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OXC Optical cross-connect
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2 List of Figures
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3 Introduction
Optical fiber transmission has played a key role in increasing the capacity of
telecommunication networks. The large, low-loss transmission capacity of fiber has made
optical transmission to become the preferred means of high bit rate data transmission over long
distances. However, as the demand for network capacity is rapidly increasing, even the current
optical backbones are fast proving inadequate.
In many cases, it is relatively expensive to lay new fiber in order to increase network capacity.
Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is a transmission technology which allows the
capacity of existing optical links to be increased without installing new fiber, thereby enabling
significant cost savings. In WDM, multiple signals at different carrier wavelengths are
transmitted simultaneously over a single fiber. Today, point-to-point WDM links are already
widely deployed in the US long distance networks, and the deployment has also started in
Europe and Asia. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of optical networks,
wavelength division multiplexing and its key enabling technologies, and to briefly describe the
fast-changing WDM deployment and standardization situation.
5
4 Optical networks
Optical networks use optical fiber as a transmission medium. This chapter serves as an
introduction to optical networks, covering the basics of optical fiber transmission, the
evolution of optical networks, and the position of the optical layer in the communication
network infrastructure.
Basic knowledge of light transmission in an optical fiber is key to understanding both the
significant advantages of using fiber as a propagation medium and the system limitations
which need to be considered when designing optical communication systems. The basics of
light propagation, pulse broadening effects caused by dispersion and nonlinear effects
constraining the design of higher bit rate systems, are described in this section.
To begin with, light in a strict sense means the region of the electromagnetic spectrum that can
be perceived by human vision. This visible spectrum contains approximately the wavelength 1
range of 0.4 m to 0.7 m. However, in the laser2 and optical communications fields, custom
and practice have extended the usage of the term light to include a much broader portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum, extending from the near-ultraviolet region of approximately 0.3 m
through the visible region and into the mid-infrared region of approximately 30 m. [FED]
The medium used to guide the light signals in optical networks, the optical fiber, consists of a
cylindrical core, which is surrounded by a cladding, as shown in Figure 1. Both the core and
the cladding are primarily made of silica (SiO 2). The refractive index3 of the core is made
slightly higher than that of cladding by introducing certain impurities, or dopants, into the core
and/or the cladding.
Cladding
Core
A simplified understanding of the propagation of light in the fiber can be described with the
help of ray theory. From the ray theory viewpoint, light propagates in the fiber due to a series
of total internal reflections that occur in the core-cladding interface. However, ray theory is an
1
The wavelength () is related to the propagation velocity () and frequency () by = /.
2
LASER = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
3
The refractive index of a material is the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to the speed of light in
that material.
6
approximation that holds only when the signal wavelength is much smaller than the radius of
fiber core.
A more general theory, applicable for all values of fiber radius, is the wave theory, which treats
light as an electromagnetic wave, the propagation of which is governed by Maxwell’s
equations. In wave theory, the propagation of light in any medium can be described by
specifying the evolution of the associated electric and magnetic field vectors, denoted by
E(r,t) and H(r,t), respectively, in space and time. [RS98] A more detailed look into the theory
of electromagnetic waves is given e.g. by Cheng [Che89].
The electromagnetic waves travel partly in the core and partly in the cladding. The electric and
magnetic field vectors in the core and the cladding must satisfy wave equations, which are
second-order, linear partial differential equations:
2E + 2E = 0
2H + 2H = 0
Here is the angular frequency (rad/s) related to the light frequency f by = 2f, and
are the magnetic and dielectric constants of the medium, respectively, and 2 is the Laplacian
2 2 2
operator 2x
2 y
2z
.
The solutions in the cladding and core, however, are not independent but are related by
boundary conditions in the core-cladding interface. A fiber mode is every pair of solutions that
satisfies these boundary conditions of the wave equations. Multi-mode fibers with core
diameters of about 50 to 85 m can support more than one mode, and single-mode fibers, in
which the radius of the core is of the order of the operating wavelength, can support only one
mode. Single-mode fibers can carry more information than multi-mode fibers and are therefore
the preferred guiding medium in high-bit rate optical communications over long distances. A
more quantitative description of single- and multi-mode fibers is given e.g. in [KBW96].
The physical explanation of light propagation in a single-mode fiber follows from the
difference of the refractive indices in the core and cladding. In any medium with a constant
refractive index, a narrow light beam tends to spread due to a phenomenon called diffraction.
The spreading can be counteracted by using an inhomogeneous medium in which the refractive
index near the beam center (fiber core) is larger than at the beam periphery (fiber cladding), so
that the beam center travels slightly slower than the beam periphery. This effectively provides
continuous focusing of the light to counteract the spreading effect, and allows light to be
guided in the medium and travel long distances with low loss. [RS98] A more quantitative
description of light propagation in single-mode fibers using the wave theory approach is given
e.g. in [KBW96].
Optical fiber offers low-loss transmission capacity over an enormous frequency range of about
25 THz. [Bor97] Compared to the bandwidth available in other transmission media such as
copper cable or free space, this is orders of magnitude more. Also the attenuation of silica is
very low in wavelength regions dedicated to optical communications. These properties allow
the transmission of signals over long distances at high bit rates before they have to be
7
amplified or regenerated. Here lies the reason for the fact that optical communication systems
are so widely deployed today.
Like mentioned above, the intrinsic attenuation of silica is very low. With today’s technology,
it is possible to fabricate optical fibers in which the attenuation of the signal traveling in the
fiber is close to the theoretical limits due to scattering and absorption of light by silica
molecules, less than 0.5 dB/km [Hew97]. The two low-loss regions are around the 1.3 m and
1.55 m wavelengths, the 1.55 m region having the lowest attenuation. Both low-loss
regions, or optical windows, are used for communications. In some short-distance applications,
such as computer interconnects, other wavelengths can be used as well [KBW96], [RS98].
Signal attenuation in optical fiber is therefore not considered a major limiting factor of optical
transmission. Instead, two major effects which set limits on the feasible bit rates and
transmission distances of today’s optical communication systems are dispersion and fiber
nonlinearities, which are described in the following.
4.2.1 Dispersion
When a light pulse travels in an optical fiber, its different components (different modes and/or
different frequencies) propagate at slightly different velocities. This distortion in general is
called dispersion. As a result of dispersion, the pulse becomes broadened, and the signals in
adjacent bit periods may overlap, a phenomenon called intersymbol interference (ISI).
Chromatic dispersion
4
For a given laser, all the wavelengths that satisfy the condition that the length of the laser’s oscillation
cavity must be an integral multiple of half the wavelength, are called the longitudinal modes of that
laser. A multilongitudinal laser oscillates simultaneously in several longitudinal modes. [RS98]
5
In a DFB laser, the light is fed back to the oscillation cavity in a distributed manner by a series of
closely spaced reflectors. [RS98]
8
The accumulated chromatic dispersion penalty increases with the link length. When the
distances and bit rates increase, chromatic dispersion can be compensated for e.g. by using
nonzero dispersion fiber (NDF), which has a small amount of dispersion in the 1.55 m
window, thereby reducing the penalties due to nonlinearities but retaining most of the
advantages of DSF. Also special dispersion-compensating fibers (DCFs) that provide negative
dispersion in the 1.55 m range to enable a zero net dispersion are commercially available.
However, a drawback of using DCFs is the additional loss they introduce to the system.
