Adaptive High-Speed Optical Transceivers Using a Dual Electrode Modulator

Future military communication systems will require highly agile terminals that can support the growing bandwidth needs of the warfighter while providing connectivity in the dynamic environment of a mobile wireless communication network. While todays high speed optical communication links are typically engineered with a fixed design, future systems should be adaptive to optimize system performance in an ever changing communication channel. In this paper, we propose a highly adaptive optical transceiver based on a dual-electrode modulator. This architecture drastically reduces the complexity in the optical path of the system compared to previous designs. The presented transceiver can support rate adjustable Return-to-zero On-Off Key (RZ-OOK), rate adjustable Binary Pulse Position Modulation (BPPM), and rate adjustable Return-to-Zero Differential Phase-Shift-Keying (RZ-DPSK) modulation formats. Experimental results showing the performance of a prototype system are presented.