Parallel coded optical multicarrier frequency division multiplexing: a potential step towards high speed, high capacity and high reliability in optical transmission systems

We propose optical multicarrier FDM coupled with suitably applied FEC (forward error control) coding technique. The strategy of optical multicarriers is new in lightwave systems and its combination with FEC is novel. The optical multicarrier approach is effective in combating dispersion and increasing throughput whereas FEC is effective in diluting the interchannel interactions and increasing the reliability. No doubt FEC offers system reliability, but its application in lightwave systems is discouraged as it changes the system bit rate. We think that suitably applied FEC, that we refer as parallel FEC (PFEC), can solve the problem. PFEC involves the creation of additional parity check channels and their transmission in parallel with the data channels. Theoretical treatment shows that the proposed approach is promising and practical.