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JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 20, NO. 5, MAY 2002

Performance Analysis on Phase-Encoded OCDMA Communication System

Wenhua Ma, Student Member, IEEE, Chao Zuo, Hongtu Pu, and Jintong Lin
AbstractThe performance of an asynchronous phase-encoded optical code-division multiple-access system is evaluated on the condition that the impact of fiber channel is neglected. Phase-encoded optical signal (pseudorandom optical signal with low intensity) is analyzed in the view of stationary random process. The pseudorandom optical signal with low intensity is seen as a sample function of a certain stationary random process which is ergodic in strict sense. The analysis results reveal that the variance of the corresponding random process is only inversely proportional to the code length while the root-mean-square width of the phase-encoded optical signal is proportional to the width of initial optical pulse and the code length . The numerical results demonstrate that the better system performance can be achieved in case of larger code length and shorter initial optical pulse. Index TermsOCDMA, phase-encoded, pseudorandom signal.

I. INTRODUCTION HE OPTICAL code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) communication system is currently a hot topic with many scientists in the optical communication field. In the OCDMA system, users can share all bandwidths simultaneously and access the network asynchronously. Therefore, the OCDMA system has higher utilization efficiency of bandwidth and flexibility than other systems. Such advantages are expected in the future of all optical networks. The OCDMA technique is a possible solution for next-generation all optical networks. In the OCDMA system, each user is assigned a unique signature code which can distinguish itself from other users. At transmitter end, when data bit is 0, the laser is kept silent; when data bit is 1, the encoder impresses a signature code on it and the data information is transmitted by the optical fiber. At receiver end, the matched decoder can recover the desired information. The signals from undesired users are called multiple access interference (MAI). In fact, though the fundamental principle of different OCDMA systems is the same, there are several different implementing schemes. Direct time spread OCDMA usually employs optical orthogonal code or modified prime code as signature codes. In order to accommodate enough users, the code length is relatively longer. It leads to much shorter chip pulse and poses a challenge for light source. The frequency hopping OCDMA system utilizes multiple frequency points and mitigates the stringent requirements on light source. However, the chip pulses with different frequencies will travel in different velocities considering the actual optical fiber channel characteristic, which will change the relative positions among them. Consequently, the decoder cannot corManuscript received May 16, 2001; revised February 4, 2002. The authors are with the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 100876 Beijing, China. Publisher Item Identifier S 0733-8724(02)05123-X.

rectly recover the desired bit. Phase-encoded OCDMA, which can realize all optical operation, does not impose stringent requirements on light source. Phase-encoded OCDMA has attracted the attention of experts on optical communication [1]. Several experiments on phase-encoded OCDMA were reported recently. Tsuda et al. conducted such an experiment that a 10-Gb/s 810-fs return-to-zero signal is spectrally encoded, transmitted over a 40-km dispersion shifted fiber, and decoded using a photonic spectral encoder and decoder pair that uses high resolution arrayed-waveguide gratings and phase filters [2]. Grunnet-Jepsen proposed a novel encoder/decoder for phase spectral encoded consisting of fiber Bragg gratings [3]. This paper is organized as follows. Section II describes the fundamental principle of phase-encoded system. Section III thoroughly analyzes the properties of pseudorandom noise-like signal with low intensity, which is the foundation of further analysis for such a system. Section IV is a performance analysis of the system, and Section V is the conclusion of this paper. II. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF PHASE-ENCODED OCDMA A. Principle Description The schematic configuration of encoder for phase-encoded OCDMA is shown in Fig. 1. The initial Gauss optical pulse is first spectrally decomposed by diffraction grating and lens. Phase mask panel (usually consisting of liquid crystal modulator) is arranged to append a random phase (0 or ) to different spectral component [4], [5]. The second lens and diffraction grating reassemble the signal. The output of such an apparatus is pseudorandom optical signal with low intensity in temporal domain. Then such noise-like optical signal is coupled into the optical fiber network. At the receiver end, if the code sequence is matched, the output of decoder is a recovered Gauss pulse. Otherwise, only a noise-like optical signal with low intensity is obtained. For an initial Gauss optical pulse (1) Its spectral shape can be expressed as follows: (2) Assume the appendix phase to the spectrum by the phase mask can be written as , (3) otherwise.

