Reducing the effects of transmission impairments in digital fiber optic systems

The major impairments in lightwave systems and the signal-processing techniques that can be used to reduce these impairments are discussed. Guidelines for the use of these techniques are presented. These guidelines are used to determine the techniques with the most potential for providing improved performance in long-haul systems, local-area networks, and local loop systems. Although many of the techniques have been previously considered for these applications, few have been implemented in commercial products. Some of the most promising techniques include dispersion-compensating fibers, polarization control, nonlinear cancellation (NLC), and coding for reducing the effect of distortion in long-haul single-frequency-laser direct-detection systems.<>