Code division multiple-access techniques in optical fiber networks. I. Fundamental principles

An examination is made of fiber-optic code-division multiple-access (FO-CDMA), a technique in which low information data rates are mapped into very-high-rate address codes (signature sequences) for the purpose of achieving random, asynchronous communications free of network control, among many users. The need for a special class of signature sequences to achieve the multiple-access capability using fiber-optic signal processing techniques is discussed. A class of signature sequences called optical orthogonal codes (OOCs) that provide the auto- and cross-correlation properties required for FO-CDMA is introduced and used in an experiment to show the principles of FO-CDMA. The experiment demonstrates the auto- and cross-correlation properties of the codes. The concept of optical disk patterns, an equivalent way of representing the OOCs, is introduced. The patterns are used to derive the probability density functions associated with any two interfering OOCs. A detailed study of different interference patterns is presented, and the strongest and the weakest interference patterns are determined