Simultaneous Transmission of Photonic Services over One Fiber with an ITU 100 GHz Grid

Abstract

The increasing interest in distributed sensors and the decreasing price of optical components have led to leveraging the use of existing fiber in deployments over optical networks and more application possibilities (from seismic activity measurement to perimeter protection and tunnel fire detection). Because of the possibility of data interference in single fibers, dark fibers are used. On the one hand, optical networks are able to transfer popular services, such as streaming and data transmission, and on the other hand, special advanced services such as an accurate time, a stable frequency, and high-power optical sensor signals can be provided. In our work, we address the simultaneous transmission of an accurate time, 100 G data, and a high-power optical sensor based on Phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometer ( Φ -OTDR). The measurement setup consists of the optical fiber G.652 (7 km), G.653 (7 km), and G.655 (10 km) and a combination of G.652D + G.653 (14 km). Moreover, we also provide results for their combination. The services were transferred in single fiber with an ITU 100 GHz channel spacing grid. We performed a set of measurements with an evaluation of the BER value for data transmission affected by a high-power sensor system and accurate time values. The results confirmed our assumptions that 100 GHz spacing is not large enough, especially with the increasing power level of the sensor system. The main aim of the article is to determine whether data are disturbed with normal 100 GHz channel spacing.