Forward error correction (FEC) enabled photonic integrated circuit (PICs) chips with multiple signal channels

A communication system comprising:

• an optical transmitter having a plurality of channels, wherein a first signal transmitted on a first of the plurality of channels has a first error rate and a second signal transmitted on a second of the plurality of channels has a second error rate;
• an optical receiver configured to receive the first and second signals from the optical transmitter;
• an optical link coupling the optical transmitter and the optical receiver;
• a first forward error correction circuit coupled to the optical transmitter;
• and
• a second forward error correction circuit coupled to the optical receiver, wherein a code gain realized at the receiver from the first channel is used to reduce the second error rate,
• wherein said realized code gain includes successively receiving first, second and third packets, said first and second packets being carried by the first channel and the second packet being carried by the second channel.