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Fig. 1. Schematic configuration of encoder for phase-encoder OCDMA system.

In (3), is the code length and represents code sequence. is the spectral range encoded by code sequence. Therefore, the reassembled signal waveform can be expressed as (4) is inverse Fourier transform operation and In (4), represents convolution operation. B. Choice of Phase Code It is clear that only the code with high random characteristic can guarantee that encoded signal is more like a random noise. This is critical to the phase-encoded OCDMA system. For convenience of demonstration, here we map the signature code from domain (1, 1) to domain (0, 1). In fact, the phase mask in the receiver acts as a module 2 add operation to the phase of coded optical signal. The module 2 add of two codes must be a sequence with high random characteristic, which can guarantee that the phase-encoded signal is still a noise-like signal after it passes through an unmatched decoder. We can define phase code set as follows: assuming each element in set is with high random characteristic, then

phase-encoded signal itself. Under the above assumption, we can employ a statistical method to conveniently study the pseudorandom signal. In fact, for different phase codes in the same code set, the characteristic numbers of the corresponding random process may be slightly different. But if each code is with high random characteristic and code length is long enough, the slight difference in the characteristic numbers can be neglected. In this paper, we ignore such a difference and consider that for all codes, the characteristic numbers of the corresponding random processes are the same. For the virtual stationary random process, what we are most concerned about is the one-dimensional (1-D) probability density function (pdf) which can be obtained from a sample function. If the initial optical pulse is Gaussian shape, then the phaseencoded pseudorandom optical signal can be written as

where represents module 2 add operation. Then, the output of photocount in the receiver can be mathematically written as (6) (5) represents conjugate operation and is a coefficient. corresponds to , in which and are the phase code of different users. In this paper, we choose such a code set consisting of sequence and its time versions. It is well known that the code . Therefore, the element number length of sequence is . of such a set is also where III. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF PSEUDORANDOM OPTICAL SIGNAL For a phase-encoded optical signal (pseudorandom signal with low intensity), though in fact it is a known signal, we can approximately see it as a sample function of a certain stationary random process which is ergodic in strict sense. We also assume that the time duration of the phase-encoded signal is long enough that the characteristic numbers of the virtual stationary random process can be derived from the (8) The more important thing for us is to precisely weight the width in temporal domain of the phase-encoded signal. We note that the phase-encoded signal is theoretically infinite in temporal domain. Because the amplitude of signal is negligible out, we only side the first zero points of the function and , when , In (6), represents the integer part of ; where , when . is sampling function. The last . step of (6) is true only in case of For convenience of analysis in the following context, we have

(7)

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JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 20, NO. 5, MAY 2002

consider the part of whole signal within the first zero points. Here, we assume the concept of root-mean-square (rms) width , which is defined by (9) where

(10)

According to the (9), (10), and (6), we have

Fig. 2.

Phase-encoded signal.

(11) If the code is sequence, Therefore, (11) can be approximated as is equal to 0 or 2.

(12) In order to derive the pdf of the virtual stationary random process, we assume that the real part and the imaginary part of the phase-encoded signal within the rms width following the and that Gauss distribution whose variances are equal to they are independent of each other (actually not). It is easy to obtain the following equations: (13)

Fig. 3.

Autocorrelation curve of the corresponding random process.

(14) represents the time average. In the above equations, and follow the Gauss distribution, Because both and 0, respectively. their variances and mean values are should follow exAccording to the probability theory, ponential distribution, which is given by (15) . Note that The total energy of Gauss optical pulse is the energy of phase-encoded signal within the first zero points accounts for more than 90% of the of function whole signal energy. Therefore, we have (16)

Fig. 4. Curve of cumulative probability versus normalized optical power.

