All-Optical QPSK Pattern Recognition in High-Speed Optoelectronic Firewalls

In the 5G era, more sensitive information will be transmitted on optical networks. Although modern cryptography could support different security mechanisms in different layers, the optical layer has not been paid enough attention but it is also vulnerable to attack by tapping or other methods. The optoelectronic firewall is one of the promising security strategies which can accelerate the operating speed within manageable costs by employing optical signal processing compared with current electronic firewalls. The most significant and challenging component of an optoelectronic firewall is pattern recognition. However, either the latest pattern recognition systems can only process the OOK or BPSK modulation format signals, or the coherent correlators supporting higher order modulation format require advanced components to deal with a higher number of symbols. In this paper, to address the pattern recognition challenges, we propose, analyze and simulate a pattern recognition system of QPSK signals integrated into all-optical high-speed optoelectronic firewalls used for optical layer security. The numerical simulation results first demonstrate the feasibility, and a baud rate of 100GBaud can be achieved. Next, a threshold-setting method is developed which also proves the ability to recognize arbitrary target patterns. Then some noise analysis results demonstrate that the pattern recognition of the I branch can be immune to the noise while the output power of EDFAs in the Q branch needs to be configured carefully. Finally, the matched result of a real Ethernet frame further reveals that our proposed system is promisingly applied in optoelectronic firewalls.