WDM CODING SYSTEM WITH SINGLE PARITY-CHECK CHANNEL

We propose a modified WDM coding system with a single parity-check cha nnel to achieve an efficient and flexible WDM coding system. The syste m provides most of the advantages of the original WDM coding system wi th just one parity-check channel. The bit rate and the data sequences are unaffected by the coding processes, making it very attractive for practical lightwave systems with standard rates. Compared to serial co ding systems, it is able to reduce the number of encoding/decoding pai rs in an m-channel WDM transmission system operated at STS-N from m x N to one. We have evaluated the system performance and analyzed the pe rformance of frame synchronization needed for the modified WDM coding system. An example shows that the WDM coding can reduce the error floo r of a four-channel dispersion-limited WDM system from 10(-10) to 10(- 19) with reliable frame synchronization.