[RS98]
Modal dispersion
In a multi-mode fiber, the energy of a pulse travels in different modes, each with a different
velocity. The resulting dispersion mechanism is called modal dispersion. This was a problem
especially in early telecommunication systems, which used multimode fibers along with light-
emitting diodes (LEDs) or multilongitudinal-mode (MLM) Fabry-Perot lasers as transmitters.
Polarization-mode dispersion
Finally, polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) arises because the fiber core is not perfectly
circular. This causes different polarizations 6 of a signal to travel at different group velocities.
PMD becomes an impediment in high-bit-rate systems operating at 10 Gb/s and above. [RS98]
As long as the optical power of a signal traveling in an optical fiber is relatively small, the
fiber can be considered a linear medium. However, when the signal levels get higher, fiber
nonlinearities start imposing limitations on link length and/or bit rate of the system. The
nonlinearities arise because the loss and refractive index of the fiber have a component
dependent on optical power. In many cases, chromatic dispersion plays a key role in reducing
the effects of nonlinearities: when a little chromatic dispersion is present in the fiber, the
different interacting waves then travel with different group velocities. Nonzero dispersion fiber
(NDF) is being installed to new WDM systems for this purpose.
The nonlinearities can be classified into two categories. The first is due to the scattering effects
owing to the interaction of light waves with molecular vibrations in silica medium. Examples
of this category are stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and stimulated Raman scattering
(SRS).
Effects in the second category arise because the refractive index of the fiber has an intensity-
dependent component. Effects in this category include four-wave mixing (FWM), self-phase
modulation (SPM) and cross-phase modulation (CPM).
6
The state of polarization of light propagating in a single-mode fiber refers to the orientation of its
electric field vector on a plane that is perpendicular to the direction of propagation.
9
Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) depletes the transmitted signal by producing gain in the
direction opposite to signal propagation, that is, back toward the source. This often calls for the
shielding of the transmitter with an isolator. SBS does not cause interaction between different
wavelengths as long as the wavelength spacing is greater than 20 MHz, but can cause
significant distortion within a single channel.
Four-wave mixing (FWM) induces signals at new frequencies that appear as crosstalk to the
existing signals. The FWM effect is independent of the bit rate but is highly dependent on
frequency channel spacing and is reduced when dispersion is present.
SPM and CPM arise when fluctuations in the optical power of a signal cause changes in signal
phase. Thus, different parts of a pulse undergo different phase shifts, which causes pulse
chirping7. This causes spectral broadening, which in turn increases dispersion penalties. The
impairments due to SPM are significant mainly in high bit rate (over 10 Gb/s) systems. CPM
becomes a problem if the wavelength channel spacing is tight (a few tens of GHz). [RS98]
The starting point of optical fiber communications technology can be dated back to the 1960s
when the increasing voice traffic started to exhaust the wire pair circuits between the central
offices of the telephone network, and a new, higher-capacity transmission medium was needed.
Early experiments demonstrated the capability of waveguides to transport information encoded
in light signals but it was not until the invention of the low-loss silica-based fiber in the 1970s
that optical transmission really took off.
The early fibers were multi-mode fibers and were used along with LEDs or multilongitudinal
mode (MLM) Fabry-Perot laser transmitters operating at 0.8 m and 1.3 m wavelength
bands. The resulting system was thereby heavily degraded by modal dispersion and had to
have electronic signal regenerators every few kilometers. The primary focus was on
7
The frequency of a chirped pulse varies with time.
10
multiplexing digital voice circuits and the infrastructure was based on plesiochronous digital
hierarchy (PDH).
In the next generation of optical fiber communications systems deployed in the early 1980s,
standard single-mode fiber (SMF) was used to eliminate modal dispersion. This enabled a
substantial increase in the bit rates and distances between regenerators. MLM Fabry-Perot
lasers in the 1.3 m band were used as transmitters. Modal dispersion was effectively
eliminated and the distances between regenerators were primarily determined by fiber
attenuation. Typically, the spacings between regenerators were about 40 km and the systems
operated at bit rates of a few hundred Mb/s.
To attain longer spans between regenerators, the lower loss of the 1.55 m wavelength band
motivated the deployment of systems operating in this optical window in the late 1980s. At this
point, chromatic dispersion started to become a problem. To overcome these limitations,
dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) was developed. However, there already existed a large installed
base of standard single-mode fiber for which it was not possible to apply this solution. Another
solution to the problem was found by narrowing the spectrum of the transmitted pulse. Narrow
spectral-width single-longitudinal mode (SLM) distributed-feedback lasers were deployed as
transmitters, and it was possible to put 1-2 Gb/s transmission systems into use. In parallel,
synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) was standardized by ITU-T in 1988.
The development of optical amplifiers, specifically the Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA),
in the late 1980s and the early 1990s marked the next major milestone in optical network
evolution. It became possible to replace the electrical regenerators with EDFAs, which enabled
significant cost savings. EDFAs also brought along another major benefits: since they operate
in the optical domain they are transparent to bit rates and protocol formats. Thus, it became
possible to upgrade the transmission system in bit rates by changing only the terminal
equipment at each end of the link. Furthermore, EDFAs are able to amplify several
wavelengths simultaneously, which enabled the transmission of several signals at different
carrier wavelengths on a single fiber, but requiring only one amplifier.
A variety of optical networks emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Examples of these
networks include SONET (Synchronous optical network), which has largely replaced PDH in
North America, forming the core of telecommunications infrastructure, and SDH
(Synchronous digital hierarchy), SONET’s counterpart in Europe and Asia. The majority of
today’s optical transport networks operate in the 1.55 m optical window, at bit rates of 2.5
Gb/s (SONET OC-48/SDH STM-16 signals) or lower.
11
laboratories today and are soon expected to emerge as commercial products. Packet switching
in the optical domain has not quite yet matured to the same level, limited by current state of
optical switching technology and the lack of optical buffers. [Bor97], [RS98], [KBW96]
To understand the role of second-generation optical networks in the layered network hierarchy
it is useful to think of them as constituting an optical layer, a functionality which offers
services to the higher network layers such as SONET/SDH, IP (Internet protocol) or ATM
(Asynchronous transfer mode). In the layered network hierarchy, these electronic layers are the
client layers of the optical layer, which acts as the server.
4.4.1 Services
Theoretically, the optical layer may offer the same three types of services to higher network
layers, as do the current electronically controlled networks. These services, shown in Figure 2,
[RS98] can be offered as point-to-point or point-to-multipoint services.
The first service type is called a lightpath, which in a WDM network is an end-to-end
connection between two nodes, set up by assigning a dedicated wavelength to the lightpath on
each link in its path. Here, the whole capacity of the link is provided to the higher layer.
Depending on the network capability, the lightpaths could be set up or taken down upon
request of the higher layer, or the lightpaths offered could be permanent and set up when the
network is deployed. The lightpath can be regarded as a circuit-switched service, like the plain
old telephone service (POTS) provided by today’s telephone network.
The second service is the so-called virtual circuit, which is a circuit-switched connection
between two nodes (as in ATM). Here, the capacity offered can be smaller than the full
capacity available on a link or wavelength. Thus, some form of time division multiplexing
must be incorporated in the network to combine multiple virtual circuits onto a wavelength in
a WDM link (or onto the transmission bit rate in an OTDM (optical time division
multiplexing) link).
