LONG-DISTANCE PARALLEL DATA LINK USING WDM TRANSMISSION WITH BIT-SKEWCOMPENSATION

This paper studies the advantages and disadvantages of using a paralle l link based on wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) for long-distan ce data transmission through a single-mode fiber as an alternative to a high-speed serial link. A long-distance optical link operating near the 1.55 mu m or 0.85 mu m wavelength regions suffers the large group- delay dispersion of a standard fiber. On these wavelengths, the skew b etween bit-channels is the major problem for wordwide WDM transmission . We propose a method to compensate for bit skew greater than the bit time, and analyze its performance gain in terms of the increase in the maximum data throughput achievable. With bit-skew compensation, the w ordwide parallel link achieves a maximum aggregate data rate that is g reater than what a serial link can obtain for the same link length.