Optical Networks

Overview
Network Concepts Network Topologies SONET/SDH High-Speed Light wave Links Optical Add/Drop Multiplexing WDM Network Examples Passive Optical Networks IP over DWDM Optical Ethernet Generations of Optical NWs
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Network Terminology
Stations are devices that network subscribers use to communicate. A network is a collection of interconnected stations. A node is a point where one or more communication lines terminate. A trunk is a transmission line that supports large traffic loads. The topology is the logical manner in which nodes are linked together by information transmitting channels to form a network.

Segments of a Public Network

A local area network interconnects users in a large room or work area, a department, a home, a building, an office or factory complex, or a group of buildings. A campus network interconnects a several LANs in a localized area. A metro network interconnects facilities ranging from buildings located in several city blocks to an entire city and the metropolitan area surrounding it. An access network encompasses connections that extend from a centralized switching facility to individual businesses, organizations, and homes.

Protocol Stack Model

The physical layer refers to a physical transmission medium The data link layer establishes, maintains, and releases links that directly connect two nodes The function of the network layer is to deliver data packets from source to destination across multiple network links.

Network Layering Concept

Network architecture: The general physical arrangement and operational characteristics of communicating equipment together with a common set of communication protocols Protocol: A set of rules and conventions that governs the generation, formatting, control, exchange, and interpretation of information sent through a telecommunication network or that is stored in a database Protocol stack: Subdivides a protocol into a number of individual layers of manageable and comprehensible size
The lower layers govern the communication facilities. The upper layers support user applications by structuring and organizing data for the needs of the user.
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Optical Layer
The optical layer is a wavelengthbased concept and lies just above the physical layer
The physical layer provides a physical connection between two nodes The optical layer provides lightpath services over that link

The optical layer processes include wavelength multiplexing, adding and dropping wavelengths, and support of optical switching

 The SONET/SDH standards enable the interconnection of fiber optic transmission equipment from various vendors through multiple-owner trunk networks. The basic transmission bit rate of the basic SONET signal is In SDH the basic rate is 155.52 Mb/s.

SONET/SDH

Basic formats of (a) an STS-N SONET frame and (b) an STM-N SDH frame
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Common values of OC-N and STM-N

OC stands for optical carrier. It has become common to refer to SONET links as OC-N links. The basic SDH rate is 155.52 Mb/s and is called the synchronous transport modulelevel 1 (STM-1).

SONET/SDH Rings
SONET and SDH can be configured as either a ring or mesh architecture SONET/SDH rings are self-healing rings because the traffic flowing along a certain path can be switched automatically to an alternate or standby path following failure or degradation of the link segment Two popular SONET and SDH networks:
2-fiber, unidirectional, path-switched ring (2-fiber UPSR) 2-fiber or 4-fiber, bidirectional, line-switched ring (2-fiber or 4-fiber BLSR)

Generic 2-fiber UPSR with a counter-rotating protection path

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BLSR Recovery from Failure Modes

If a primary-ring device fails in either node 3 or 4, the affected nodes detect a loss-of-signal condition and switch both primary fibers connecting these nodes to the secondary protection pair If an entire node fails or both the primary and protection fibers in a given span are severed, the adjacent nodes switch the primary-path connections to the protection fibers, in order to loop traffic back to the previous node.

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High-Speed Multimode Links

Multimode fibers with different bandwidth grades exist for 10Gb/s use

A link may contain a mixture of fibers, e.g. OM2 and OM3. The fiber bandwidths determine the effective maximum link length Lmax. If all geometric parameters of the interconnected OM2 and OM3 fibers are the same, then

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Optical Add/Drop Multiplexing

An optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM) allows the insertion or extraction of one or more wavelengths from a fiber at a network node. Most OADMs are constructed using WDM elements such as a series of dielectric thin-film filters, a set of liquid crystal devices, or a series of fiber Bragg gratings used in conjunction with optical circulators. The OADM architecture depends on factors such as the number of wavelengths to be dropped/added, the OADM modularity for upgrading flexibility, and what groupings of wavelengths should be processed.

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Reconfigurable OADM (ROADM)

ROADMs can be reconfigured by a network operator within minutes from a remote network-management console. ROADM architectures include wavelength blockers, arrays of small switches, and wavelength-selective switches. ROADM features:
Wavelength dependence. When a ROADM is independent of wavelength, it is colorless or has colorless ports. ROADM degree is the number of bidirectional multiwavelength interfaces the device supports. Example: A degree-2 ROADM has 2 bidirectional WDM interfaces and a degree-4 ROADM supports 4 bidirectional WDM interfaces. Express channels allow a selected set of wavelengths to pass through the node without the need for OEO conversion.

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Wavelength Blocker Configuration

The simplest ROADM configuration uses a broadcast-and-select approach:

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Optical Burst Switching(OBS)

Optical burst switching provides an efficient solution for sending high-speed bursty traffic over WDM networks. Bursty traffic has long idle times between the busy periods in which a large number of packets arrive from users.