The third service type a second-generation optical network can offer is a datagram service,
which enables the transmission of short packets of information between the network nodes,
without the overhead of setting up explicit connections (as in IP).
12
Virtual circuit/ datagram
Lightpath
Optical network
At the moment, the limited technology in optical logic, buffering and gating makes the circuit-
switched lightpath service the most practical choice of service. The lightpath is just the service
enabled by current WDM systems. The other services are, however, nearing practicality.
[RS98]
4.4.2 Sublayers
The optical layer can be further divided into sublayers. The draft version of ITU-T
Recommendation G.872 (Architecture of Optical Transport Networks) [G872] defines a
layered view of the optical layer itself. The definition is particularly well suited to describe
WDM transport networks. Once the interfaces between the layers are defined, the vendors are
able to provide standardized WDM technology, ranging from individual network elements
through WDM links to whole WDM networks. The optical layer, its three sublayers (OCH,
OMS and OTS) and the digital client layer are shown in Figure 3. [MB98]
Optical interfaces
The Optical channel (OCH) layer, as defined in the G.872, handles the end-to-end networking
of lightpaths, or optical channels, and transparently conveys digital client information of
13
varying formats (such as SDH, SONET, ATM or IP). The following capabilities are included in
OCH:
The Optical multiplex section (OMS) layer represents a point-to-point link along the route of a
lightpath, or optical channel, and provides functionality for the networking of a multi-
wavelength optical signal. The capabilities included in this layer are:
optical multiplex section overhead processes for ensuring the integrity of the multi-
wavelength optical multiplex section adapted information
optical multiplex section supervisory functions for enabling section level operation and
management functions, such as multiplex section survivability
The Optical transmission section (OTS) layer represents the functionality for transmission of
optical signals of various types on optical transmission media. The capabilities of the OTS
layer include also the supervision of optical amplifiers and repeaters when they are present in
the network. The optical physical media serving the OTS does not contain any active
components. [MB98], [G872]
4.4.3 Transparency
A major advantage of second-generation optical networks is that the services they offer can be
designed to be transparent to bit rates and frame formats. This means that the aggregated bit
rate over the transmission link does not have to be locked into a particular value, as for
example the 2.5 Gb/s in a conventional SONET OC-48/SDH STM-16 system. In fact, the
signal does not even have to adhere to SONET/SDH specifications, since no electrical
processing is involved. Thereby, the second-generation optical networks will be able to carry
diverse protocols and bit coding structures. [Fla98], [AlS98], [Ger96]
Another issue is how fast the optical transparency becomes feasible. Given the immaturity of
devices that are able to do signal regeneration (especially retiming to reduce the effects of
digital jitter and wander) and wavelength conversion optically today, at least some amount of
optoelectronic conversion should be expected to exist in optical network architectures in the
near future. [MB98]
The discussion of what layers will continue to exist in future transport networks continues.
Alternative network architectures, shown in Figure 4 [Fla98], to the current IP-to-ATM-to-
SONET/SDH-to-photonics approach are being searched. One of the notions has been that the
optical layer (WDM) could completely replace the SONET/SDH layer and enable IP and ATM
to plug directly into the optical layer. Also, because the main value of ATM lies in its ability to
conserve a limited resource, that is, transmission capacity, it will be valuable only as long as
that capacity is a scarce commodity. Furthermore, it seems that in a few years, IP traffic
incorporating both data and voice, will continue to grow. Therefore, among the suggestions is
14
also the notion of connecting directly from IP on the desktop to the optical layer. All and all,
whatever the result of the evolution may be, none of it will happen overnight. Instead, various
legacy networks will run parallel to the new optical networks for some time. It might even take
10 years before WDM along with the other technologies pull the unit cost of transmission so
low that e.g. the statistical multiplexing provided by ATM becomes a wasted effort. [Tit97],
[CI98], [Wir98]
Broadband applications
Other IP
ATM
SONET/SDH
Optical layer
15
5 Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM)
5.1 Introduction
By definition, the term wavelength division multiplexing can be used to denote any technique
by which two or more optical signals having different wavelengths can be simultaneously
transmitted in the same direction over one fiber, and then be separated by wavelength at the
distant end. [FED]. Therefore, the term WDM is also used to refer to the technique where two
wavelengths, one in the 1.3 m optical window and the other in the 1.55 m window have
been multiplexed onto the same link, thereby doubling the link capacity. However, in this
article, the term WDM refers to the technique where several, today typically from 16 to 32
signals having slightly different wavelengths in the same optical window (1.55 m) are used as
carriers. Also the term dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) is sometimes used to
refer to the latter alternative.
A block diagram of a unidirectional WDM link is shown in Figure 5. The light sources,
transmitters, one for each wavelength, are usually DFB (distributed feedback) lasers. The light
sources are modulated with the electronic client signals (e.g. an STM-64 signal at 10 Gb/s),
typically by on-off keying (OOK)8 them. The resulting optical information signals at different
wavelengths are then combined to be transported over a single fiber in a multiplexer. The
optical amplifiers, which are used along the fiber link, come in three different configurations
and are able to amplify several WDM channels simultaneously. A power amplifier may be used
in front of a transmitter to give a maximal increase of the output power, and an preamplifier
may be used in front the receiver to increase sensitivity by providing high gain and the least
amount of additional noise. A line amplifier, typically used in the middle of the link to
compensate for link losses, is designed to provide a combination of the properties of power-
and preamplifiers. After traversing the link, the signals enter a demultiplexer, which separates
the individual signals at different wavelengths. Finally, the signals are received in
photodetectors, which generate an electrical current proportional to the incident optical power.
[RS98]
, . . . ,
Transmitter Receiver
De-
Transmitter Multiplexer Receiver
multiplexer
...
...
8
In on-off keying, a 1 bit is encoded by the presence of light, and a 0 bit is encoded by the absence of
light.
16
First-generation WDM systems supported from 4 to 16 signals at different wavelengths, each
with a transmission capacity of 2.5 Gb/s. Today, the bit rate has typically remained the same,
as the move to 10 Gb/s transmission is impeded by the complexity and thereby high price of
required electronics and the penalties which arise from polarization-mode dispersion (PMD).
However, the systems being deployed today typically offer from 32 to 40 wavelengths, and
technological improvements will bring along systems that support even more wavelengths: as
many as 100 wavelengths are expected in the near future. Experimental systems [Luc0398]
that have a total transmission capacity of 1 Tb/s on a single fiber have already been built. In
the future, WDM might be combined with optical signal processing techniques like optical
time division multiplexing (OTDM) and optical packet switching to further increase the
transmission capacity.
Instead of a single, standard set of WDM carrier wavelengths, the ITU-T participants have
defined a frequency grid for WDM channels, in which the adjacent channels are separated by
100 GHz. As defined in the ITU-T draft Recommendation G.692 (ex G.mcs), “Optical
interfaces for multichannel systems with optical amplifiers”, the reference frequency is at
193.1 THz, in the middle of the 1.55 m fiber and EDFA passband. As the usable wavelength
band of EDFAs is from 1530 nm to 1564 nm, it is possible to place a maximum of 43 channels
on a fiber with the 100 GHz frequency grid. This frequency grid is based on what has been
feasible with existing technology; when the technology improves, the frequency spacing can
be reduced and a larger number of wavelength channels will become possible. Indeed, several
vendors have already proposed modifications to permit smaller channel spacings, for example
50 GHz and 25 GHz, to the existing WDM channel frequency recommendations. At least the
50 GHz spacing is possible with today’s technology in some applications, so it is likely that
smaller and even irregular channel spacings will be included in future recommendations.
