MUSICO

Optical fiber constitutes the backbone of the modern information networks. Long range communications are based on coherent detection and spectrally efficient digital signal processing. Future optical communications are expected to involved radically new optical links to support short range data center interconnections with cost constraints. In both cases, advanced high-dimensional modulation and fine matching to the physical channel are needed to significantly improve the spectral efficiency of the system. The MUSICO project aims at providing modern DSP solutions for the next generation of ultra-efficient and agile optical networks by focusing on high-dimensional signaling in combination with nonbinary joint system design. The key impact of the project is that it will revisit completely the joint signaling schemes for optical communication and will address them from a viewpoint of a new, more accurate and practical, optical channel model. The main outcome of the project will therefore be an entirely new set of design tools for joint modulation and coding, adapted to the multi-dimensional and potentially non-linear nature (e.g., XPol model) of the optical channel. First, we expect to double (or triple) the spectral efficiency in certain operational scenarios as it is observed when PDL occurs in long-haul transmissions. Signaling, coding, and channel learning should be carefully addressed, and they lay at the core of this project. Second, for short range communications, we expect to be able to propose schemes that permit novel and high-efficient N-PAM signaling to be deployed on a new generation of low-cost products based on direct detection.