peak electrical signal ratio. Because the dispersion value related to the peak electrical signal ratio is the best residual dispersion value of the system, the best residual dispersion value of the system may be detected. Because the pulse broadening of the electrical signal ratio is narrow, the peak electrical signal ratio can be found more easily. When the best residual dispersion value is determined according to the electrical signal ratio, the accuracy is high and thus the precision of system residual dispersion detection is increased. Further, as the detected best residual dispersion is used for dispersion compensation, the signal does not miss the best dispersion window of the system and the reliability is improved. Moreover, the tuning no longer needs to wait until the service is connected and error bits can be transmitted. Therefore, the service connection of the system is faster.
A mapping relation between the electrical signal ratio and the residual dispersion value is discussed hereunder.
As shown in
T1(Z)=T0[1+(z/LD)2]1/2 equation (1)
where: LD=T02/|β2|
The broadening of the signal width T causes the decrease of the amplitude of the signal power U. The relation between U and T is described in equation (2).
If the transmission distance Z and β2 in equation (2) are indicated by the cumulative dispersion d, U may be expressed in equation (3).
It is known from equation (3) that the cumulative dispersion d broadens the signal pulse in the time domain. The broadening size depends on the cumulative dispersion d.
Curve S1 is a normalized signal amplitude curve under the cumulative dispersion of 0 ps/nm; Curve S2 is a normalized signal amplitude curve under the cumulative dispersion of 68 ps/nm; and Curve S3 is a normalized signal amplitude curve under the cumulative dispersion of 136 ps/nm.
As shown in
Electrical power detection detects the power of an electrical signal outputted by an optical-electrical detecting device after an optical pulse signal is processed. The receiver 103 is an optical-electrical detecting device. Chromatic dispersion broadens the optical pulse carried in the optical fiber and only changes the phase of each spectrum component without any adverse impact on the spectrum of the optical pulse. The receiver 103 detects the light intensity of the input optical signal and ignores the phase change of the optical signal, and converts the input optical pulse into an electrical pulse. The spectrum of the electrical pulse is narrowed with the broadening of the optical pulse envelope. As a result, the electrical power at a given frequency point changes with the chromatic dispersion.
The receiver 103 converts the received optical signal into an electrical signal so that the incident optical power is efficiently converted into a photocurrent. An important parameter of the receiver 103 is the responsibility defined as R=Ip/P0, where P0 is the optical power of the incident light received by the light detector and Ip is the intensity of the generated photocurrent. The optical power P0 is in direct proportion to the square of the optical pulse envelope U(z, T). Therefore, when the input optical signal is an optical pulse sequence defined by equation (2), the optical power P0 may be expressed in equation (4).
The electrical signal I outputted by the receiver 103 may be expressed in equation (5).
Meanwhile, the spectrum of the electrical signal I(d,T) may be obtained and can be expressed in equation (6).
From equation (6), it is known that the chromatic dispersion changes the spectrum of the electrical signal although it does not impact the spectrum of the optical pulse signal adversely. Therefore, through the analysis of the relation between the cumulative dispersion and the electrical signal spectrum, the cumulative chromatic dispersion in the optical communication system may be obtained by checking the spectrum of the electrical signal.
As shown in
Specifically, the square calculator 501, low-pass filter 502, mean square calculator 503, and amplifier 504 constitute a power detector. The detection of electrical power is mainly completed by the power detector.
After the electrical signal Xi enters the power detector, the square calculator 501 calculates the square of the electrical signal, X2, first. Xi is the square of the optical signal U(z,T).
Then the low-pass filter 502 performs low-pass filtering.
The mean square calculator 503 calculates the RMS after the filtering. The RMS is the square root of the average of the squares of a set of numbers. The formula to calculate the RMS is: RMS=[(X12+X22+ . . . +Xn2)/n]−1/2.
After the RMS is obtained, the amplifier 504 with the gain G amplifies the signal and outputs the signal RFout. The signal RFout may be expressed in the following equation.
After receiving the RFout, the analog/digital converter 505 converts it from an analog signal to a digital signal and outputs the digital signal to the electrical signal ratio calculating unit.
As known from the above description, the power detector is a linear transfer function of signal amplitude. According to the above description, when the residual dispersion value of the system is higher, the amplitude of the signal is smaller, the light extinction ratio of the signal is lower, and after the RF power detector obtains the RMS, the calculated ESR which is the ratio of the peak power to the valley power will be lower. In contrast, when the residual dispersion value of the system is lower, the calculated ESR will be higher. This means that the maximum ESR is related to the minimum residual dispersion value of the system, that is, the best dispersion compensation value of the system. The tunable dispersion compensation module tunes the dispersion compensation value according to a fedback ESR until it determines that the fedback ESR is the peak. Then the tunable dispersion compensation module uses the dispersion value related to the peak ESR to make the dispersion compensation.
a comparing unit 601, configured to: compare the value of the currently received electrical signal ratio with the values of the previously received electrical signal ratios; continue to tune the dispersion compensation value when the received electrical signal ratio increases; and use the maximum received electrical signal ratio as the peak electrical signal ratio when the received electrical signal ratio begins to decrease; and
a residual dispersion value determining unit 602, configured to determine the residual dispersion value of the system according to the peak electrical signal ratio.
Those skilled in the art may understand that all or part of the steps in the method according to the above-described embodiments can be implemented by a related hardware under the instruction of a program. The program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. When the program runs, the following steps are executed:
A dynamic dispersion detecting method, including:
demodulating the phase of a received optical signal;
converting the demodulated optical signal into an electrical signal;
sampling the radio frequency power of the electrical signal to obtain an radio frequency signal;
calculating the electrical signal ratio of the radio frequency signal; and
comparing the value of the currently detected electrical signal ratio with the values of the previously detected electrical signal ratios, tuning the dispersion compensation value according to the comparison result to find a peak electrical signal ratio, and obtaining the residual dispersion value of the system according to the peak electrical signal ratio.
The above mentioned storage medium may be a read only memory, a magnetic disk, or a compact disc.
A dynamic dispersion detecting method and apparatus provided in the present invention is described above in detail. Although the principle and implementation of the present invention are described with reference to exemplary embodiments, the embodiments are only intended to help understand the method and core idea of the present invention. In addition, persons of ordinary skill in the art may make modifications and variations to the implementation and applicability of the present invention according to the idea of the present invention. Therefore, the specification shall not be construed as a limitation on the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2009 1 0222614 | Nov 2009 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2010/078608, filed on Nov. 10, 2010, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 2009/10/222614.3, filed on Nov. 19, 2009, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/CN2010/078608 | Nov 2010 | US |
Child | 13476653 | US |