[MB98], [RS98], [CD98]
5.2 Advantages
The economical benefits of deploying WDM technology are numerous. At its simplest, a
WDM system can be considered as a parallel set of optical channels, each using a slightly
different wavelength, but sharing the same physical transmission medium. By using WDM, it
is thereby possible to increase the capacity of existing networks without expensive re-cabling
and thereby significantly reduce the cost of network capacity upgrades.
17
An alternative way to increase the capacity would be to increase the transmission bit rate of
today’s electronically time division multiplexed (TDM)9 systems. The highest transmission bit
rate in commercially available TDM systems today is 10 Gb/s, and 40 Gb/s TDM technology
is being developed in research laboratories. However, some experts believe that while the talk
about the possibility of 40 Gb/s TDM transmission (SONET OC-768) continues, time division
multiplexing architectures like SONET are about to reach their capacity limits what comes to
cost-efficiency. TDM and WDM are, however, two complementary approaches and the
question of which combination to use is a complicated one with many parameters affecting the
right choice. It is clear however, that the next generation of networks is likely to involve
increased use of WDM along with TDM.
Also, methods are being developed where time division multiplexing and demultiplexing could
be performed optically, by an approach called optical time division multiplexing (OTDM).
Experiments have demonstrated the multiplexing/demultiplexing of several 10 Gb/s streams
into/from a 250 Gb/s stream. However, the feasibility of commercial OTDM systems is still
several years away and OTDM networks therefore represent a longer-term approach. [Sar94],
[Tit97], [RS98]
As opposed to purely time division multiplexed systems, WDM offers several advantages.
With WDM, it is possible to increase the transmission capacity by keeping the bit rate the
same, but adding more (wavelength) channels which all operate at the original bit rate.
Keeping the bit rate low has its benefits. For example, polarization-mode dispersion (PMD)
becomes a problem in systems operating at 10 Gb/s and above, but does not cause
impediments at 2.5 Gb/s and lower bit rates. Also, receiver sensitivities are typically lower at
higher bit rates, which implies that signals need amplification sooner. Adding new amplifiers
or regenerators makes span engineering more complex and causes significant costs. [Rya98]
A major advantage of WDM in many cases is that WDM systems can be designed to be
transparent to different bit rates and protocol formats. Another useful property of WDM
networks is that they are able to do wavelength routing. Here, the path of a signal through the
network is determined by the signal’s wavelength and origin, as well as the states of network
switches and wavelength converters. Therefore, with wavelength routing a transparent
lightpath can be provided between two network nodes. [RS98]
The invention of a suitable optical amplifier, namely the Erbium-doped fiber amplifier
(EDFA), described in more detail in Section 5.6.4, has been a key factor in making the use of
WDM economical. The EDFAs enable direct amplification of optical signals without the use of
electronic regenerators. The gain of an EDFAs is relatively flat over a rather wide wavelength
span around the 1.55m window, which means that a single EDFA can amplify a nearly
arbitrary number of wavelengths simultaneously. This enables significant cost savings
especially in long distance networks, because it becomes possible to replace N fiber pairs and
electronic regenerators along each fiber with just one fiber pair (running N wavelengths) and a
single EDFA for both fibers. [Rya98]
9
In TDM, two or more information channels are combined onto a common transmission medium by
interleaving the pulses representing bits from different channels into different time slots.
18
The economical advantages of WDM in local and metropolitan area networks are not quite as
obvious as in long distance networks. However, at least Ericsson10 and Telia11 have already
tested a combination of Ericsson’s WDM system and Gigabit Ethernet technology in a local
area network spanning a distance of 22 km. According to some experts, when realized as
commercial product, this type of solution might prove to be 50-90 percent cheaper than the
traditional technology used to handle local area traffic. [HC98], [ET9808]
5.3 Deployment
The first WDM deployments occurred among the long distance operators in the United States
of America. The deployment has also started in Europe and Asia and WDM is also being
applied to undersea networks. Today, the WDM deployment situation is changing very fast,
suppliers announcing new products and awarded contracts on an almost daily basis.
It is easiest to deploy WDM for use with new line systems, because it will then be possible to
define the optical interface requirements. The architecture of existing optical network
(SONET/SDH), facility locations and fiber characteristics all constrain the deployment of
WDM in legacy systems. The existing legacy systems can gain access to WDM transport by
the use of transponders at WDM-client interface. A transponder is a device, which converts the
various wavelengths existing in the legacy system to a common set of WDM carrier
wavelengths. In the WDM systems deployed today, the client technology loaded onto WDM
has mainly been SONET or SDH. [Low98]
In large scale, the deployment of WDM technology in the US started during 1996. The main
target was to relieve network congestion, which had happened unexpectedly rapidly.
Throughout 1996 and 1997 the emergence of WDM technology has been extremely rapid, with
the sales of WDM systems growing from perhaps $50 million in 1995 to $1 billion in 1997.
According to some forecasts, the growth is expected to continue, reaching $4 billion in 2001.
The point-to-point WDM links are widely deployed in the US long distance networks today.
All major long-distance service providers, e.g. Sprint12 and Worldcom13, are utilizing WDM as
a standard part of their networks, and all major optical transmission systems suppliers are
offering WDM products. The client technology loaded onto the WDM layer has been almost
exclusively SONET (OC-48/2.5 Gb/s and OC-192/10Gb/s), with few PDH systems being
carried. [Rya98], [Low98], [BP98]
5.3.2 Europe
In Europe, WDM deployment started in 1997, when the capacity of existing fiber exhausted.
Compared to the United States, the deployment started later, mainly due to the more modest
10
http://www.ericsson.com/
11
http://www.telia.com/
12
http://www.sprint.com/
13
http://www.wcom.com/
19
traffic growth cycle and shorter intercity distances and thereby lower regenerator costs.
However, at least both of the United Kingdom’s largest operators, British Telecom14 (BT) and
Cable and Wireless Communications15 (CWC), have announced WDM system deployments.
Also, in Finland, Sonera16 (previously Telecom Finland) has ordered an ERION (Ericsson
Optical Network) WDM system from Ericsson. Telia of Sweden have plans to introduce 16-
wavelength WDM in its national optical network in 1998. Also Telefónica de Espana17 and
Telenor18 are thought to have deployed WDM systems. Most major suppliers, at least Lucent19,
Ericsson, Ciena20, Pirelli Cables & Systems21, Nortel22, and Alcatel23 are already offering
WDM solutions to European operators. [Low98]
5.3.3 Asia
In Asia, China has been in the forefront of WDM deployment. NEC24 has received an order for
a WDM system to increase the capacity of a 2500-km long inter-provincial trunk network
linking Beijing, Shenyang and Harbin. Ordered by China Telecom, the system will carry STM-
16 signals over 8/16 wavelengths. Also Lucent and Alcatel have signed WDM projects in
China. Lucent has also signed a contract to supply and install a WDM system in the Korean
Dacom's25 backbone network. This is the first deployment of WDM technology in Korea. In
some of the developing countries of Asia, WDM implementation might happen a bit slower
due to low the penetration of optical networks. [ASL98], [NEC0798], [Alc0798], [Luc0897],
[Luc1197]
WDM is being deployed also in the international undersea networks, which form an important
part of the global telecommunication network. Although WDM is being used to double and
triple the capacity of some existing transoceanic links, like the trans-Atlantic TAT-12/13
(capacity doubled from 5 Gb/s to 10 Gb/s per fiber), the advantages of WDM can be most fully
realized in the design and implementation of new submarine networks. Undersea networks
spanning distances of over 8000 km with up to 16 wavelengths and an STM-16 signal (2.5
Gb/s) on each wavelength are now possible. Some of the most significant networks utilizing
WDM technology are described further in this section.
