The evolution of optical OFDM

Optical Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (O-OFDM) is eminently suitable for mitigating the multi-path and chromatic dispersion in both Visible Light Communications (VLC) and Optical Fiber Communications. We commence our discourse by surveying the conception and historic evolution of O-OFDM designed for both VLC and optical fiber, culminating in the birth of its most flexible design alternative, namely Layered Asymmetrically Clipped Optical OFDM (LACO-OFDM). We demonstrate that it is eminently suitable for intensity-modulation and direct-detection aided optical communication systems and characterize its design flexibility. It is also shown that given its flexibility, it subsumes a wide range of optical OFDM schemes conceived over the past two decades or so. The LACO-OFDM transmitter and receiver designs strike a compelling compromise between the features of the popular Asymmetrically Clipped Optical OFDM (ACO-OFDM) and Direct-Current-biased Optical OFDM (DCO-OFDM). The pivotal role of forward error correction designs is also surveyed with the objective of striking a coding gain versus complexity trade-off. We conclude by highlighting a suite of promising techniques capable of further improving the system performance, but require further research. The take-away message of the paper crystallized in the associated design guidelines.

Forward error correction, LACO-OFDM, Performance analysis, Signal characterization, Transceiver design

10.1109/COMST.2021.3065907

1553-877X

1430-1457

Zhang, Xiaoyu

ea1ec5dd-5b9f-4ba9-b420-c05e771a5ae3

Babar, Zunaira

23ede793-1796-449d-b5aa-93a297e5677a

Petropoulos, Periklis

522b02cc-9f3f-468e-bca5-e9f58cc9cad7

Haas, Harald

cdf0c1b3-2410-4cb4-bdc2-0221b5290267

Hanzo, Lajos

66e7266f-3066-4fc0-8391-e000acce71a1

1 July 2021

Zhang, Xiaoyu

ea1ec5dd-5b9f-4ba9-b420-c05e771a5ae3

Babar, Zunaira

23ede793-1796-449d-b5aa-93a297e5677a

Petropoulos, Periklis

522b02cc-9f3f-468e-bca5-e9f58cc9cad7

Haas, Harald

cdf0c1b3-2410-4cb4-bdc2-0221b5290267

Hanzo, Lajos

66e7266f-3066-4fc0-8391-e000acce71a1

Zhang, Xiaoyu, Babar, Zunaira, Petropoulos, Periklis, Haas, Harald and Hanzo, Lajos (2021) The evolution of optical OFDM. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 23 (3), 1430-1457, [9378787]. (doi:10.1109/COMST.2021.3065907).

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Accepted/In Press date: 7 March 2021

e-pub ahead of print date: 15 March 2021

Published date: 1 July 2021

Additional Information: Funding Information: Manuscript received July 18, 2020; revised January 20, 2021; accepted March 7, 2021. Date of publication March 15, 2021; date of current version August 23, 2021. The work of Lajos Hanzo was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Projects under Grant EP/P034284/1 and Grant EP/P003990/1 (COALESCE), and in part by the European Research Council’s Advanced Fellow Grant QuantCom under Grant 789028. (Corresponding author: Lajos Hanzo.) Xiaoyu Zhang is with the School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, U.K., and also with the Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, U.K. (e-mail: xy.zhang@soton.ac.uk). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 IEEE.

Keywords: Forward error correction, LACO-OFDM, Performance analysis, Signal characterization, Transceiver design

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