Modeling EDFA Gain: Approaches and Challenges

With the rapid development of virtual/augmented reality and cloud services, the capacity demand for optical communication systems is ever-increasing. To further increase system capacity, current researches focus on efficient and reliable system management, in which the transmission performance should be accurately estimated. The wavelength-dependent gain effects of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) have a great impact on transmission performance, and therefore a precise EDFA gain model is required. In this paper, we firstly summarize the underlying principles and structures of EDFA, and introduce the gain performance and challenges in modeling. Then, we review the EDFA gain modeling methods. We categorize these researches into analytical modeling methods and machine learning (ML)-based modeling methods, and discuss their feasibilities and performances. In addition, we discuss the remaining problems for applying the models in a system and the possible directions for future investigations.