In addition to capacity increase, WDM also brings along significant enhancements to the
networking capabilities and flexibility of undersea networks. Typical of undersea networks is
that the number of fiber pairs in the network is limited by the physical constraints of the
undersea cable and the design of repeater housing, including the number of optical amplifiers
14
http://www.bt.com/
15
http://www.cwc.com/
16
http://www.sonera.fi/
17
http://www.telefonica.es/
18
http://www.telenor.no/
19
http://www.lucent.com/
20
http://www.ciena.com/
21
http://www.pirelli.com/cables/index.htm
22
http://www.nortel.com/
23
http://www.alcatel.com/
24
http://www.nec-global.com/
25
http://www.dacom.co.kr/home.html
20
in the repeaters. For economical and technical reasons, only repeaters with up to four pairs of
optical amplifiers are manufactured today. When an optical wavelength layer with a
wavelength routing capability is added into an undersea network, the network functionality is
much less constrained by the number of physical fiber paths in the cables. Wavelengths can be
added and dropped independently, and it is possible to build networks which are more flexible
and have more landing points, with less physical fiber.
Although the trans-Atlantic TAT 12/13, completed in 1996, has been since upgraded to two
wavelengths on each fiber and negotiations are being made to extend the upgrade to 3
wavelengths equaling 15 Gb/s, the need for transmission capacity across the Northern Atlantic
will outpace this supply. The Atlantic Crossing –1 (AC-1) is built to answer this capacity
need. The AC-1, scheduled to be in service in January 1999, is a self-healing SDH ring
network with four separate undersea cable segments and landing points in the United States,
United Kingdom, Netherlands and Germany. The AC-1 has four fiber pairs and will initially
carry 2.5 Gb/s STM-16 signals on four wavelengths on each fiber, totaling a bi-directional
transport capacity of 40 Gb/s.
China-US will be the first direct cable link between the United States and China. Scheduled to
enter service by the end of 1999, the China-US is a trans-Pacific SDH ring network carrying
traffic on four fiber pairs. The network is designed to carry eight wavelengths at 2.5 Gb/s
(STM-16) on each fiber, which totals a bi-directional transport capacity of 80 Gb/s.
5.4 Standardization
The deployment of WDM systems has occurred before the standards have been developed.
However, international standardization is essential for enabling a multivendor interoperable
optical network infrastructure. In the previous ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union
– Telecommunication Standardization Sector) study period (1993-1996) a set of optical
21
networking recommendations was prepared. These recommendations focus primarily on
optically amplified SDH systems and SDH point-to-point WDM line systems. The
standardization will, however, need to cover a larger scope and go beyond SDH-specific
applications to include the aspects related to other client systems of the optical layer (PDH,
ATM, IP etc.). Also, applications more complex than just the point-to-point systems need to be
covered. As such, international standardization efforts for optical networking, including WDM
technology, are currently in progress in the ITU-T. During the 1997-2000 Study Period, the
goal of ITU-T is to define a complete set of optical networking recommendations. The scope
of this effort includes:
Once the optical transport network requirements and architecture are defined, it is possible to
move on to other recommendations. The relationships between the ITU-T optical networking
recommendations are illustrated in Figure 6.
Network requirements
and architecture
(G.873 (ex G.onr), Framework
G.872 (ex G.otn)) (G.onf)
The recommendations are developed using a phased approach, which takes into account the
maturity of the technology and the application requirements of the market. In the first phase,
the emphasis is on point-to-point WDM line systems. In the second phase, the scope is
extended to include optical add/drop multiplexing and optical cross-connection systems. The
third phase further extends to optical layer survivability and so on. All the other
recommendations, except G.872 (ex G.otn), G.873 (ex G.onr) and G.onf are handled according
to the phased approach.
22
The standardization of optical networking is a demanding challenge with many open questions,
like should the networks be allowed to be optically transparent or opaque (to what degree are
electro-optical conversions allowed), how the operation, administration and maintenance are
handled, what is the role of optical protection switching, and is transverse 26 or longitudinal27
compatibility required. Also the fact that rapid progress has been made in the development of
optical networking technology and the pace only seems to be accelerating, causes difficulties
for standardization: the standards are always at risk of lagging behind the current state of the
art, thereby not being widely deployed. [MB98], [CHH94]
WDM has applications beyond the simple increase of the capacity of point-to-point links. In
WDM networks, wavelengths become an integral part of the network infrastructure. Network
topologies, which are made possible by the multiwavelength technology, can be classified into
two broad categories: simple broadcast and select networks and the more sophisticated
wavelength routing networks. These two architectural types can be combined with each other
as well as other types to generate a broad range of network architectures.
In a WDM broadcast and select network, shown in Figure 7, multiple network nodes are
connected to a passive device, which broadcasts the signals sent by the nodes to all the nodes
in the network. The passive device is an optical star coupler, which combines the signals from
all the nodes and delivers a fraction of the power from each signal to each outport. In each
node, there is a tunable optical filter for selecting the desired wavelength for reception.
26
Transverse compatibility = equipment from one vendor can be connected to equipment from any other
vendor.
27
Longitudinal compatibility = equipment from different vendors is not guaranteed to interwork.
Instead, for any given application there is a choice of vendors from which to choose the equipment.
Only one vendor’s equipment can be used per application.
23
Node 1 Node 2
Laser Laser
Receiver
Receiver
, . . . , , . . . ,
Passive
star
coupler
, . . . ,
Receiver ...
