Field Trial to Upgrade an Existing 10 Gbit/s DWDM Link by 40 Gbit/s RZ-DQPSK Channels

Data rates generated in the access network by new services and customer demand on triple play influence on the transmission capacity and flexibility of the transport network. A field trial to upgrade an existing DWDM link with 10 Gbit/s RZ- and NRZ-channels by 40 Gbit/s RZ-DQPSK-channels was performed on a link consisting of legacy G.652 fibre with two ROADM and EDFA amplification only. The field link had a length of 1047 km. To obtain a high spectral efficiency of the 40 Gbit/s transport the channel spacing was reduced from 100 GHz to 50 GHz. We investigated channel crosstalk for 50 GHz and 100 GHz channel spacing, mixed types of neighbour channels, PMD and chromatic dispersion tolerance which influence on maximum transparent transmission length and signal quality of the 40 Gbit/s signal in a field experiment.