Chromatic dispersion estimator and method for estimating a chromatic dispersion

1. A chromatic dispersion estimator for estimating a chromatic dispersion in an input signal block, the chromatic dispersion estimator comprising:

a transformer for transforming the input signal block into a transformed signal block in frequency domain;

a chromatic dispersion compensator for compensating a certain chromatic dispersion in the transformed signal block to obtain a compensated transformed signal block;

an inverse transformer for inversely transforming the compensated transformed signal block into time domain to obtain an output signal;

an adaptive filter for filtering the output signal to obtain a filtered signal; and

a determiner for determining upon the basis of the filtered signal whether the certain chromatic dispersion corresponds to the chromatic dispersion in the input signal block.

2. The chromatic dispersion estimator of claim 1 , wherein the adaptive filter is configured to repeatedly filter the output signal for adapting filter coefficients towards adapted filter coefficients, and to filter the output signal to obtain a filtered signal using the adapted filter coefficients.

3. The chromatic dispersion estimator of claim 1 , wherein the adaptive filter is configured to adapt filter coefficients upon the basis of a constant modulus algorithm by repeatedly filtering the output signal.

4. The chromatic dispersion estimator of claim 1 , wherein the adaptive filter is a finite impulse response filter.

5. The chromatic dispersion estimator of claim 1 , wherein the determiner is configured to evaluate an amplitude distribution of samples of the filtered signal to determine whether the certain chromatic dispersion corresponds to the chromatic dispersion in the input signal block.

6. The chromatic dispersion estimator of claim 1 , wherein the determiner is configured to determine that the certain chromatic dispersion corresponds to the chromatic dispersion in the input signal block if a number of samples of the filtered signal having an amplitude being within a certain amplitude range, in particular within a circular amplitude range in a complex amplitude plane, is equal to or smaller than a threshold.

7. The chromatic dispersion estimator claim 1 , wherein the determiner is configured to determine that the certain chromatic dispersion corresponds to the chromatic dispersion in the input signal block if a number of samples of the filtered signal having an amplitude within a certain amplitude range, in particular within a circular amplitude range in a complex amplitude plane, is smaller than a number of samples of a previously obtained filtered signal having an amplitude within the certain amplitude range.

8. The chromatic dispersion estimator of claim 1 , wherein the determiner is configured to trigger the chromatic dispersion compensator to compensate a further certain chromatic dispersion in the transformed signal block to obtain a further compensated transformed signal block if the certain chromatic dispersion does not correspond to the chromatic dispersion in the input signal block, wherein the inverse transformer is configured to inversely transform the further compensated transformed signal block into time domain to obtain a further output signal, wherein the adaptive filter is configured to adaptively filter the further output signal to obtain a further filtered signal, and wherein the determiner is configured to determine upon the basis of the further filtered signal whether the further certain chromatic dispersion corresponds to the chromatic dispersion in the input signal block.

9. The chromatic dispersion estimator of claim 1 , wherein the chromatic dispersion compensator is configured to process the transformed signal block using a certain transfer function which is associated with the certain chromatic dispersion.

10. The chromatic dispersion estimator of claim 1 , wherein the chromatic dispersion compensator is configured to compensate a plurality of certain chromatic dispersions in the transformed signal block in order for the determiner to determine, upon the basis of a plurality of corresponding filtered signals provided by the filter, which certain chromatic dispersion of the plurality of certain chromatic dispersions corresponds to the chromatic dispersion in the input signal block.

11. The chromatic dispersion estimator of claim 1 ,

wherein the input signal block includes a first signal block associated with a first optical polarization and a second signal block associated with a second optical polarization;

wherein the transfoti ler is configured to obtain the transformed signal block in frequency domain including a first transformed block associated with the first optical polarization and a second transformed block associated with the second optical polarization;

wherein the chromatic dispersion compensator is configured to obtain the compensated transformed signal block in frequency domain including a first compensated block associated with the first optical polarization and a second compensated block associated with the second optical polarization;

wherein the inverse transformer is configured to obtain the output signal including a first signal associated with the first optical polarization and a second signal associated with the second optical polarization; and

wherein the adaptive filter is configured to filter the first signal and the second signal to obtain the filtered signal being associated with the first optical polarization.

12. The chromatic dispersion estimator of claim 1 , wherein the transformer is a Fourier transformer, and wherein the inverse transformer in an inverse Fourier transformer.

13. The chromatic dispersion estimator of claim 1 , comprising an estimation mode for chromatic dispersion estimation, and a compensation mode for compensating chromatic dispersion in an input signal stream, wherein the chromatic dispersion estimator further comprises an input for receiving the input signal block, and a switch for decoupling the input from the chromatic dispersion compensator in the estimation mode, and for coupling the input to the chromatic dispersion compensator in the compensation mode.

14. A method for estimating a chromatic dispersion in an input signal block, the method comprising:

transforming, by a transformer, an input signal block into a transformed signal block in frequency domain;

compensating, by a chromatic dispersion compensator, a certain chromatic dispersion in the transformed signal block to obtain a compensated transformed signal block;

inversely transforming ,by, an inverse transformer, the compensated transformed signal block into time domain to obtain an output signal;

filtering, by a filter, the output signal to obtain a filtered signal; and

determining, by a determiner, upon the basis of the filtered signal whether the certain chromatic dispersion corresponds to the chromatic dispersion in the input signal block.

15. The method of the preceding claim 14 , wherein filtering the output signal is based on filter coefficients, and wherein the filter coefficients are adjusted adaptively upon the basis of a constant modulus algorithm by repeatedly filtering the output signal.