A 20-channel optical communication system using subcarrier multiplexing for the transmission of digital video signals

Microwave subcarriers have been used to demonstrate an optical communication system suitable for the distribution of digital video channels. The design, performance, and optical link requirements are discussed for a 2-Gb/s subcarrier-multiplexed (SCM) system with 20 microwave subcarriers modulated at 100 Mb/s and using a frequency-shift-keyed format. The system uses the 2-6-GHz bandwidth and represents the first example of an SCM system using more than one octave of bandwidth. The bit error rate was measured for all 20 channels; results for five typical channels are shown and discussed. The performance results show that a digital SCM approach is attractive in an optical link for a multichannel wide bandwidth video distribution system made from standard microwave components.