Laser
Node N
This network architecture is simple and suitable for use in local- and metropolitan-area
networks. Broadcast and select networks have, however, two drawbacks. First, they waste
optical power since the power of each transmitted signal is evenly divided between all the
nodes in the network. Second, each node requires a distinct transmission wavelength, and the
number of nodes is therefore limited to the number of available wavelengths. For this reason,
broadcast and select networks are not scalable. [HN96], [RS98]
A more practical network architecture today is the wavelength routing network, in which the
network nodes, which contain wavelength-selective elements, are capable of routing different
wavelengths at their input ports to different output ports. This way, the wavelength determines
the path, which a signal takes through the network, and a signal at a particular wavelength can
be routed directly to its destination instead of being broadcast to all the network nodes. This
eliminates unnecessary divisions of signal power. In a static wavelength routing network, the
wavelength selective elements are static components and the path that a particular signal takes
is uniquely determined by the wavelength of the signal and the port through which it enters the
network. In a reconfigurable network, the nodes contain switches and/or dynamic wavelength
converters and the routing patterns at the nodes can be changed. Static routers can be built
using wavelength multiplexers and demultiplexers, while dynamic routers will in addition
require optical switching technology, which is still immature today. [Bra90], [RS98]
Wavelength routing networks became a major research area in the early 1990s when people
realized the benefits of having an optical layer. They are now being introduced as commercial
products in local-exchange and interexchange networks. A wavelength routing network enables
the setting up of several simultaneous lightpaths, which are transparent because they remain
optical across the network, and which can use the same wavelength in different, non-
overlapping parts of the network. Therefore, it is possible to reuse the capacity of the network
spatially. An example in Figure 8 shows three simultaneous lightpaths. Lighpaths between
nodes 1 and 5 and between nodes 3 and 4 do not share common links and can therefore be set
up using the same wavelength, 1. The lightpath between nodes 2 and 4, however, shares a
24
common link with the lightpath between nodes 1 and 5, and must be therefore be set up using a
different wavelength, 2. In this example, all the lightpaths use the same wavelength on every
link in their path. This is the constraint that a network designer has to deal with if the network
does not have wavelength conversion capabilities. If, for example node 4 had a wavelength
conversion capability, it would be possible to set up an additional lightpath between the nodes
3 and 5 with only the two existing wavelengths, using 2 from node 3 to node 4, and 1 from
node 4 to node 5. [RS98], [HN96], [Ger96]
Node 2 Node 3
Node 5
Node 1
Node 4
25
Optical
filter
Wavelength
multiplexer
Wavelength
add/drop
multiplexer
In addition to optical filters, couplers and circulators are needed to construct wavelength
(de)multiplexers, add/drop elements and routers. The couplers, optical filters and circulators
are described in the following, along with the optical amplifier technology which has had a
significant impact on WDM deployment, the Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). Other
components used in WDM networks, but not described here, include lasers, photodetectors
and isolators. Lasers are used as transmitters to convert an electrical signal stream into pulses
of light for transmission over optical fiber. Photodetectors receive the light pulses at the far end
of the link and generate an electrical current proportional to the optical power of the incident
light pulses. Isolators are used in front of lasers and optical amplifiers to prevent performance-
degrading reflections from entering them.
Most components described here are passive devices, which means that they do not require an
electrical source of energy for their operation. Therefore, they are not dependent on electronics
or electro-optical conversions and the limits on transmission speed they pose. Instead, they are
able to operate at the same high speed as the transmission medium, the optical fiber and are
transparent to signal formats. Thus, as various networking technologies battle for market share
in the coming years, the transparent optical networking technology can grow along. The prices
26
of WDM components are still relatively high, but as more companies enter the competition and
optical components can be mass-produced more economically, prices are expected to decrease
between 10% to 50% annually. [LWX1098], [RS98]
5.6.1 Couplers
Passive couplers are some the simplest elements used in optical communication systems.
Coupler is a general term used to denote all devices that are used to combine and split optical
signals. A 12 splitter, in Figure 13, is a coupler which divides the power of an optical signal
on one fiber onto two fibers. A 21 combiner, in Figure 14 does the opposite: it combines the
power of two optical signals from two fibers onto a common fiber. In general, a 22 coupler in
Figure 15 is a 21 combiner followed by a 12 splitter. The coupler broadcasts the signals
from the two input fibers onto the two output fibers. When the coupling length l, in Figure 15,
is adjusted so that half the power from each input appears at each output, the coupler is called a
3-dB coupler.
Input O u tp u t
27
Couplers can be constructed by simply fusing two fibers together or by using waveguides in
integrated optics. Couplers are the building blocks of various optical components. An nn star
coupler used in broadcast and select networks, described in Section 5.5.1, is a generalization of
the 22 coupler. It divides the power from each input equally among all the outputs, and can be
constructed by suitably interconnecting a number of 3-dB 22 couplers. Couplers are also the
key components used to construct Mach-Zehnder interferometers, which can be used as optical
filters and (de)multiplexers. [Bor97], [RS98]
Optical filters are key components in WDM networks. They allow the manipulation of
wavelengths just like time slots are manipulated in time division multiplexed networks. Several
optical filtering technologies are available, all utilizing the property of interference between
optical waves. In addition, some filters utilize the diffraction property of light, which is the
property by which light from a source tends to spread to all directions. The technologies
include:
Gratings
Bragg gratings
Fiber gratings
Fiber Bragg gratings
Fabry Perot filters
Multilayer dielectric thin-film filters
Mach-Zehnder interferometers
Arrayed waveguide gratings
Acousto-optic tunable filters
Gratings
The term grating is used to denote almost any device whose operation involves interference
among multiple optical signals which originate from the same source, but have different relative
phase shifts (an exception to this is the etalon, in which the multiple optical signals are
generated by letting the light traverse a single cavity repeatedly). In gratings, the relative phase
shift between two optical waves from the same source is achieved, when the waves are made to
traverse two paths of different lengths. In optics, gratings have been used for decades to separate
light into its constituent wavelengths. [RS98]
Bragg gratings
In general, any periodic perturbation (usually a periodic variation of the refractive index) in the
grating medium serves as a Bragg grating. Bragg gratings are widely used in optical
communication systems, e.g. to construct multiplexers and add/drop elements. The principle of
the Bragg grating also underlies the operation of acousto-optic tunable filter, where, the Bragg
grating is caused by the propagation of an acoustic wave in the propagation medium. [RS98]
Fiber gratings
Fiber gratings are written in fibers using the photosensitivity property of the fiber. This is done
by exposing the fiber to an interference pattern of ultraviolet (UV) light. In the spots where the
UV light waves add in phase, the refractive index of the fiber is permanently raised, and the
interference pattern is thereby transformed into a refractive index pattern in the fiber. Fiber
Bragg gratings are suitable for e.g. filtering, add/drop functions and compensating for
accumulated dispersion. [Oue98]
Fabry-Perot filters
Fabry-Perot cavity
Input signal
Output signal
Reflections
Fabry-Perot filters are commercially available, compact components, which have been used in
several optical network testbeds. Their main advantage over some other filters is that they can
be tuned to select different wavelengths. This is done by mechanically tuning the cavity length.
The tuning time is, however, on the order of a few milliseconds, which generally makes the
Fabry-Perot filter unsuitable for packet-switched applications. [RS98], [Bor97]
A multilayer dielectric thin-film filter (TFF) is a Fabry-Perot filter, where the mirrors
surrounding the resonant cavity are constructed using multiple reflective dielectric thin-film
layers. The device is a bandpass filter, letting the resonant wavelength pass through and
reflecting all others. A multilayer thin-film multicavity filter (TFMF) consists of two or more
resonant cavities, which are separated by reflective dielectric thin-film layers. Adding more
cavities has the effect of flattening and sharpening the passband, both desirable features for a
filter.
When cascaded, these filters, each passing a different wavelength and reflecting all others, can
be used as (de)multiplexers, as shown in Figure 17. When used as a demultiplexer, the first filter
in the cascade passes one wavelength and reflects all the others to the second filter. The second
filter passes another wavelength and reflects all the others to the third filter, and so on.
, ... ,
Lens Lens
Fiber Fiber
Lens
s
Len
Lens
Len
s
Lens
s
Len
Narrowband
s filter
Len
Glass substrate
Fiber
The TFMFs have several features that make them an attractive option to be used as
(de)multiplexing devices. They are becoming widely used in today’s commercial WDM
systems, mainly because they
enable a very flat passband and sharp transitions from passband to stop band
are remarkably stable in regard to temperature variations
have low loss
are insensitive to the polarization of the signal [Hok98], [RS98]
Mach-Zehnder interferometers
Input 1 Output 1
1 N
2
.
Star L = constant Star
3
coupler coupler .
