Studies of Design for 1.55 μm Optical Fiber Submarine Cable Systems

This paper describes the feasibility study of the next generation optical fiber submarine cable system employing DFB-LD or FP-LD in 1.55 urn wavelength region. We discuss the factors which determine the system loss budget such as power penalties due to the characteristics of laser diodes, receiver sensitivities, and loss and dispersion characteristics of single-mode fibers in systems with bit rates of 140 Mbit/s, 280 Mbit/s, and 565 Mbit/s. Based on the design examples the system employing DFB-LD will offer a 10-15% longer repeater spacing, compared with the system employing FP-LD.