Patent attributes
Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) techniques for use in optical systems are described. An optical transceiver may include a modulator configured to modulate data according to a scaled set-partitioning QAM (SP-QAM) scheme. The modulator may be configured to receive a plurality of bits, associate the plurality of bits with a plurality of symbols according to the scaled (SP-QAM) scheme; and transmit the plurality of symbols over an optical channel. A demodulator in an optical receiver may receive the plurality of symbols transmitted over the optical channel and associate the received symbols with a plurality of bits according to the scaled (SP-QAM) scheme; and provide the plurality of bits to a forward error correction decoder.