Nokia has introduced its new Photonic Service Engine (PSE) 3 chipset family of coherent digital signal processors on the eve of next week's Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) conference.
By implementing probabilistic constellation shaping, a modulation technique pioneered by Nokia Bell Labs, the company claims the PSE-3 chipset can push optical fiber transmission capacity to very near the Shannon limit: the maximum theoretical capacity of a communications channel, defined by Claude Shannon in 1948 while a researcher at Bell Labs.
One of the key elements about the PSE-3 for service providers is its ability to reduce costs over existing fiber networks by shaping the signal to match the characteristics of the fiber.
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PSE-3 generates wavelengths that the vendor says are more resilient to noise and other impairments, increasing capacity up to 65% over currently deployed networks, while also reducing power per bit by 60%.
By building a network with the PSE-3 chipset, a service provider can deploy 35% fewer optical transponders, and by recovering latent capacity in deployed fiber, the PSE-3 extends the life of existing line systems and subsea cables.
Another key focus of the PSE-3 is driving automation on networks deployed with 100G to 600G optical speeds.
"PSE-3 enables network operators to extract maximum spectral efficiency out of their networks,” said Andrew Schmitt, founder and lead analyst at Cignal AI, in a release. “This technology also enhances all distances and applications, which makes it ideal to address the requirements of not only cloud and colocation operators, but also traditional incumbent and cable MSO providers."
By providing what Nokia says is “finely adjustable wavelength capacity” from 100G to 600G with a single, uniform modulation format, baud rate, and channel size, the PSE-3 can achieve two goals for providers: simplify network operations and planning, while greatly facilitating the dynamic operations that enable network operators to deploy new services and lower costs.
Nokia’s PSE-3 will be available across its packet-optical portfolio, including a new version of the 1830 Photonic Service Interconnect, a compact modular WDM platform widely adopted by internet content providers for high-capacity data center interconnect. Based on a modular chassis architecture, the 1830 PSI-M will offer both cost-optimized and high-performance modules utilizing the PSE-3 and will be available in the third quarter.