The evolution of optical OFDM

Zhang, Xiaoyu and Barbar, Zunaira and Petropoulos, Periklis and Haas, Harald and Hanzo, Lajos (2021) The evolution of optical OFDM. IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, 23 (3). pp. 1430-1457. ISSN 1553-877X (https://doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2021.3065907)

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Abstract

Optical Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (O-OFDM) is eminently suitable for mitigating the multi-path and chromatic dispersion in both Visible Light Communications (VLC) and Optical Fiber Communications. We commence our discourse by surveying the conception and historic evolution of O-OFDM designed for both VLC and optical fiber, culminating in the birth of its most flexible design alternative, namely Layered Asymmetrically Clipped Optical OFDM (LACO-OFDM). We demonstrate that it is eminently suitable for intensity-modulation and direct-detection aided optical communication systems and characterize its design flexibility. It is also shown that given its flexibility, it subsumes a wide range of optical OFDM schemes conceived over the past two decades or so. The LACO-OFDM transmitter and receiver designs strike a compelling compromise between the features of the popular Asymmetrically Clipped Optical OFDM (ACO-OFDM) and Direct-Current-biased Optical OFDM (DCO-OFDM). The pivotal role of forward error correction designs is also surveyed with the objective of striking a coding gain versus complexity trade-off. We conclude by highlighting a suite of promising techniques capable of further improving the system performance, but require further research. The take-away message of the paper crystallized in the associated design guidelines.

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