ECOC Technical Digest 2011 OSA

Mitigation of Intra-Channel Nonlinearities Using a

Frequency-Domain Volterra Series Equalizer
Fernando P. Guiomar(1) , Jacklyn D. Reis(1) , Antnio L. Teixeira(1),(2) and Armando N.
Pinto(1)
(1) Department

of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, University of Aveiro and Instituto de

Telecomunicaes, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal
(2) Nokia Siemens Networks Portugal S.A., IE WSM, 2720-093 Amadora, Portugal
guiomar@av.it.pt

Abstract: We apply a frequency-domain Volterra series nonlinear equalizer to a 20 Gbaud

NRZ-QPSK signal propagated over 1600 km. Using 2 samples/symbol we obtain a 2 dB
improvement on the nonlinear tolerance over backward propagation split-step Fourier method.
OCIS codes: (060.2330) Fiber optics communications; (060.1660) Coherent communications.

1.

Introduction

The need to optimize the fiber capacity is pushing signal transmission to the nonlinear regime. Therefore, digital postcompensation of nonlinear impairments in high-speed optical networks is currently attracting an increasingly attention.
In 2008, universal digital post-compensation of fiber impairments was proposed for the first time, using a backward
propagation split-step Fourier (BP-SSF) method [1]. Despite of its compensation performance, this iterative technique
requires high computational power and imposes to jointly compensate linear and nonlinear impairments.
Volterra-series expansion is a powerful tool for the analysis of time-invariant nonlinear systems. Nonlinear electrical
equalizers based on time-domain Volterra series have been proposed for coherent optical systems [2, 3]. It has been
shown that its accuracy can be comparable to a single-step BP-SSF, if sufficient delay taps are used [2]. However, this
time-domain approach is referred to still require one order of magnitude more computations than a single-step BPSSF [2]. Besides, the absence of an analytical description requires Volterra kernels to be determined adaptively using
training bit sequences [2, 3]. In [4], a frequency-domain Volterra series transfer function (VSTF) was derived from the
NLS equation for single-mode fibers. The VSTF can be seen as a sum of independent transfer functions accounting
for linear and nonlinear effects. For coherent optical systems, VSTF has been assessed within the scope of the design
and analysis of optical links, where it has been shown to be comparable in accuracy with an SSF method [5].
Exploiting the third-order nonlinear transfer function provided by the VSTF, in this work we derive and numerically
implement a frequency-domain Volterra series nonlinear equalizer (FD-VSNE) for the mitigation of intra-channel
nonlinearities. Using 2 samples per symbol, a 2 dB improvement on the nonlinear tolerance is obtained over
the maximum BP-SSF performance, simultaneously providing a more efficient and flexible way of compensating
nonlinearities.
2.

Frequency-Domain Volterra Series Nonlinear Equalizer

The VSTF derived in [4] models signal propagation in fiber including nonlinearities up to its highest order kernel.
By taking the inverse transfer function, we may describe the reverse signal propagation in fiber through a backward
propagation VSTF (BP-VSTF) [6]. Since BP-VSTF is composed by a sum of independent contributions for linear
and nonlinear effects, we can easily derive a closed-form FD-VSNE, whose impulse response inverts the third-order

nonlinearities in fiber. Taking an NFFT -length fast Fourier transform (FFT) of the received signal, A(,
z), we may

obtain the nonlinear equalized optical spectrum, ANL (, 0), applying the transfer function
A NL (n , 0) =

NFFT NFFT

n , z)A (n , z)A(
n n + n , z),
H3 (n1 , n2 , n n1 + n2 , z)A(
1
2
1
2

(1)

n2 =1 n1 =1
0

over each one of the NFFT points. H3 (n1 , n2 , n n1 + n2 , z) is the inverse third-order nonlinear kernel, obtained
from its forward propagation version derived in [4], but with the opposite sign fiber parameters (,2 and ).
It is well known that the VSTF method has serious energy divergence problems when the input power is relatively
high, limiting its practical application. In order to solve this issue, a modified VSTF (MVSTF) method is presented
in [7], based on a phase correction of the output optical field. A similar strategy can be employed to enhance the
applicability of the nonlinear equalizer here derived, extending the power range for equalization.

978-1-55752-932-9/11/$26.00 Optical Society of America

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ECOC Technical Digest 2011 OSA

3.