Fig. 2 shows the phase-encoded signal. Fig. 3 is the autocorrelation curve of the corresponding virtual stationary random process. The sharp peak of autocorrelation demonstrates that the phase-encoded signal is a noise-like signal. Fig. 4 shows the practical and theoretical curves of cumulative distribution function (CDF). That the practical curve well matches its theoretical version verifies that the assumptions and analysis are valid. In Fig. 4, normalized optical power means the maximum power of the phase-encoded signal in Fig. 2 is seen as 1. IV. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF PHASE-ENCODED OCDMA SYSTEM For the sake of simplicity, we assume each original optical pulse has the same energy and neglect the impact of loss, dispersion, and nonlinear effects on the optical signal. The thermal

(17) In order to verify whether the above assumptions on the phase-encoded signal are valid, we need to compare the pdf of phase-encoded signal based on the theoretical analysis with its practical version.

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noise and shot noise of receiver are also ignored. In the following, we also assume the rms width of the phase-encoded signal is no more than the bit duration which is equal to 1000 ps. For single undesired user case, the interference can be modeled as a stationary random process whose 1-D pdf is exponential distribution. When multiple undesired users interfere with the desired user, the total interference can be seen as the summation of independent multiple random processes and be modeled as a stationary random process whose 1-D pdf is given by (18) When the number of undesired users is relatively larger ( ), according to the central limit theorem, we have (19) represents Gauss distribution. In (19), We denote the photocounts detected by the receiver photo . is the threshold of decoder. detector as random variable Then, the bit-error probability of such a system can be expressed as (20) where

because theoretically the 1-D pdf of total noise, which is very complex, is the convolution operation of the pdf of multiple access noise, shot noise, and thermal noise. But it is very important to note that the OCDMA system is interference-limited, like its counterpart in wireless communication, radio CDMA. In other words, in the OCDMA system, the MAI is the dominant noise factor, and the shot noise and thermal noise of the receiver are less important. In a usual case, the shot noise is modeled as a Poisson random process, and its expectation and variance are both denoted by . But here we assume Gauss model for shot noise. Thermal noise of receiver is always modeled as . As for multiple access noise, we Gauss distribution assume (19). Therefore, in order to calculate the bit-error probability with less complex procedure, we assume Gaussian approximation in deriving the conditional pdf of random variable , which is reasonable. So we can rewrite (21) by

(24) where (25) (26) Similarly, we also can rewrite (23) by (21)

where

and (22)

In (22), is bit duration and For the second term of (20), if . Otherwise

represents duty cycle. , then where

(27)

(28) (29) In (28), 1 represents the optical pulse energy. Fig. 5 shows the curves of bit-error probability versus threshold in case of different number of active users. Fig. 6 shows the curves of bit-error probability versus threshold in case of different code length . Fig. 7 shows the curves of bit-error probability versus threshold in case of different initial optical pulsewidth . It is obvious that the optimal value of the threshold is 1. Fig. 8 shows the curves of bit-error probability versus the is equal number of simultaneous users when code length to 63 127 and 255, respectively. From Fig. 8 we learn that the larger is the code length , the better is the system performance.

(23) . in which In a practical optical communication system, the shot noise and the thermal noise of the receiver cannot be neglected in order to more precisely evaluate the system performance. However, in the presence of the multiple access noise, shot noise, and thermal noise of the receiver, it is very difficult to precisely calculate the bit-error probability from a very tedious integral

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Fig. 5. Bit-error probability versus threshold  in case of different N .

Fig. 9. Bit-error probability versus the number of simultaneous users in case of different T .

simultaneous users when is with different value in the absence/presence of shot noise and thermal noise of receiver, respectively. As we expect, the shot noise and thermal noise deis with smaller value, grade the system performance. When that is to say, the initial optical pulse is with smaller width, the system performance is better. Smaller duty cycle implies the smaller probability of interference to the desired user. V. CONCLUSION
Fig. 6. Bit-error probability versus threshold  in case of different F .

