Advances in local area optical data communication systems

This paper reviews optical fibre technology for local area optical communications systems. Technologies used in local systems include single and multimode fibre, single and multimode lasers, optical modulators, photodetectors, wavelength division multiplexing, multilevel modulation formats, electronic packet switching, electronic equalization and error correction. These methods have enabled the local area optical link data rate to increase from 0.1 Gb s^-1 in 1990 to nearly a Tb s^-1 in 2019. The challenges to increasing link data rates further, while reducing the transmitted power per bit, at reduced cost are discussed. Potential technical solutions and newly proposed methods which might address these challenges are highlighted.