Low cost eye diagram reconstruction and morphological analysis for optical network performance monitoring using digital signal processing techniques

This paper describes the use of a low cost eye diagram reconstruction method, based on digital signal processing techniques, for optical communication network performance monitoring by means of bit error rate (BER) estimation through Gaussian fitting Q-Factor calculation. A morphological analysis of the reconstructed eye diagram is also proposed, which allows for the qualitative investigation of impairments such as amplitude and phase noise as well as signal distortion due to linear and non-linear effects. A complete Eye Diagram Analyzer equipment prototype transparent to signal bit rate was developed and constructed to validate the proposal.