SUMMARYA receiver based on the parallel cancellation of multiple access interference by bias compensation is considered here for a direct sequence unipolar optical code division multiple access (DS-OCDMA) system. It relies on the estimation of interferences from undesired users, the regeneration of interfering signals at the output of first canceller stage and their substraction from the received signal after amplification by a bias compensation factor in the second stage. The performance of such a technique is analysed in a synchronous network using orthogonal optical codes and the results are compared with those for different types of conventional receivers.