equipment. OTDM receivers perform better than ETDM receivers already at data
rates of 80 Gb/s. In this chapter we will show that the OTDM terminal equipment
for 160 Gb/s TDM data transmission provides already very stab le operation con-
ditions. These results suggest that 160 Gb/s OTDM transmission systems can be
used in deployed systems and can be operated error-free for years. ETDM tech-
nology must work hard to compete with these systems for instance as regards
receiver sensitivity. Moreover, it is not sure that ETDM terminal equipment for
160 Gb/s will be less expensive and less energy consuming than the corresponding
OTDM terminal equipment.
The ultimate limits of OTDM transmission technology are not given by the
terminal equipment but by the