Design of MLSD-Based Receivers for Short-Range Optical Communications Using the Volterra Expansion

Abstract: Maximum Likelihood Sequence Detectors (MLSD) have been largely used to mitigate the Chromatic Dispersion (CD) in Intensity Modulation/Direct Detection (IM/DD) optical communication systems. For practical applications, the high complexity of the receivers remains an important issue. In this paper, we analyze the design of MLSD-based receivers using the Orthogonal Volterra Kernel Model for IM/DD optical communication systems in Metro Optical applications. We discuss the impact in complexity and performance of the main parameters of the model and provide three design options for the MLSDbased receiver. Finally we provide numerical simulations showing the Bit Error Rate (BER) performances of the three considered designs for both On-Off Keying (OOK) and higher order Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM).