Modeling in-band crosstalk in WDM optical networks

A comparison among three different in-band crosstalk models is reported. The error induced by approximating the crosstalk as a noise term is small in all the situations in which crosstalk does not prevent a correct system working if the real shape of the interfering spectrum is reproduced. If the crosstalk is simulated as a white noise, the approximation error is small only if the crosstalk induced penalty is quite low or if the overall optical channel bandwidth is of the order of the bit rate.