Polarization-multiplexed rate-adaptive non-binary-quasi-cyclic-LDPC-coded multilevel modulation with coherent detection for optical transport networks

In order to achieve high-speed transmission over optical transport networks (OTNs) and maximize its throughput, we propose using a rate-adaptive polarization-multiplexed coded multilevel modulation with coherent detection based on component non-binary quasi-cyclic (QC) LDPC codes. Compared to prior-art bit-interleaved LDPC-coded modulation (BI-LDPC-CM) scheme, the proposed non-binary LDPC-coded modulation (NB-LDPC-CM) scheme not only reduces latency due to symbol- instead of bit-level processing but also provides either impressive reduction in computational complexity or striking improvements in coding gain depending on the constellation size. As the paper presents, compared to its prior-art binary counterpart, the proposed NB-LDPC-CM scheme addresses the needs of future OTNs, which are achieving the target BER performance and providing maximum possible throughput both over the entire lifetime of the OTN, better.