Results and Discussion

We have used the symmetric SSF method with very high temporal and spatial resolution to emulate the propagation of
a 20 Gbaud NRZ-QPSK signal over 20 80 km of both standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) and non-zero dispersion
shifted fiber (NZDSF). At the end of each fiber span we employed optical amplification with ideal gain coefficient
and a 5 dB noise figure. Both transmitter and local oscillator lasers intensity and phase noise are neglected. The
90 degree optical hybrid and the pair of balanced photodiodes are assumed to perform optical-to-electrical downconversion without distorting the received signal. The SSMF was set with an attenuation of = 0.2 dB/km, group
velocity dispersion of 2 = 20.4 ps2 /km and Kerr coefficient of = 1.3 W1 km1 . In turn, for the NZDSF
we have = 0.2 dB/km, 2 = 6.0 ps2 /km and = 1.5 W1 km1 . As a figure of merit for compensation
performance we use the error vector magnitude (EVM) percentage relatively to optimal constellation, defined as

1/2
EVM = |Ac Atx |2 / |Atx |2
, where Atx and Ac are respectively the transmitted and compensated optical fields.
After coherent detection the baseband signal is passed through third order low-pass Butterworth filters with cutoff
frequency at 80% of the symbol rate, in order to filter the out-of-band ASE noise and reduce the aliasing effects due
to downsampling. Finally, digital post-compensation is performed with a variety of methods in order to analyze and
compare performances. Linear equalization is performed with a frequency-domain chromatic dispersion equalizer
(FD-CDE). Full compensation of linear and nonlinear impairments is achieved by BP-SSF and by FD-CDE in
conjunction with FD-VSNE. We denote BP-SSF with Nsteps steps per fiber span as BP-SSFNsteps .
30

CDE
BP-SSF1

30

(a)

25

BP-SSF2

20

BP-SSF8

EVM [%]

EVM [%]

25

SSMF, Nsp=3

BP-SSF64

15

CDE+VSNE

10

15

SSMF, Nsp=2

(b)

BP-SSF2
BP-SSF8
BP-SSF64
CDE+VSNE

10
5

5
-6

-4

-2
0
2
Input Power [dBm]

40
35
30
25

BP-SSF64 (Nsp=3)

NZDSF, Nsp=2

-8

(c)

-6

-4

-2
0
2
Input Power [dBm]

(d)

60

BP-SSF64 (Nsp=2)

NZDSF (Nsp=2)
NZDSF (Nsp=3)

CDE+VSNE (Nsp=3)
CDE+VSNE (Nsp=2)

EVM [%]

-8

EVM [%]

20

CDE
BP-SSF1

20
15
10

SSMF (Nsp=2)

40

SSMF (Nsp=3)

20

5
-8

-6

-4

-2
0
2
Input Power [dBm]

0
64

128

256
512
FFT Block-Size

1024

2048

Fig. 1: Equalization results (in terms of EVM) obtained for 20 Gbaud NRZ-QPSK signal transmitted over 20 80 km. a) SSMF
link with Nsp = 3; b) SSMF link with Nsp = 2; c) NZDSF link; d) FFT block-size versus EVM (4 dBm input power).

In Fig. 1(a) we present the obtained results in an SSMF link, taking 3 samples per symbol (Nsp =3) for digital postcompensation. From the obtained results we may conclude that BP-SSF reaches its performance limit at approximately
8 steps per span. This happens because the low temporal resolution sets an upper limit for compensation performance,
above which increasing the spatial resolution becomes useless. We also observe that, due to the high level of
accumulated dispersion on the system, BP-SSF1 is based on a poor estimation of the power profile along the link,
and thus it only provides small performance improvement relatively to FD-CDE. On its turn, despite of being a thirdorder approximation, FD-VSNE only depends on temporal resolution. Therefore, its implementation at 3 samples per
symbol in conjunction with linear equalization is able to reach approximately the same performance of an heavily
iterative BP-SSF method. Furthermore, when only 2 samples per symbol are taken (see Fig. 1(b)) we observe a

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ECOC Technical Digest 2011 OSA

significative degradation of performance in BP-SSF, leading to a 2 dB improvement on the nonlinear tolerance of

