Analytical Formulation for SNR Prediction in DMDD OFDM-Based Access Systems

In multicarrier direct modulation direct detection systems, interaction between laser chirp and fiber group velocity dispersion induces subcarrier-to-subcarrier intermixing interferences (SSII) after detection. Such SSII become a major impairment in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing-based access systems, where a high modulation index, leading to large chirp, is required to maximize the system power budget. In this letter, we present and experimentally verify an analytical formulation to predict the level of signal and SSII and estimate the signal to noise ratio of each subcarrier, enabling improved bit-and-power loading and subcarrier attribution. The reported model is compact, and only requires the knowledge of basic link characteristics and laser parameters that can easily be measured.