Coherent Broadband Networks Embedding Smart Photonics for Cost-Effective Quintuple-Play

Project

Description
'WARP-5 is driven by the internet explosion and the question for sustainable bandwidth delivery. It endeavours the advancement of optical metro-access networks through the new paradigm of coherent ultra-dense WDM systems. Under the umbrella of Fibre-to-the-Home as ICT field with high market potential, efforts towards capacity and reach extension pose severe system complexity and require a disruptive yet straightforward solution. WARP-5 aims to provide the required potential for a next-generation photonic Tb/s-capacity ICT infrastructure and the required credentials for low cost and power consumption. It does so by tackling two important pillars of ICT networks: their capacity and scalability. WARP-5 will unlock the potential of advanced modulation formats in cost-sensitive ICT segments such as optical access. A novel modulation scheme for off-the-shelf devices radically improves simple intensity modulation towards 16-level QAM. The applied technique lifts the guaranteed per-user data rate to 10 Gb/s, without raising cost and energy consumption. The 30-fold increase in the granted bandwidth with respect to the commercially available standards such as XG-PON comes with a high spectral occupancy and 5 GHz channel spacing. Scalability of common ICT infrastructure will be guaranteed not only by the envisaged transition from the electrical TDM domain to the pure optical and highly granular WDM domain; WARP-5 adopts a disruptive amplification scheme that transforms background noise into supportive gain without electrically powered field equipment, providing a 'green' and effective solution to smoothly grow and migrate the network through reach/split extension. WARP-5 will demonstrate a next-generation ICT infrastructure with a long reach of 100 km and beyond, an aggregated capacity of up to 5 Tb/s and a high density of 1000 users. WARP-5 will strengthen the European leadership in coherent access networks by raising the research independence and performance of Dr. Schrenk.'
Year 2013
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