The Evolution of Optical OFDM

Optical Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (O-OFDM) is eminently suitable for mitigating the multi-path and chromatic dispersion in both Visible Light Communications (VLC) and Optical Fiber Communications. We commence our discourse by surveying the conception and historic evolution of O-OFDM designed for both VLC and optical fiber, culminating in the birth of its most flexible design alternative, namely Layered Asymmetrically Clipped Optical OFDM (LACO-OFDM). We demonstrate that it is eminently suitable for intensity-modulation and direct-detection aided optical communication systems and characterize its design flexibility. It is also shown that given its flexibility, it subsumes a wide range of optical OFDM schemes conceived over the past two decades or so. The LACO-OFDM transmitter and receiver designs strike a compelling compromise between the features of the popular Asymmetrically Clipped Optical OFDM (ACO-OFDM) and Direct Current Offset OFDM (DCO-OFDM). The pivotal role of forward error correction (FEC) designs is also surveyed with the objective of striking a coding gain versus complexity trade-off. We conclude by highlighting a suite of promising techniques capable of further improving the system performance, but require further research. The take-away message of the paper crystallized in the associated design guidelines.