During May 9 - 11, "Optical Fiber Changes the Word & 50 Anniversary of the Invention of Optical Fiber" was marked in Beijing, cosponsored by China Society for Optical Engineering and the Optical Society of America (OSA). Many industry veterans attended this event, including "the Father of Optical Fiber in China" Zhao Zisen.
After over 20 years' hard struggle, Chinese optical fiber manufacturers have mastered core technologies in optical wand - optical fiber - optical cable manufacturing and accounted for half of the global market share.
400G network needs a new generation of optical fiber, while ultra-low-loss, large-effective-area optical fiber and new type optical cable have become industry hotspots. During this convention, the "Preparing 400G - New Fiber Optic Cable Technology and Industrial Application Forum" (hereinafter referred to as 400G Fiber Forum) was held successfully, which interpreted in detail properties of the new generation optical fiber and application prospects in the existing networks.
Wang Guangquan, director of Network Technology Research Department of China Unicom Network Technology Research Institute pointed out at the 400G Fiber Forum that CD/PMD is no longer main limiting factors in the 100G and beyond-100G era, while nonlinear effect and optical attenuation will become dominant factors effecting transmission performances of the system. How to balance the spectrum efficiency, transmission distance and system capacity under the Shannon Limit has become the key problem in 400G application deployments.
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In specific, judging from OSNR and FOM, Wang believed that the main means to improve system transmission performances and extend system transmission distance is increasing optical fiber's effective area and reducing fiber attenuation coefficient, which is also the vital development direction of new optical fiber technologies. Among the new optical fibers, large-effective-area optical fiber has been used in the submarine cable communication system.
It is reported that G.654 optical fiber used in the submarine cable communication system includes four subclasses. The industry started discussion on land-suitable G.654E subclass in July 2013, and standards setting is expected to be completed in September 2016 while relevant parties have reached a consensus in MFD, dispersion coefficient, PMD, macro bending, optical cable attenuation coefficient, cutoff wavelength and other parameters according to China Unicom's presentation. In addition, the standardization work that China Unicom led in CCSA at the end of 2015 is expected to be finished in 2017.
As the forerunner of G.654 optical fiber, China Unicom has started live network trials in the primary and secondary backbone networks in Shandong and Xinjiang to assess its transmission performances and environmental adaptability. Dr. Shen Shikui from China Unicom Network Technology Research Institute pointed out that the pilot project is in smooth progress while the cost of laying and maintenance of new type optical fiber has met the requirements of China Unicom, and he remained optimistic about the reduction of manufacturing cost, which is the key to large-scale application of new type optical fiber in existing networks.
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At the 400G Fiber Forum, mainstream optical fiber manufacturers all made speeches, sharing their researches and insights of new type optical fiber, including YOFC, Hengtong, FiberHome, SEFC, ZTT and foreign companies like Corning, Sumitomo. The majority of these manufacturers have participated in the backbone network trials of China Unicom.