Optical Fiber Telecommunications Volume VIB, 6th Edition

Chapter 17

Energy-Efficient Telecommunications

Daniel C. Kilper^{a, 1} and Rodney S. Tucker^{b, 2},    ^aBell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent, USA, ^bCenter for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications, University of Melbourne, Australia, ^[e-mail], ^[e-mail]

17.1 Introduction

Energy has long held a central role in the physics of optical communications and more generally in communication theory. We communicate through symbols that are generated and manipulated using energy to transition physical systems through different energetic states at a cost that is determined by losses to the environment. Information bits in fiber optic systems are conveyed using photons, each carrying an energy equal to the optical frequency times Planck’s ...