Subset-Optimized Eight-Dimensional Trellis-Coded Modulation Scheme in High-Speed Optical Communication

Abstract

In this paper, a subset-optimized eight-dimensional trellis-coded quadrature amplitude modulation (SO-8DTCM-16QAM) format for higher-order constellations in high-speed optical communications is proposed. This scheme increases the number of subsets of base 2D constellation divisions. On this basis, it is further optimized by using 2D subsets for Cartesian product combinations to obtain 4D subsets and eliminate the combinations with small Euclidean distances. Finally, the 4D subsets are utilized to construct interrelated 8D subsets for trellis coding modulation and signal transmission. The proposed scheme can effectively reduce the decoding complexity and outperforms the conventional scheme at a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Simulation verification of the proposed scheme is carried out, and the results show that the SO-8DTCM-16QAM achieves signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gains of 1.60 dB, 1.56 dB, 1.51 dB, and 1.33 dB, respectively, compared with the conventional 8D-16QAM signals when BTB and 5/20/30 km optical signal transmission are performed. The SO-8DTCM-16QAM also achieves an SNR gain of 1.86 dB, 1.75 dB, and 1.22 dB at a net transmission rate of 14/21/28 GBaud. In addition, the SO-8DTCM-16/32/64QAM achieves an SNR gain of 1.27 dB, 0.80 dB, and 1.24 dB, respectively, when compared with the unoptimized 8DTCM-16/32/64QAM. Meanwhile, the proposed eight-subset SO-8DTCM-QAM scheme reduces the complexity of the decoding computation in the subset selection part and the constellation point selection part by 93.75% and 50%, respectively, compared with the unoptimized eight-subset and four-subset 8DTCM-QAM schemes. It can be seen that the proposed scheme simultaneously optimizes the transmission performance and complexity of high-speed optical communication systems and has practical application value.