Neural-Network-Aided Supermode Basis Tracking for Feedforward Equalization in Strongly Coupled Multicore Fibers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4302/plp.v18i3.1392Abstract
Environmental perturbations make the supermode basis of strongly coupled multicore fibers (SC-MCFs) drift in time, so that a receiver relying on a fixed basis suffers from inter-supermode crosstalk. We propose a feedforward receiver in which a small multilayer perceptron refines short sequences of pilot-based least-squares estimates of the channel unitary, and the refined estimate rotates the received core signals back into the supermode domain once per frame. In simulations of a six-core SC-MCF carrying 16-QAM, the tracker reduces the basis-estimation error by 2.3 dB with respect to pilot-only estimation, gains about 0.5 dB in required signal-to-noise ratio and extends the reach at the hard-decision FEC limit from 1480 to 1635 km. It remains within 0.5 dB of an adaptive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) equalizer while avoiding its symbol-rate update loop.
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