Variable Length Optical Packet Synchronizer

Synchronization of asynchronously arriving variable length Internet Protocol packets to a local clock is demonstrated using a fiber-based optical synchronizer. The synchronizer is a four-stage feed-forward design with a resolution of 853 ps and a dynamic tuning range of 12.8 ns. The arrival time of packets is determined on a per packet basis using a payload envelope detection technique. The synchronizer state is dynamically configured on a per packet basis determined from the arrival time. Layer-1 (bit-error-rate) measurements are presented with power penalties 0.5 dB and an input power dynamic range 15 dB. Layer-2 (packet recovery) measurements are presented with power penalties 1.5 dB.