Ezra Ip is a Senior Researcher in the Optical Networking and Sensing Department at NEC Laboratories America. Ezra Ip received the B.E. degree (Hons.) in electrical and electronics engineering from the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University. His doctoral thesis was on coherent detection and digital signal processing for optical communications.
He has published more than 100 journal articles and conference papers in the areas of high-capacity optical transmission, digital signal processing techniques, space-division multiplexing, and distributed fiber sensing. Dr. Ip has served on the topical program committees of OFC, ECOC, APC, and other conferences. He is an Associate Editor of IEEE Photonics Technology Letters. His research has shaped the development of digital signal processing techniques for optical systems, including modulation formats, phase recovery, and polarization multiplexing.
At NEC, he plays a key role in designing photonic subsystems for elastic optical networks and next-generation transport layers. His work continues to influence both academic and industrial research, particularly in scaling optical capacity and improving signal integrity over long-haul fiber links.
Optical transmission networks require intelligent traffic adaptation and efficient spectrum usage. We present scalable machine learning (ML) methods for network performance modeling, andfield trials of distributed fiber sensing and classic optical network traffic coexistence.
We jointly estimate the phase noise power spectral densities of multiple lasers using interferometry between different combinations of laser pairs. We demonstrate a beat-frequency trackingmethod that allows under-sampling of interferometric products without phase jumps.
We investigate the growth rate of phase power spectral density in fiber spools in the presence of ambient acoustic noise, observing a complex interplay between spool geometry, shielding effects, and phase cancellation at high acoustic frequencies.
A differential algorithm is proposed to calibrate the physical digital model of an optical line system from scratch at the commissioning phase, using minimal measurements and maximizing signal and OSNR estimation accuracy.
We experimentally demonstrate real time mode division multiplexing free space optical communication with commercial 400G open and disaggregated transponders. As proof of concept,using HG00, HG10, and HG01 modes, we transmit 1.2 Tb/s/l (3´1l´400Gb/s) error free.
In this work, for the first time, we experimentally demonstrate mode division multiplexing-based bidirectional free space optical communication in real-time using commercial transponders. As proof of concept, via bidirectional pairs of Hermite-Gaussian modes (HG00, HG10, and HG01), using a Telecom Infra Project Phoenix compliant commercial 400G transponder, 400-Gb/s data signals (56-Gbaud, DP-16QAM) are bidirectionally transmitted error free, i.e., with less than 1e-2 pre-FEC BERs, over approximately 1-m of free space
We report the first field verification of fault localization in an optical line system (OLS) by integrating digital longitudinal monitoring and OLS calibration, highlighting changes in physical metrics and parameters. Use cases shown are degradation of a fiber span loss and optical amplifier noise figure.
We demonstrate a method for measuring the backscatter coefficient of hollow-core fibre (HCF), and show the feasibility of distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) with simultaneous 9.6-Tb/s DWDM transmission over a 1.6-km field-deployed HCF cable.
Our optical networking & sending team has arrived in Frankfurt for the 2024 European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) and is excited to present many papers and tutorials this week. Please follow this page and on our social media channels for updates.
We propose methods and an architecture to conduct measurements and optimize newly installed optical fiber line systems semi-automatically using integrated physics-aware technologies in a data center interconnection (DCI) transmission scenario. We demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, digital longitudinal monitoring (DLM) and optical line system (OLS) physical parameter calibration working together in real-time to extract physical link parameters for fast optical fiber line systems provisioning. Our methodology has the following advantages over traditional design: a minimized footprint at user sites, accurate estimation of the necessary optical network characteristics via complementary telemetry technologies, and the capability to conduct all operation work remotely. The last feature is crucial, as it enables remote operation to implement network design settings for immediate response to quality of transmission (QoT) degradation and reversion in the case of unforeseen problems. We successfully performed semi-automatic line system provisioning over field fiber network facilities at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. The tasks of parameter retrieval, equipment setting optimization, and system setup/provisioning were completed within 1 h. The field operation was supervised by on-duty personnel who could access the system remotely from different time zones. By comparing Q-factor estimates calculated from the extracted link parameters with measured results from 400G transceivers, we confirmed that our methodology has a reduction in the QoT prediction errors ( 0.3 dB) over existing designs ( 0.6 dB). ©
