As part of this project, Optoscribe's FIFO (Fan-In/Fan-Out) devices are being converted between standard single-mode multiple fibers (SMF) and Sumitomo Electric's MCFs. Using MCFs can dramatically increase the amount of data transferred over optical fiber while minimizing space. More than 6 kilometers of MCF cable have been installed, most of which is located in a walkable, multi-service underground tunnel as part of an optical ring, the experimental optical network for INCIPICT (Innovating City Planning through Information and Communications Technologies), which was led by the University of L'Aquila and funded by the Italian government.
The MCF testbed will be used to host a wide range of R&D activities in the broad field of optical communications, and specifically in the area of SDM transmission via MCFs. This includes testing devices, transmissions, and software-defined networks, also in conjunction with the ongoing 5G trial. L'Aquila is one of five Italian towns selected to test 5G technologies. The testbed will serve to evaluate the problems and requirements of MCFs installed in real-world settings, thus contributing to the development of SDM transmission systems.
1 Multi-core fiber (MCF) is an optical fiber with multiple cores in a glass cladding and is considered one of the most promising space-division multiplexed (SDM) transmission technologies to overcome the limitations of conventional single-core fiber communication systems.
2 Space-division multiplexed (SDM) transmission is a transmission method for multiplexing signals using multiple spatial channels in optical fiber. Several fiber structures have been proposed for this purpose, including multi-mode fibers (MCFs), where the fiber cores are used as spatial channels, and some multi-mode fibers (FMFs), where the fiber modes are used as spatial channels.
