Adtran has successfully completed a field trial of 800Gb/s single-carrier transport, achieving error-free transmission over a record distance of 2,220km in not-for-profit organisation, NYSERNet’s production network.
NYSERNet was founded by New York’s higher education community to promote science and education. Its goal is to help enhance members’ research by providing tailored, innovative, and cost-effective data and networking technology solutions. In this field trial, the test route passed through 14 route-and-select flexgrid ROADMs comprising a total of 28 wavelength-selective switches. Leveraging 140GBd digital signal processing (DSP) technology from Acacia Communications (part of Cisco), this result was made possible by Adtran’s use of continuous symbol rate tuning and probabilistic constellation shaping offered by Acacia’s Coherent Interconnect Module 8 (CIM 8). The company says that the trial showcases an opportunity for network operators to increase capacity and efficiency while minimising complexity and cost.
By achieving long-distance transmission with single-carrier optics, the demo helps operators reduce footprint and energy consumption. The trial used Adtran’s FSP 3000 open line system (OLS), which provided the flexibility to configure the wider required bandwidth and perform testing.
Sorin Tibuleac, director of system architecture at Optical Networks at Adtran says: “We’ve taken single-carrier 800Gb/s data transmission further than ever before. And we’ve achieved it not in a lab but in a real-world network also carrying live traffic. What’s more, we succeeded without any optimisation to the line system, maintaining the same amplifier settings used before the field trial. We’ve demonstrated that the highest capacity and reach can now be accomplished even over deployed fibre comprising a mix of standard G.652 and G.655 and including multiple network nodes and flexgrid ROADMs.”
Bill Owens, chief network architect at NYSERNet adds: “We’re pleased to play a key role in this trial and proud of our record-breaking network. Alongside our partners, we’re showing that the highest speeds are now possible over extremely long distances, even in intricate and heterogeneous network environments. This demo reveals a way to address complexity and cost while eliminating the need for expensive and unnecessary infrastructure expansion. The success of this trial offers a major boost to the research and education institutions we support.”
Concludes Christian Rasmussen, VP of DSP and optics engineering at Acacia: “Our field trial sets a new standard for long-haul, single-carrier data transmission over an existing network with live customer traffic. It shows the full potential of our technology to increase capacity and efficiency while reducing power consumption and expense. Our CIM 8 coherent optical module was instrumental in enabling this achievement. Featuring our 8th generation DSP and advanced silicon photonics, the CIM 8 module offers baud rate adjustment up to 140GBd and continuous modulation, which optimises the use of available spectrum. This gives service providers complete transmission flexibility to match their network’s architecture, improve fibre utilisation and simplify deployments.”