FD-CDE + FD-VSNE over BP-SSF64 (considering the 10% EVM limit). The degradation of performance experienced
by the BP-SSF method at 2 samples per symbol is due to the aliasing components generated by the time-domain
implementation of the nonlinear operator, which is subsequently transposed to frequency-domain. On the contrary,
since both FD-CDE and FD-VSNE are entirely implemented in frequency-domain, this aliasing phenomenon does not
take place. Replacing the SSMF link by a NZDSF link (see Fig. 1(c)) we are able to draw similar conclusions, despite
of a degradation of performance due to stronger nonlinear effects. Nevertheless, we must emphasize that, even with
much stronger nonlinearities, the FD-VSNE is still able to obtain similar performance to the best BP-SSF at 3 samples
per symbol, maintaining a 2 dB improvement on the nonlinear tolerance at 2 samples per symbol.
Numerical complexity is a major concern for the design of digital post-compensation methods. The FD-VSNE
2
complexity evolves with O(NFFT
) [4], where NFFT is the FFT block-size, while BP-SSF complexity is of the order of
O (Nstep NFFT log2 (NFFT )). We must also consider that NFFT = Nsym Nsp , where Nsym is the total number of symbols
fed to each FFT block. If the FFT block-size is kept small enough, the computational load of FD-VSNE can be smaller
than that of BP-SSF. However, since the number of computations in FD-VSNE increases quadratically with NFFT , the
FFT block-size becomes critical. Using an overlap-and-save strategy we have determined the minimum FFT blocksize required for an accurate compensation with FD-VSNE, which is shown in Fig. 1(d). As we can see, the minimum
FFT block-size is essentially determined by the accumulated dispersion on the link, which causes spectral broadening.
Besides, an higher number of samples per symbol implies larger FFT block-size. The minimum value of 128 samples
per FFT was obtained for the 20 80 km NZDSF system with 2 samples per symbol. In contrast, the same SSMF
system requires 512 samples per FFT, implying a 16 times higher computational load. Deeper investigations on the
numerical complexity may be carried on to further diminish the overall computational effort of the method. Reducing
the spectral width where FD-VSNE is applied or pruning less significative Volterra terms are possible solutions.
Nevertheless, besides its high degree of performance, FD-VSNE presents the key advantage of providing a much
more flexible nonlinear compensation, since linear and nonlinear equalization can be separately implemented. This
enables the receiver to easily trade off performance for computational load.
4.

Conclusions

We have presented a closed-form intra-channel nonlinear equalizer based on a third-order inverse modified
Volterra series transfer function. Frequency-domain implementation avoids aliasing phenomena, rendering nonlinear
equalization feasible at 2 samples per symbol. The simulation results for a 20 Gbaud NRZ-QPSK signal propagated
over 20 80 km of SSMF and NZDSF links show an improvement of approximately 2 dB on the nonlinear tolerance,
2
relatively to an highly iterative symmetric BP-SSF method. With numerical complexity proportional to NFFT
, low
computational effort can be achieved by the use of reduced FFT block-sizes. The frequency-domain Volterra series
nonlinear equalizer proved to attain an high performance level, simultaneously providing a more flexible way of
mitigating nonlinearities, since nonlinear equalization can be implemented as an add-on in the compensation module.
This work was partially supported by PT Inovao, SA through the projects PosDig and AdaptDig, and by the European
Union within the EURO-FOS project, a Network of Excellence funded by the EU 7th ICT-Framework Programme.

References
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[2] Y. Gao, F. Zgang, L. Dou, Z. Chen, and A. Xu, Intra-channel nonlinearities mitigation in pseudo-linear coherent QPSK
transmission systems via nonlinear electrical equalizer, Opt. Commun., vol. 282, pp. 24212425, 2009.
[3] Z. Pan, B. Chtelain, M. Chagnon, and D. V. Plant, Volterra filtering for nonlinearity impairment mitigation in DP-16QAM
and DP-QPSK fiber optic communication systems, in OSA/OFC/NFOEC, 2011.
[4] K. Peddanarappagari and M. Brandt-Pearce, Volterra series transfer function of single-mode fibers, J. Lightw. Technol.,
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[5] J. D. Reis and A. L. Teixeira, Unveiling nonlinear effects in dense coherent optical WDM systems with Volterra series, Opt.
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[7] B. Xu and M. Brandt-Pearce, Modified volterra series transfer function method, IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 14, no. 1,
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