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Passive Optical Networks (PONs)

A passive optical network (PON) uses CWDM over a single bidirectional optical fiber. Only passive optical components guide traffic from the central office to the customer premises and back to the central office.
In the central office, combined data and digitized voice are sent downstream to customers by using a 1490-nm wavelength. The upstream (customer to central office) uses a 1310-nm wavelength. Video services are sent downstream using a 1550-nm wavelength.

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Active PON Modules

The optical line termination (OLT) is located in a central office and controls the bidirectional flow of information across the network. An optical network termination (ONT) is located directly at the customer premises. The ONT provides an optical connection to the PON on the upstream side and to interface electrically to the local customer equipment. An optical network unit (ONU) is similar to an ONT, but is located near the customer and is housed in an outdoor equipment shelter.

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PON Protection Methods

PON failure protection mechanisms include a fully redundant 1 + 1 protection and a partially redundant 1:N protection.

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IP over DWDM
Early IP networks had redundant management functions in each layer, so this layering method was not efficient for transporting IP traffic. An IP-SONET-DWDM architecture using Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) provides for the efficient designation, routing, forwarding, and switching of traffic flows through the network.

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Optical Ethernet
The IEEE has approved the 802.3ah Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) standard. The first mile is the network infrastructure that connects business or residential subscribers to the Central Office of a telecom carrier or a service provider.
Three EFM physical transport schemes are: 1. Individual point-to-point (P2P) links 2. A single P2P link to multiple users 3. A single bidirectional PON

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Generations of Optical NWs

First Generation Optical Networks

Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
Synchronous Optical Network/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SONET/SDH)

Second Generation Optical Networks

Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) Optical Networking Components Wavelength Routing Networks

Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)

Dates back to the early 1980s FDDI uses token-passing scheme Uses two fiber pairs, each operating at 100 Mbits/s. Data rates approaching 90% of its 100 MB/s operating rate FDDI was, and in some locations still is, commonly used at the Internet Service Provider (ISP) peering points that provide interconnections between ISPs. Relatively expensive

FDDI Position in the OSI Reference Model

FDDI is defined as the two bottom layers of the seven-layer OSI reference model It provides a transport facility for higher-level protocols such as TCP/IP

Physical layer is subdivided into:

physical-medium-dependent (PMD) sublayer defines the details of the fiberoptic cable used the physical (PHY) layer specifies encoding/decoding and clocking operation

FDDI 4B/5B Coding

The selection of the 4B/5B coding was based on the need to reduce the signaling level from 200 MHz to a 125-MHz rate (cost reduction) Each bit is encoded using non-returnto-zero-inversion (NRZI) transmission Because 4 bits are encoded into 5 bits, this means there are 16, 4-bit patterns. Those patterns were selected to ensure that a transition is present at least twice for each 5-bit code.
DC balance: important for thresholding at receiver For some input data sequences the worst case DC unbalance is 10%

Because 5-bit codes are used, the remaining symbols provide special meanings or represent invalid symbols. Special symbols

I symbol is used to exchange handshaking between neighboring stations, J and K symbols are used to form the Start Delimiter for a packet,
which functions as an alert to a receiver that a packet is arriving.

FDDI Fiber Specifications

OPTICAL FIBER SUPPORT
FDDI can support 62.5/125-, 50/125-, and 100/140-m multimode fiber sizes. Maximum distance 2 Km. Core/Cladding FDDI also supports the use of single-mode fiber,
Long-distance transmission (up to 40 Km) FDDI single-mode fiber is commonly specified as 8/125, 9/125, and 10/125.

OPTICAL TRANSMITTER
850, 1300, and 1550 nm 850 and 1300 nm for multimode fiber 1300 and 1500 nm for single-mode fiber For single-mode fiber laser diodes must be used

ATTENUATION
For multimode fiber
PMD standard specifies a power budget of 11.0 dB Maximum cable attenuation is 1.5 dB/km at 1300 nm.

single-mode fiber
power budget extends from 10 to 32 dB

this means that up to 11 dB of the optical signal can be lost.

FDDI Ring Structure

FDDI backbone consists of two separate fiber-optic rings, primary ring: active secondary ring: on hold, Station Types Class A:dual-attachment stations, Class B: single-attachment station.

SONET/SDH(1)
Current transmission and multiplexing standard for high speed signals North America: Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) Europe, Japan and rest of the world: Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) Prior to SONET and SDH: Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) 4KHz sampled at 8KHz quantized at 8 bits per sample 64kb/s Transmission rates for PDH Level 0 1 2 3 4 North America [Mb/s] DS0 0.064 E1 E2 E3 E4 DS1/T1 1.544 DS2/T2 6.312 DS3/T3 44.736 139.264 Europe [Mb/s] 0.064 2.048 8.448 34.368 139.264 Japan [Mb/s] 0.064 1.544 6.312 32.064 97.728

 PDH versus SONET/SDH Multiplexing

SONET/SDH(2)

PDH: Difficult to pick low bit rate stream from high bit rate stream In PDH, clocks of lower bit streams are not perfectly synchronous
Higher rates are not integral multiples of 64Kb/s Bit stuffing needed Mulltiplexers and Demultiplexers complicated

In SONET/SDH a master clock is usedMUX and DEMUX much easier

Management
Unlike PDH, SONET/SDH standards are rich of management and traffic performance monitoring information

Interoperability
SONET/SDH define standard optical interfaces PDH: different vendors define different line coding, optical interfaces,...

