Experiences with forward error correction for optically amplified submarine systems

Forward error correction (FEC) has been proposed as a way of improving the performance of optically amplified (OA) submarine systems both in terms of meeting the customer desire for error free performance and also increasing the amplifier spacing (and thus reducing the total number of amplifiers required). This paper looks at potential system benefits estimates maximum achievable performance improvements using increasingly complex FEC codes, and proposes a simple FEC code for long-haul submerged systems. Experimental results confirm the predicted performance improvements