Comparison of the Optical Amplifiers EDFA and SOA Based on the BER and Q-Factor in C-Band

Abstract

Currently it is not possible to create a fully optical communication system without a software tool which simulates an optical communication line in real conditions prior to its construction. The aim of this article is to establish a comparison between the EDFA (erbium doped fibre amplifier) and SOA (semiconductor optical amplifier) optical amplifiers in the WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) system. The system contains a four-channel WDM with speed of 10 Gbps and optical fibre with length of 80 km. Simulations are conducted in the programme environment “OptSim.” The quality of the optical communication system is evaluated by the BER (bit error rate) and Q-factor for individual wavelengths, namely, of 1558 nm and 1562 nm, which are within the C-band.