Yue-Kai Huang NEC Labs America

Yue-Kai Huang

Senior Researcher

Optical Networking & Sensing

Posts

Measuring the Transceivers Back-to-Back BER-OSNR Characteristic Using Only a Variable Optical Attenuator

We propose a transceiver back-to-back BER-OSNR characterization method that requires only a single VOA; it leverages the receiver SNR degradation caused by received power attenuation. Experiments using commercial transceivers show that the measurement error is less than 0.2 dB in the Q-factor.

First Field Demonstration of Hollow-Core Fibre Supporting Distributed Acoustic Sensing and DWDM Transmission

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.

NEC Labs America Team Attends the 2024 European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) in Frankfurt, Germany

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.

Semi-Automatic Line-System Provisioning with Integrated Physical-Parameter-Aware Methodology: Field Verification and Operational Feasibility

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). ©

First Field Trial of Hybrid Fiber Sensing with Data Transmission Resulting in Enhanced Sensing Sensitivity and Spatial Resolution

Optical fiber cables, initially designed for telecommunications, are increasingly repurposed for environmental monitoring using distributed fiber sensing technologies [1,2]. Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) based on phase optical time domain reflectometry (?-OTDR) of Rayleigh backscatter enables various applications including traffic monitoring [3], railway [4] and perimeter intrusion detection [5] and cable damage detection [6], etc. The sensing range of DAS is typically limited to several tens of kilometers due to low optical signal-to-noise (OSNR) of the received backscatter. Additionally, compatibility of DAS with existing fiber infrastructure is hindered by the unidirectional operation of inline amplifiers with isolators. An alternative approach based on forward transmission was recently proposed [7, 8], which involves probing an optical fiber with a continuous wave (CW) signal and measuring either changes in received phase or the state of polarization (SOP) to detect cumulative vibration-induced strain. Unlike backscatter measurement, forward transmissions methods have longer sensing range due to higher OSNR, and is compatible with existing telecom infrastructure. However, potential challenges include limited localization accuracy, and low number of simultaneous events that can be discriminated and localized [7]. In this paper, we propose a new concept of “hybrid fiber sensing” for long-haul DWDM networks where the repeater node architecture combines DAS with forward-phase sensing (FPS), enhancing sensitivity by 32%. This approach achieves a multi-span, fine-resolution fiber sensing system. The FPS method detects vibration anomalies and coarsely localizes its position to within a fiber span. A segmented DAS then refines the position estimate and provides a precise waveform measurement. Consequently, the special resolution improves from one fiber span of 80 km to 4 m. Our scheme is validated on a test bed comprising lab spools and field fibers, demonstrating the capability to detect and monitor field construction while simultaneously supporting full C-band 400-Gb/s real-time (RT) data transmission.

NEC Labs America at OFC 2024 San Diego from March 24 – 28

The NEC Labs America team Yaowen Li, Andrea D’Amico, Yue-Kai Huang, Philip Ji, Giacomo Borraccini, Ming-Fang Huang, Ezra Ip, Ting Wang & Yue Tian (Not pictured: Fatih Yaman) has arrived in San Diego, CA for OFC24! Our team will be speaking and presenting throughout the event. Read more for an overview of our participation.

Optical Network Anomaly Detection and Localization Based on Forward Transmission Sensing and Route Optimization

We introduce a novel scheme to detect and localize optical network anomaly using forward transmission sensing, and develop a heuristic algorithm to optimize the route selection. The performance is verified via simulations and network experiments.

Optical Line Physical Parameters Calibration in Presence of EDFA Total Power Monitors

A method is proposed in order to improve QoT-E by calibrating the physical model parameters of an optical link post-installation, using only total power monitors integrated into the EDFAs and an OSA at the receiver.

4D Optical Link Tomography: First Field Demonstration of Autonomous Transponder Capable of Distance, Time, Frequency, and Polarization-Resolved Monitoring

We report the first field demonstration of 4D link tomography using a commercial transponder, which offers distance, time, frequency, and polarization-resolved monitoring. This scheme enables autonomous transponders that identify locations of multiple QoT degradation causes.

Multi-Span Optical Power Spectrum Prediction using ML-based EDFA Models and Cascaded Learning

We implement a cascaded learning framework using component-level EDFA models for optical power spectrum prediction in multi-span networks, achieving a mean absolute error of 0.17 dB across 6 spans and 12 EDFAs with only one-shot measurement.