First field trial for Nokia’s PSE 3 DSP technology

Technologies and Products

In preparation for the roll-out of its state-of-the-art Bavarian WDM network, German operator M-net has become the first carrier to trial Nokia’s Photonic Service Engine 3 (PSE 3) coherent digital signal processing technology. The PSE-3 is the first DSP to implement probabilistic constellation shaping (PCS), a complex signal processing technique pioneered by Bell Labs which finely adjusts the optical signal to maximise the data-carrying capacity of an optical fibre over any distance.

M-net successfully transmitted 500G per wavelength over a deployed regional network, utilising PCS to shape the signal from its maximum capacity of 600G to a rate optimised for the specific fibre route used in the test. This high level of performance and flexibility enables M-net to maximise the capacity of every network fibre, ensuring their backbone will meet the demands of soaring video traffic and 5G mobile broadband.

Dr. Hermann Rodler, CTO at M-net, said, “This field trial clearly underlines the innovative strength of M-net. We are very proud to collaborate with Nokia to push the technology envelope on our state-of-the-art fibre-optic network, and to be the first carrier to publicly test the PSE-3 and its probabilistic constellation shaping technology.”

Sam Bucci, head of optical networking at Nokia, said, “We’re excited to partner with M-net on the implementation of its new fibre optic backbone network. The Technical University of Munich played a key role in the development of PCS, and the PSE-3 was largely developed at Nokia’s R&D facility in Nuremberg, so it’s only appropriate that the first field trial of PSE-3 technology would take place in Bavaria.”

In an exclusive interview with Optical Connections magazine, Bucci said of PCE 3, “We now have a solution where we pick one modulation scheme and then through PCS we are able to shape the constellation that contains the data to best fit the application that’s required in a link. We are able to do so right up against the Shannon Limit, so we maximise capacity and performance with PCS. It’s not just that we’re doubling the capacity, we’re making it truly automated and very simple to operate. No more guesswork about which modulation scheme to use.”

For more information, visit www.nokia.com