. . Output
Input
waveguides . Arrayed waveguides waveguides
. 1
2
3
When only one output or input port is used, the AWG can act as an N1 multiplexer or a 1N
demultiplexer. Compared to a suitably interconnected chain of MZIs, which also realizes the
(de)multiplexing function, it is preferable to use an AWG due to its flatter passband and lower
loss. An AWG is also easier to implement on an integrated-optic substrate, which is usually
silicon. The waveguides are usually made of silica, Ge-doped silica or SiO 2-Ta2O5.
When all the N input and output ports are used, the AWG can also be used as a static N N
router, where the route of a signal is determined by its wavelength and input port. Different
signals at same wavelength can be simultaneously input to different input ports and still not
interfere with each other at the output ports. An arbitrary routing pattern is not, however,
possible but a number of static routing patterns can be achieved by a suitable choice of
wavelengths. The most useful type of routing pattern is illustrated in Figure 20, which shows the
routing pattern of a static 44 wavelength router. [AlS98], [Bor97], [Fid97], [RS98]
, , , , , ,
, , , , , ,
, , , , , ,
, , , , , ,
The acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) is one the several optical devices whose operation is
based on the interaction of sound and light. In an AOTF, a Bragg grating, or a periodic variation
of density, results from the propagation of an acoustic wave in the medium. Thereby, by varying
the wavelength of the acoustic wave, an AOTF can act as a tunable filter.
A special feature of the AOTF is that by launching multiple acoustic waves simultaneously, the
energy of signals at multiple wavelengths can be exchanged between the two input and output
ports of the AOTF, and by varying the wavelengths of the acoustic waves, the routing pattern
can be changed. Therefore, the AOTF holds out a promise of dynamic routing. At the moment,
however, the AOTF has not quite proved to especially useful either as a tunable filter or a
dynamic router, mainly because of the high level of crosstalk present in the device. [RS98]
5.6.3 Circulators
Circulators are passive, nonreciprocal devices, as opposed to couplers and most other passive
optical devices that are reciprocal 28. The principle of operation of a circulator involves utilizing
the different (horizontal and vertical) polarization modes of the light propagating in fiber.
Typically, circulators have three or four ports, as shown in Figure 21, (a) and (b). In a three-port
circulator, the signal input to port 1 is sent to port 2, the signal input to port is sent to port 3, and
the signal input to port 3 is sent to port 1. Circulators are useful in constructing add/drop
multiplexers. [RS98]
28
A reciprocal device works the same way if its inputs and outputs are reversed.
2 2
1 1
3 4
(a) (b)
In an optical communication system, optical signals from the transmitter are attenuated as they
propagate through fiber. After some length, this causes the signal to become too weak to be
detected. Therefore, before this happens, the signal has to be restored. The conventional way to
accomplish this has been to electrically regenerate the signal, that is, to receive and re-transmit
it. This is the process accomplished by regenerative repeaters, or regenerators, which convert
optical signals to electrical signals, clean them up, and convert them back to optical signals for
onward transmission.
A conventional regeneration technique for digital data is regeneration with retiming and
reshaping (3R). In 3R, the bit clock is extracted from the signal, and the signal is reclocked.
This effectively eliminates transparency to bit rates and frame formats since acquiring the clock
usually requires knowledge of both of these. Furthermore, as separate regenerating equipment is
required for each wavelength channel, this is an inherently costly solution A diagram of
conventional 3R regeneration is shown in Figure 22. [KBW96] Here, MOD stands for electrical
signal modulator, and E/O and O/E are electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical signal
converters, respectively. [RS98]
Electrical signal
Optical signal
Fiber
Transmitter MOD E/O O/E 3R E/O O/E MOD Receiver
O/E: E/O:
Photo Retiming Laser
detector circuit diode
Many of the most relevant advances in optical communications can be traced to the invention of
optical amplifiers, which were relatively unknown before 1980. The original motivation for the
widespread research was then to replace the costly electrical regenerators on long-haul
transoceanic systems, in which the regenerators were placed every 50 km along the fiber.
Unlike in electrical repeaters, in optical amplifiers, the signals remain in optical form during
amplification. The key physical phenomenon behind signal amplification in optical amplifiers is
the stimulated emission of radiation by atoms in the presence of an external electromagnetic
field. Optical amplifiers consist of an active medium that has its carriers inverted into an excited
energy level, thus enabling an externally input optical field to initiate stimulated emission and
achieve coherent gain.
Even if the operation principle of optical amplifiers is the same as that of lasers (except that
amplifiers do not need a cavity whereas lasers need one for oscillation), from the first attempt in
the 1960s it took about 30 years before efficient, low-noise fiber optical fiber amplifiers were
developed in 1987. The keys to the construction of efficient amplifiers were the following:
[Sud97]
1. the use of the efficient transitions of rare-earth 29 ions such as Erbium (Er3+), which provide
high quantum efficiency with small or no nonradiative transition probability
29
Rare-earth elements: a series of 15 transition metals, beginning with lanthanum (atomic number 57) and
ending with lutetium (atomic number 71) along with scandium (atomic number 21) and yttrium (atomic
number 39). The electronic configuration of the elements in the series is very similar and is based on the
gradual filling of the 4f subshell along the series. [Sud97]
2. the use of laser light with very narrow spectral width as the pumping source, which leads to
very efficient pumping for the narrow absorption band of rare-earth ions
3. finding the energy levels and wavelengths suitable for efficient pumping, for example 1.48
and 0.98 m
4. developing a fabrication method for low-loss rare-earth doped fibers
One of the key technologies in enhancing WDM deployment has been the Erbium-doped fiber
amplifier (EDFA). In fact, most newly installed optical fiber transmission systems today use
EDFAs instead of regenerators. EDFAs, like other optical amplifiers, are rather simple devices,
consisting mainly of a length of doped optical fiber, a pump laser (the only active component)
and a component that combines the pump signal with the transmitted data signal (see Figure
23). EDFAs work by using the pump laser to activate, or excite, the rare earth ions in the doped
fiber coil acting as the gain medium. In an EDFA, the gain medium is doped with ionized atoms,
Er3+, of the rare-earth element Erbium. A weak signal, which needs amplification, encounters
the excited ions, stimulates them to release their excess energy and thereby boost the signal’s
amplitude as it propagates through the amplifier. [Hew97], [RS98]
Several factors have made the EDFA amplifier to become the preferred amplifier to use in
today’s optical communication systems. These include: [RS98]
Optical amplifiers are not, however, ideal devices and a number of impairments must be taken
into account when designing an optically amplified WDM link: [KBW96], [RS98]
The usable EDFA band is from 1530 nm to 1564 nm, but the gain spectrum is not flat over
the entire region: some wavelengths receive more gain than others. The problem becomes
more serious when a number of amplifiers are cascaded.
In addition to providing gain, the EDFAs introduce noise to the system. The additional noise
causes degradation in receiver sensitivity: a higher signal power is required at the receiver
in order to maintain a desired bit error rate (BER).
The gain depends on the total input power: for high input powers the amplifier has a
tendency to saturate, which causes the gain to drop.
The EDFAs allow fiber dispersion and nonlinear effects to accumulate unimpeded.
Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), which preceded EDFAs, are not as good as EDFAs
for use as amplifiers, but are finding other applications in switches and wavelength converters.
