Use of pseudo-error monitoring schemes in optical communications

Pseudo-error monitoring is becoming a popular technique for on-line error monitoring in digital communication systems. However, optical communication systems are significantly different from other digital communication systems in that they exhibit signal-dependent noise. In this paper we examine in detail the theory of pseudo-error monitoring in optical communication systems and prove that minimising the pseudoerror rate can, under certain circumstances, result in a minimum in the bit error rate of an optical communication system.