  Wavelength division multiplex (WDM) system with on / off keying (OOK)
modulation and direct detection (DD) is generally simple to implement, less
expensive and energy efficient. The determination of the possible design
capacity limit, in terms of the bit rate-distance product in WDM-OOK-DD systems
is therefore crucial, considering transmitter / receiver simplicity, as well as
energy and cost efficiency. A 32-channel wavelength division multiplex system
is designed and simulated over 1000 km fiber length using Optsim commercial
simulation software. The standard channel spacing of 0.4 nm was used in the
C-band range from 1.5436-1.556 nm. Each channel used the simple non return to
zero - on / off keying (NRZ-OOK) modulation format to modulate a continuous
wave (CW) laser source at 40 Gbps using an external modulator, while the
receiver uses a DD scheme. It is proposed that the design will be suitable for
long haul mobile backbone in a national network, since up to 1.28 Tbps data
rates can be transmitted over 1000 km. A bit rate-length product of 1.28
Pbps.km was obtained as the optimum capacity limit in 32 channel dispersion
managed WDM-OOK-DD system.
