Estimation of non-linear effects in optical fiber systems based on perturbation models

In this paper we introduce an estimation model of the non-linear effects which affect the signal propagating through optical fiber communication systems with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). The emergence of non-linear effects with the increase of the transmitted power represents a fundamental limit in current high capacity communication systems. Previously proposed models based in perturbation theory such as the Gaussian Noise model (GN) consider the non-linear interference as additive Gaussian noise. We compare the model estimation results with those obtained through simulation of the optical fiber system by means of extensively verified algorithms based on the integration of the Non-Linear Schroedinger Equation (NLSE) and the Manakov Equation (ME).