Huawei tests 2Tbps superchannels over Vodafone’s network

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. and mobile operator Vodafone have announced the successful trial of 2-Tbps superchannel optical transmission technologies on Vodafone’s live network. The field trial achieved 2-Tbps transmission over 3,325 km – a capacity 20X higher than current commercially deployed 100-Gbps systems and over an ultra-long-haul distance. The companies believe this marks an important step forward for optical transport technology advances beyond 100G.

In fact, there were two separate experiments. In the first, Huawei employed flex oDSP, super SD-FEC, and flex modulation format, to achieve a transmission distance of 1500 km using a superchannel PDM-16QAM-based high spectral efficiency technology.

The second transmission, over 3325 km, was achieved with a superchannel Nyquist PDM-QPSK-based ultra-long-haul system.

Both experiments took place over a link with G.652 fibers and erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) without electrical regeneration. The links used in the trial were on Vodafone's backbone fiber-optic network, passing through a few cities across middle and south Germany.

"We are at the forefront of global 100G deployments, and have taken the lead in delivering key breakthroughs in technologies beyond 100G. Through collaboration with Vodafone and other leading international operators and customer-centric R&D, Huawei is always ready to build advanced optical networks for customers," said Jack Wang, president of Huawei's transport network product line.

Last year Huawei announced that it had developed flexible grid WDM prototype, a 2-Tbps WDM optical system and a 400G European field trial (see “Huawei touts prototype flexible grid WDM”“Huawei unveils programmable 2-Tbps WDM prototype” and “Huawei flexes high-speed transport muscles in Monaco”). According to Ovum, Huawei ranks No.1 in the WDM/OTN, 40G, 100G, and global optical network markets, as of Q3 2012.

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