A novel algorithm to evaluate the Q-Factor of the optical links

Abstract

Q-factor is a practical simulation parameter to estimate the error probability of data signal in optical communication system since it does not require a long bit sequence as in the direct measurement of bit error rate (BER). Under Gaussian statistic assumption, the Q-factor can be translated into BER. This paper presents a novel algorithm to evaluate Q-factor of data signal propagating in fiber optic transmission system. The algorithm is simple and can be easily realized in most programming languages with efficient indexed data container and sorting algorithm. With the rotation technique, the algorithm does not require the information of accumulated dispersion to compensate for the time shift introduced by the moving reference frame mismatch in the simulations of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system, and hence greatly reduces the simulation complexity. This new algorithm is used to predict the error free transmission distance of a hybrid amplified WDM system. The result shows a good agreement between the simulation and experiment. Keywords: Q-factor, optical communication, bit error rate (BER).