[RS98]
5.7 Future
Because the evolution of optical networks is strongly dependent on the available technology, it
is difficult to foresee exactly how the optical networks will evolve in the future and what will be
WDM’s role. Some scenarios are, however, given in the following.
According to one scenario, the progress of optical network architectures will be similar to the
manner in which the current SONET/SDH networks evolved. This is illustrated in Figure 24.
First, the point-to-point WDM transmission systems are deployed, which has already happened.
Next, a limited amount of flexibility is introduced into WDM systems. This is done by
deploying static optical add/drop multiplexers (OADMs) and the use of WDM protection
switching. This step has also been taken already, e.g. in undersea WDM links where wavelength
selective branching units are used. WDM technology suppliers have also started to offer
add/drop equipment for terrestrial links. Next, the WDM link architecture will evolve to ring
topology networks, which contain dynamic OADMs. Then, the use of dynamic OADMs will
enable ring networks with full connectivity, similar to today’s SONET/SDH rings. The next step
in the evolution might be the interconnection of several optical rings with an overlaying mesh
topology. Here optical cross-connects (OXCs) and OADMs are used to interconnect the rings.
[Lag98], [Low98]
Technology evolution
OXC
Interconnected rings OXC
OADM OADM
OADM
OADM
OADM
OADM
OADM OADM
...
...
Transmitter
WDM transmission
...
...
Transmitter
While the WDM technology is maturing in transport networks, the drive to bring WDM
downstream, closer to the end user, has become the next goal. Future access networks need to
offer cost-effective, high transmission capacity support for the increasing number of new
broadband end-customer services. In the next few years, WDM is expected to migrate from
public backbones to metropolitan area networks (MANs) and access networks. These
applications represent an emerging WDM market that differs from the long-distance
applications in that the spans between terminals are shorter and that there are more add/drop
points. Therefore, there is usually no need for signal amplification in the middle of the links,
only in front of the terminals. Instead, the add/drop functionality is essential. Also, due to the
nature of metropolitan networks, the WDM system interfaces need to support a variety of
transport signals in these applications. WDM vendors have already anticipated the downstream
trend by developing “metro” systems [Cie98], which have been engineered and priced
differently than the long-distance systems. [AlS98], [Fid97], [HC98]
6 Summary
Optical networks have been essential in providing the large transmission capacity of today’s
telecommunication networks. The traffic amounts have, however, grown rapidly, to the stage
where the capacity needs surpass the available capacity. As laying new fiber is a relatively
expensive alternative for increasing capacity, other methods have been developed. While the
traditional optical networks operate with one wavelength, wavelength division multiplexed
(WDM) networks are able to transport several signals on separate wavelengths over a single,
existing fiber, thus offering an economical way to upgrade network capacity. In WDM, the
optical bandwidth of a link is split into fixed, non-overlapping spectral bands, each band
constituting a wavelength channel that can, independently of other bands, be used for a specific
bit rate and transmission technique.
In the past few years, WDM technology has been widely deployed in long distance point-to-
point links. Currently, WDM systems are evolving from point-to-point links to true networks
where individual wavelength channels may be added and dropped. Also, the wavelength
division multiplexing technology is expected to migrate from long distance applications to
metropolitan and access networks.
As the evolution of optical networking in general depends to a great extent on the available
technology, it is not totally clear what the role of WDM will be in the future. Most likely, WDM
will be used together with time division multiplexing (TDM) or optical time division
multiplexing (OTDM) techniques to further increase transmission capacities in various types of
networks. Undoubtedly, much optical networking research and development activity will take
place in the coming years. So far, significant strides have certainly been made with WDM in the
progress towards a telecommunications market where transmission capacity is a commodity
item, distances are irrelevant and the provided information and services represent the highest
value-added element.
7 References
Alc0798 China Telecom awards Alcatel 3 backbone SDH & DWDM projects in China
Alcatel Press Release, July 8, 1998.
http://www.alcatel.com/press/current/1998/07_08.htm
(version current on November 12, 1998)
G873 Draft ITU-T Recommendation G.873 (ex G.onr): Optical Transport Network
Requirements.
Contribution to T1 Standards Project – T1X1.5.
ftp://ftp.t1.org/pub/t1x1/x15.98/8x151280.pdf
(version current on November 16, 1998)
Luc0398 Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs scientists report world's first long-distance
transmission of a trillion bits of data using 100 colors of light.
Lucent Press Release, March 2, 1998.
http://www.lucent.com/press/0398/980302.bla.html
(version current on November 17, 1998)
LWX1098 All-optical network technology helps drive DWDM component market upward.
Lightwave Xtra! Market Watch, October 1998.
http://www.broadband-guide.com/lw/market/market10982.html
(version current on November 9, 1998)
2 LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................................4
3 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................5
4 OPTICAL NETWORKS....................................................................................................6
4.1 LIGHT PROPAGATION IN AN OPTICAL FIBER......................................................................6
4.2 CAPACITY LIMITS OF OPTICAL TRANSMISSION.................................................................7
4.2.1 Dispersion..............................................................................................................8
Chromatic dispersion........................................................................................................................................8
Modal dispersion..............................................................................................................................................9
Polarization-mode dispersion...........................................................................................................................9
4.2.2 Fiber nonlinearities................................................................................................9
Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS)............................................................................................................10
Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS)...............................................................................................................10
Four-wave mixing (FWM).............................................................................................................................10
Self-phase modulation (SPM) and cross-phase modulation (CPM)................................................................10
4.3 EVOLUTION OF OPTICAL NETWORKS..............................................................................10
4.4 THE OPTICAL LAYER.......................................................................................................12
4.4.1 Services................................................................................................................12
4.4.2 Sublayers..............................................................................................................13
4.4.3 Transparency........................................................................................................14
5 WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (WDM)...............................................16
5.1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................16
5.2 ADVANTAGES..................................................................................................................17
5.3 DEPLOYMENT.................................................................................................................19
5.3.1 North America......................................................................................................19
5.3.2 Europe..................................................................................................................19
5.3.3 Asia......................................................................................................................20
5.3.4 Undersea networks...............................................................................................20
5.4 STANDARDIZATION.........................................................................................................21
5.5 NETWORK ARCHITECTURES............................................................................................23
5.5.1 WDM broadcast and select networks....................................................................23
5.5.2 WDM wavelength routing networks......................................................................24
5.6 KEY COMPONENTS..........................................................................................................25
5.6.1 Couplers...............................................................................................................27
5.6.2 Optical filters........................................................................................................27
Gratings.......................................................................................................................................................... 28
Bragg gratings................................................................................................................................................28
Fiber gratings.................................................................................................................................................28
Fabry-Perot filters..........................................................................................................................................28
Multilayer dielectric thin-film filters..............................................................................................................29
Mach-Zehnder interferometers.......................................................................................................................30
Arrayed waveguide gratings...........................................................................................................................31
Acousto-optic tunable filters..........................................................................................................................32
5.6.3 Circulators...........................................................................................................32
5.6.4 Optical amplifiers.................................................................................................33
Repeatered vs. amplified systems...................................................................................................................33
Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers.......................................................................................................................35
Other types of optical amplifiers....................................................................................................................36
5.7 FUTURE...........................................................................................................................36
5.7.1 Network architectures...........................................................................................36
5.7.2 WDM in metropolitan area and access networks..................................................37
6 SUMMARY.......................................................................................................................38
7 REFERENCES..................................................................................................................39