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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - QAMeleon (Sliceable multi-QAM format SDN-powered transponders and ROADMs Enabling Elastic Optical Networks)

Teaser

Summary

\"Telecom operators struggle to keep pace with the soaring, increasingly volatile traffic traversing their networks. New video services are setting busy-hour internet on a steep growth curve reaching 36% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), vastly outpacing average traffic that rides on a hefty 25% CAGR. While component and system vendors are well underway with the development of their 64 Gbaud portfolio to meet this skyrocketing demand, the enabling technologies to shift to the next gear of 128 Gbaud are urgently being sought. Meanwhile, telcos grapple with reduced profitability and suppressed margins, as end users demand higher bandwidth and better Quality-of-Service at the same price, requiring new concepts to make networks more efficient and dynamic.
QAMeleon\'s vision is 4-fold: a) to scale the capacity of metro and core optical networks to the terabit per wavelength range, b) to improve utilization of resources based on the generation of multiple optical flows using flexible optical transponders, c) to enhance spectral efficiency via the use of novel modulation schemes and d) to automate the network via efficient control and network orchestration based on Software Defined Networking (SDN).
In order to accomplish its vision, QAMeleon has the following technological objectives:
1. To develop value-added transceiver components enabling the switch to 128 Gbaud: high bandwidth (>70 GHz) IQ Mach Zehnder (MZ) Modulators, 100 GHz coherent receivers and monolithic narrow linewidth lasers (NLLs) (<100 KHz).
2. To exploit the analog signal interleaving concept and to develop >100 GHz digital and analog electronics ICs creating synergies between high speed InP-HBT and high resolution SiGe BiCMOS technologies.
3. To develop ultra-fast, energy-efficient and scalable optical switching platform (polarization insensitive semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) & polarization insensitive arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs)) and to combine it with a low-loss electro-optical circuit board (EOPCB) for the development of a compact 1x4 wavelength selective switch (WSS) targeting low latency applications.
4. To combine InP photonic-integrated-circuits (PICs) (waveguide front-ends, multicast switches and polarization combiners/splitters) with Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) technologies towards shrinking WSS footprint and scaling the number of I/O ports and to develop a 1x24 hybrid WSS and a 8x24 transponder aggregator (TPA).
5. To develop the building blocks throughout the SDN hierarchy (SDN agents, extensions to the SBI protocol, SDN controller pluggins and SDN controller applications) for interfacing the developed optical components and subsystems with the SDN control plane.
6. To integrate its developed components into functional subsystems and to validate them into scalable lab and field trial demonstrators: QAMeleon will deliver a sliceable bandwidth-variable transponder (S-BVT) \"\"white-box\"\" demonstrator operating up to 3Tb/s, a flexible Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) \"\"white-box\"\" for metro-access applications empowered by the fast 1x4 WSS and, two flexGrid and high-port count ROADM \"\"white-boxes\"\" for metro/long haul networks incorporating the 1x24 WSS and 8x24 TPA switching engines, respectively.\"

Work performed

During Period 1, the componentsâ€™ specifications for QAMeleon transmitter and receiver modules and their associated optical and electrical interfaces were defined which led to the definition of the assembly methodology and the start of preliminary RF package simulations. Significant progress was achieved in the technology development for the high speed MZ modulators and first designs based on the optimized NPIN heterostructure are currently in the fab. The first coherent receiver wafers are currently being processed. Regarding the 1st generation of electronics ICs, the SiGe interleaver chips were fabricated showing good operation at 100 Gbaud operation, and the SiGe Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) was taped out and it is currently in the fab. The first test chip family of Tx and Rx InP DHBTs has been fabricated, among which a linear driver exhibiting 5-Vpp_diff output swing in PAM4 at 50GBd, as well as a 1-Vpp_diff analog multiplexer @ 70 GBd, with promising characteristics at 100 GBd. Finally, the first generation of NLLs has been developed with linewidth below 120 kHz. Tx component modeling was carried out to investigate the very critical interfaces of the InP HBT linear driver and the InP modulator.
Furthermore, the initial component specifications for the WSS and TPA modules were defined and the assembly methodology of the InP PICs to the polymer EOCB was outlined based on two flip-chip options. The two options are being evaluated based on independent assembly tests for mechanical stability, optical and electrical connectivity and thermal behavior. Various test structures of InP chips including polarization insensitive devices recently came out of the fab pending component characterization. The 1st generation of EOPCBs is available for assembly tests. Extensive simulations have been performed regarding the optical interfaces for the hybrid WSS components and free space optics that led to the tape out of InP WFEs. Finally, component simulations were carried out providing feedback to component design activities.
Finally, the Use Cases for QAMeleon S-BVT and ROADM modules were defined and translated in system requirements. The SDN architecture, its components and the overlying applications of the SDN controller were outlined and the design of the SDN agents and their northbound and southbound interfaces were defined. The reconfigurable optical parameters resulted in the development of preliminary YANG models for the description of QAMeleon modules. The DSP algorithms for novel modulation schemes which are investigated for QAMeleon Use Cases like probabilistically shaped m-QAM signals were developed and they are continuously updated. A first set of system simulations were performed. An early experiment was carried out in late May 2019.

Final results

QAMelonâ€™s industry-driven consortium expands along the entire value chain and aims to foster the projectâ€™s carefully selected set of innovations into tangible market outcomes. Driven by user needs, the project aims to bridge innovative research in optical networking with near-market exploitation, achieving transformational impact in energy consumption and cost/bit. At the transponder side, QAMeleon will develop transceiver components enabling the switch to 128 Gbaud and at the same time bringing significant savings in footprint (>13Ã—), energy/bit (10.4Ã—) and cost/bit (>4.3Ã—). At the ROADM side, QAMeleon will develop large-scale flex-grid wavelength-selective switches (1Ã—24 WSS) and transponder aggregators (8Ã—24 TPA), reducing footprint and cost/port by more than 40% and 28% respectively, with energy savings per ROADM node reaching 4Ã—. Taking a leap beyond current technologies, the 1Ã—4 WSS will enable savings in footprint, energy consumption and cost by 20Ã—, 11.5Ã— and 36% respectively.
The consortium partners monitor industrial trends and technology standards and perform market analysis to align their exploitation strategies. The work within the project has already yielded tangible impact for QAMeleon partners. IMEC submitted a patent on Analog Interleavers. VPI added new modules and application examples in VPIphotonics Design Suite.