This paper has analyzed the properties of the phase-encoded optical signal (pseudorandom optical signal with low intensity) in a view of random process. The phase-encoded optical signal was seen as a sample function of a certain random process. The variance of the corresponding random process is inversely proportional to code length . The rms width of the phase-encoded width is proportional to the width of initial Gauss optical pulse and the code length . Neglecting the influence of the transmission medium, we have evaluated the performance of asynchronous phase-encoded OCDMA system and obtained the optimal threshold of receivers. The numerical results revealed that larger code length or shorter initial Gauss optical pulse is beneficial to improving the system performance. REFERENCES
[1] J. A. Salehi, A. M. Winer, and J. P. Heritage, Coherent ultrashort light pulse code-division multiple access communication systems, J. Lightwave Technol., vol. 8, pp. 478491, Mar. 1990. [2] H. Tsuda et al., Spectral encoding and decoding of 10 Gb/s femtosecond pulses using high resolution arrayed-waveguide grating, Electron. Lett., vol. 35, pp. 11961187, July 1999. [3] A. Grunnet-Jepsen et al., Fiber Bragg grating based spectral encoder/decoder for lightwave CDMA, Electron. Lett., vol. 35, pp. 10961097, June 1999. [4] L. Wang and A. M. Weiner, Programmable spectral phase coding of an amplified spontaneous emission light source, Opt. Commun., vol. 167, pp. 211224, Aug. 1999. [5] H. P. Sardesai, C. C. Chang, and A. M. Weiner, A femtosecond codedivision multiple-access communication system test bed, J. Lightwave Technol., vol. 16, pp. 19531963, 1998.

Fig. 7. Bit-error probability versus threshold  in case of different T .

Fig. 8. Bit-error probability versus the number of simultaneous users in case of different F .

Note that is inversely proportional to the code length . When code length becomes larger, the interference of undesired users to the desired user becomes smaller. Fig. 9 demonstrates the curves of bit-error probability versus the number of

Wenhua Ma (S01) was born in Henan, China, in 1975. He received the M. S. degree from the Wireless Communication Center, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China, in 1999. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree from the same university. His research interests are in wireless communication, adaptive antenna, optical communication, optical CDMA, and all-optical networks.

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Chao Zuo was born in Shangdong, China, in 1972. He received the B.Sc degree in communications from Nanjing Institute of Communication Engineering in 1994 and the M. Sc degree in optoelectronics from the National University of Defense Technology in 1999. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree from the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China. Before beginning his Masters studies, he was a communications engineer for two years. He has worked on a variety of projects, including ring laser gyro, fiber hydrophone, and nonlinear optics. He is now working on ultrafast all optical fiber communication systems.

Hongtu Pu was born in Beijing, China, in 1960. He received the B.Sc degree in laser technology, the M.Sc degree in optics, and the Ph.D. degree in optics from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 1983, 1991, and 1998, respectively. He is now a Post Doctor Fellow at the Optical Communication Center, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China. He has studied the photonics field for more than 16 years, especially high-speed signal measurement and nonlinear optics. At present, he is closely engaged with researching and developing the components of wavelength-division multiplexing, including fiber fusion coupler, optical filter, optical switch, and particularly multiple wavelength lasers.

Jintong Lin was born in Jiangsu, China, in 1946. He received the physics degree from Peking University, the M.Sc degree in electronic engineering from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT), Beijing, China, and the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from Southampton University, U.K. Since 1978, he has been working on optical fiber systems, single-mode fiber lasers, and polarization effects in fiber devices. He took a professorship of optical communications at BUPT in 1993, and is now the President of BUPT. His current research interests include fiber devices, ultrahigh-speed optical transmission systems, and communication networks. Dr. Lin won the prize of Best Publication awarded by the World Communication Year Committee of China in 1984, the Academic Achievement Prize of Beijing in 1985, and the Electronics Divisional Board Premium for Best Electronics Letters in 1986, awarded by the Institution of Electrical Engineers, U.K.