Recent Advances in DSP Techniques for Mode Division Multiplexing Optical Networks with MIMO Equalization: A Review

This paper provides a technical review regarding the latest progress on multi-input multi-output (MIMO) digital signal processing (DSP) equalization techniques for high-capacity fiber-optic communication networks. Space division multiplexing (SDM) technology was initially developed to improve the demanding capacity of optic-interconnect links through mode-division multiplexing (MDM) using few-mode fibers (FMF), or core-multiplexing exploiting multicore fibers (MCF). Primarily, adaptive MIMO filtering techniques were proposed to de-multiplex the signals upon different modes or cores, and to dynamically compensate for the differential mode group delays (DMGD) plus mode-dependent loss (MDL) via DSP. Particularly, the frequency-domain equalization (FDE) techniques suggestively lessen the algorithmic complexity, compared with time-domain equalization (TDE), while holding comparable performance, amongst which the least mean squares (LMS) and recursive least squares (RLS) algorithms are most ubiquitous and, hence, extensively premeditated. In this paper, we not only enclose the state of the art of MIMO equalizers, predominantly focusing on the advantage of implementing the space–time block-coding (STBC)-assisted MIMO technique, but we also cover the performance evaluation for different MIMO-FDE schemes of DMGD and MDL for adaptive coherent receivers. Moreover, the hardware complexity optimization for MIMO-DSP is discussed, and a joint-compensation scheme is deliberated for chromatic dispersion (CD) and DMGD, along with a number of recent experimental demonstrations using MIMO-DSP.