Networking
SONET/SDH: Service restoration time is less than 60 ms PDH: restoration time is several seconds to minutes

 SONET/SDH Lower speed PDH is mapped into synchronous payload envelope (SPE), or synchronous container in SDH Path overhead bytes are added to the SPE
Path overhead unchanged during transmission Allows PDH monitoring end-to-end

SONET/SDH(3)

SPE+path overhead = virtual tributary VT (container in SDH) VT may be placed at different points within a frame (125 s) Many small VTs can be multiplexed into a larger VT (see next slide) The overhead of each VT includes a pointer to smaller VTs multiplexed into the payload of the larger VT This hierarchical structure simplifies extraction of low speed stream from high speed stream

SONET/SDH(4)
Hierarchical multiplexing structure employed in SONET and SDH Big VT

Small VT
Pointer
Pointer Pointer Pointer

Small VT
Smaller VT

Small VT

In SONET: VTs with four sizes VT1.5, VT2, VT3, VT6 that carry 1.5, 2, 3, 6 Mb/s PDH streams VT group = 4 VT1.5s or 3 VT2s or 2 VT3s or a single VT6 Basic SONET SPE (STS-1) = 7 VT groups = 51.84 Mb/s STS-N = N STS-1 (byte interleaved) STS = Synchronous Transport Signal
STM-1 = synchronous Transport Module = 155 MB/s

SONET/SDH(5)
DS1 1.544 Mb/s VT1.5 SPE E1 2.048 Mb/s VT2 SPE DS1C 3.152 Mb/s VT2 VT1.5

The mapping of lower-speed PDH streams into VTs in Optical Carrier SONET (SPE + path overhead)
4 3 2 SONET Signal SDH signal STM-1 STM-4 Bit rate [Mb/s]

STS-1 VT group
STS-3 (OC-3) STS-12 (OC-12) 7 byte interleaved STS-24 STS-48 (OC-48) STS-192 (OC192) STM-16 STM-64

51.84
155.52 622.08 1244.16 2488.32 9953.28

VT3 SPE
DS2 6.312 Mb/s VT6 SPE DS3 44.736 Mb/s ATM 48.384 Mb/s E4 139.264 Mb/s ATM 149.760 Mb/s

VT3
1 VT6

STS-1 SPE

STS-1

STS-N STS-3c SPE STS-3c

N/3

Locked payload: not possible to demultiplex into lower-speed streams

Optical Layers(1)
User applications Virtual circuits Virtual circuits Virtual circuits

ATM layer
SONET/SDH connections SONET/SDH layer Lightpaths ATM layer

Enterprise Serial Connection ESCON layer

Optical layer

Physical Layer First generation networks:

Point-to-point, full bandwidth over single wavelength to layers above

Second generation networks:

Variable amounts of bandwidth Optical layer: Provide lightpaths to varaity of first-generation optical layers

Optical Layers(2)
Optical Channel Optical Channel

Example: SONET over optical layer

Path Line Section Physical Channel Multiplex Section Amplifier Section
Optical layer SONET/SDH layer

Multiplex Section
Amplifier Section Amplifier Section

Multiplex Section
Amplifier Section

Multiplex Section
Amplifier Section

connection
WDM node Amplifier WDM node WDM node

Optical layer OC (lightpath layer): end-to-end connections

Each lightpath traverses a number of links, each link carries multiple wavelengths (WDM).

Optical multiplex section OMS: point-to-point

Consists of several segments

WDM OPTICAL NETWORKS

Considerable increase in traffic became a driving force for WDM and its evolution into dense WDM (DWDM). WDM refers to the technology of combining multiple wavelengths onto the same optical fiber. Each wavelength is a different channel. At the transmitting end, there are W independent transmitters. Each transmitter Tx is a light source, such as a laser, and is independently modulated with a data stream. The output of each transmitter is an optical signal on a unique wavelength i , i = 1, 2, . . . , W. WDM: ~200 GHz spacing DWDM: ~50 GHz spacing

Wavelength Routing Optical Networks

Lightpaths
Circuit-switched network. This connection is a circuit-switching connection and is established by using a wavelength on each hop along the connections path.

Exmaple
Lightpaths from router A to C over OXCs 1 and 2; from B to D over OXCs 1 and 3; and from C to D over OXCs 2 and 3. OXC 3 contains wavelength converter Assumed single fiber carrying W wavelengths, Unidirectional transmission.

References
REFERENCES:
Rajiv Ramaswami and Kumar N. Sivarjan, Optical Networks, A practical Perspective, Morgan Kaufmann. Keiser , Optical Communications, PHI Gilbert Held, Deploying Optical Networking Components, McGraw-Hill. GOVIND P. AGRAWAL, Fiber-Optic Communications Systems, Wiley & Sons.