To deal with the challenging requirements of metropolitan area networks (MANs), it is essential to design cost-effective systems that can support high capacity and dynamic adaptation, as well as a synergy of programmability and efficient photonic technologies. This becomes crucial for very large MANs that support 5G, where multihop connections will need to be dynamically established at target capacities beyond Tb/s. Programmability, automation, and modularity of network elements are key desired features. In this work, a modular photonic system, programmable via a software-defined networking platform, designed for dynamic 5G-supportive MANs, is described and analyzed. We consider modular sliceable bandwidth/bit rate variable transceivers (S-BVTs) based on vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology and dense photonic integration. The proposed system and its programmability are experimentally assessed using a VCSEL with 10 GHz bandwidth. The experiments are performed over connections as long as six-hop and 160 km, from low-level aggregation nodes to metro-core nodes, thereby enabling IP off-loading. Furthermore, a numerical model is derived to estimate the performance when adopting higher bandwidth VCSELs (${\ge} {18}\;{\rm GHz}$≥18GHz) and integrated coherent receivers, as targeted in the proposed system. The analysis is performed for both 50 GHz and 25 GHz granularities. In the former case, 50 Gb/s capacity per flow can be supported over the targeted connections, for optical signal-to-noise ratio values above 26 dB. When the granularity is 25 GHz, the filter narrowing effect severely impacts the performance. Nevertheless, 1.2 Tb/s capacity (scalable to higher values if spectral/spatial dimensions are exploited) can be achieved when configuring the S-BVT to enable 40 VCSEL flows. This confirms that the system is promising to support Tb/s connections in future agile MANs.

中文翻译：

---

用于未来敏捷Tb / s城域网的基于VCSEL的可编程光子系统架构

为了应对城域网（MAN）的挑战性需求，设计经济高效的系统至关重要，该系统可以支持高容量和动态适应，以及可编程性和高效光子技术的协同作用。对于支持5G的超大型MAN来说，这至关重要，因为后者需要以超过Tb / s的目标容量动态建立多跳连接。网络元素的可编程性，自动化和模块化是关键的期望功能。在这项工作中，描述并分析了可通过软件定义的网络平台进行编程的模块化光子系统，该系统设计用于支持5G的动态城域网。我们考虑基于垂直腔面发射激光器（VCSEL）技术和密集光子集成的模块化可切片带宽/比特率可变收发器（S-BVT）。使用具有10 GHz带宽的VCSEL对所提出的系统及其可编程性进行了实验评估。这些实验是在从底层聚合节点到城域核心节点的长达六跳和160 km的连接上进行的，从而实现IP卸载。此外，推导了一个数值模型，以评估采用较高带宽的VCSEL（$ {\ ge} {18} \; {\ rm GHz} $≥18GHz）和集成相干接收机时的性能，这是该系统的目标。针对50 GHz和25 GHz粒度执行分析。在前一种情况下，对于超过26 dB的光信噪比值，可以在目标连接上支持每流50 Gb / s的容量。当粒度为25 GHz时，滤波器的缩窄效果会严重影响性能。但是1。配置S-BVT以支持40条VCSEL流时，可以实现2 Tb / s的容量（如果利用频谱/空间尺寸，则可以扩展到更高的值）。这证实了该系统有望在未来的敏捷城域网中支持Tb / s连接。