WDM Technology Whitepaper

Introduction to WDM Technology in far superior reliability.

This Whitepaper describes Wavelength Division Mux/Demux
Multiplexing (WDM) Technology. WDM multiplies fiber
capacity by multiplexing optical light signals of different
wavelengths onto a single optical fiber. The technology is
well standardized in the ITU G.695 and G.694 fiber pair
recommendation and widely used in datacom and telecom
applications.

47 Rx 47 Tx
49 Rx 49 Tx
51 Rx 51 Tx
Figure 2: Wavelength signal paths in a 8 ch. Mux/Demux unit.
DEMUX
MUX

53 Rx 53 Tx
Line Tx Line Rx
55 Rx 55 Tx
57 Rx 57 Tx OADM: An Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (OADM) unit
59 Rx 59 Tx
61 Rx 61 Tx terminates a limited subset of wavelength in WDM
systems. OADMs typically add/drop 1, 2 or 4 wavelengths
Figure 1: Illustration of CWDM function with 8 channels. and the remaining wavelengths are bypassed (expressed)
through the fiber. It is possible to reuse the terminated
Due to the physical nature of light, the signals on WDM wavelengths on the remaining span.
wavelengths are completely independent from each other
and data stream with different line-rates and protocols can
be transported on a single fiber or fiber pair. This enables to

OADM

OADM
transport traditional telecom signals (PDH, SDH/SONET) fiber pair fiber pair
IP data (Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet or 10G Ethernet) and
storage data (4G/2G/1G Fibre Channel) over a single
infrastructure without complex protocol conversion tech-
nologies.
To build an embedded WDM systems two components are
necessary: Figure 3: Signal paths in a 1ch. OADM with wavelength reuse.
? Optical Multiplexer Units (OMU) which combine and
split light signals of WDM wavelengths The ability to reuse wavelengths in OADMs enables
? WDM transceivers, which generate light signal of network designers to build redundant WDM networks. With
specific WDM wavelengths protection switching usually taken care of in the client
This paper does not take active or amplified WDM equipment.
systems into consideration, as modern active WDM (a) (d)
systems are based on the same type of WDM transceiver
and filters.
(b) (c)
CWDM and DWDM
WDM comes in two flavours; CWDM and DWDM.
Coarse WDM is a robust technology able to create 16
channels at 2.5 Gbps and was first to adapt transceivers
footprints. CWDM is typically used for un-amplified
Figure 4: Point-to-Point link with two OADMs.
transmission up to 120 km.
Dense WDM uses cooled lasers and can be amplified.
DWDM transceivers first became available to the market in Figure 4. illustrates a point-to-point system with two
2005. DWDM transmission allows the transmission OADMs. The first OADM creates one wavelength path
distance to be extended further, because optical amplifers from (a) to (b). The second OADM generates two
and associated components can be used. 10 Gbps wavelength paths from (a) to (c) and (c) to (d). The 8 ch.
transmission usually requires DWDM. Mux/Demux units have six remaining wavelength paths
from (a) to (d).
Passive Mux/Demux filters
Mux/Demux: A Mux/Demux unit terminates all wavelength Designing WDM Networks
on the WDM system and is at the heart of point-to-point When comparing design complexity of a WDM and non-
connections. The optical combining and splitting of WDM network, only the additional WDM filter losses have
wavelengths is a passive technology and a Mux/Demux to be taken into account. All other design parameters
unit requires neither electrical power nor software resulting remain equal to a non-WDM approach.

SmartOptics AS
Phone: +47 213 79 180
Mail: info@smartoptics.com
www.smartoptics.com Rev 1.2
 WDM transceivers
Optical transceivers exist in a wide range of different form-
factors, data-rates and functions. The laser transmitter of a
WDM transceivers must meet the ITU criteria for CWDM
and/or DWDM. The receivers are usually wavelength
independent, but two different types of receivers exist. A
PIN photo diode based receiver is much lower in cost than
the high sensitivity APD (avalanche photo diode) based
receiver.
Case Study 1 - 10G WDM in Backbone Networks
WDM is an attractive technology for increasing capacity in
area\s where fiber is exhausted. Fiber exhaust exists due
to a limited installed fiber base, swapping of fiber between
operators or expensive leasing/buying of fibers. The
Return of Investment for installing WDM instead of leasing,
buying or installing new fiber is usually calculated in
months.
SDH 2.5G SDH 2.5G

The modules are hot pluggable and digital diagnostic GigE GigE

MUX/DEMUX
MUX/DEMUX
GigE GigE
functions are available enabling optical power level GigE
10GigE
GigE
10GigE
monitoring and advanced alarm settings.

CWDM is typically used for data-rates up to 4.25 Gbps and

whilst DWDM can be used for 2.5 Gbps it is required Figure 6:Point-to-Point WDM Network.
transport data-rates around 10Gbps. Below is a table
showing typical parameters for data-rate and distance for Here the fiber costs, which is often a significant part of the
common WDM transceivers. operational costs, are reduced by 80%. Additional
wavelengths/capacity can easily be added by introducing
SFP_________________________________________ new wavelengths. This does not disturb or interrupt the
CWDM PIN 100 Mbps - 2.5 Gbps 40 km - 50 km existing traffic.
CWDM APD 100 Mbps - 2.5 Gbps 80 km - 100 km
DWDM APD 100 Mbps - 2.5 Gbps 80 km - 120 km Case Study 2 - CWDM in Broadband Access Network
CWDM PIN Gigabit Ethernet 80 km One of the operators dilemmas in broadband access
CWDM APD Gigabit Ethernet 150 km networks is the capacity requirements in the second mile
CWDM PIN 4x/2x/1x Fibre Channel 50 km from the access terminal (xDSL, CaTV, FTTH, ETTH) to
CWDM APD 4x/2x/1x Fibre Channel 80 km the central office. Today’s focus is on delivering TV
services over an IP/Ethernet network, but tomorrow’s
Please note, that DWDM SFPs can only be used in equipment prepared
for DWDM SFPs.
focus will be driven by on-demand services. Capacity
requirements from on-demand services predict much
XENPAK______________________________________ higher traffic volume from central office to access
XENPAK DWDM 10G Ethernet 80 km terminals. 2 Gbps per access terminal enables video-on-
demand services and allows operators to generate
XFP ______________________________________ additional revenue streams.
XFP DWDM PIN 10G Ethernet 40 km CWDM offers the best and most cost efficient approach of
XFP DWDM APD 10G Ethernet 80 km delivering 2 Gbps to the access network. The network
architecture is illustrated below:
Please note, that DWDM XFPs and XENPAKs can be used in al
PSN
equipment supporting XFPs and XENPAKs.
CMTS BRAS
WWW

Fibe
r

IP-DSLAM

FTTH/ETTH

Figure 5: Picture of a 4.25 Gbps Fibre Channel CWDM SFP.

Recommendation
Many operators who currently do not have the capacity
requirement to deploy WDM can prepare their network for
future upgrades by purchasing WDM transceivers (eg
1000Base-CWDM GBIC/SFPs instead of 1000Base-ZX
GBIC/SFPs). WDM transceivers have a marginal higher
cost than their non-WDM long distance counterparts.
Later on, the network operators can simply add passive
filters and additional wavelengths and therefore do not
have to replace the existing transceivers.
SmartOptics AS
Phone: +47 213 79 180
Mail: info@smartoptics.com
www.smartoptics.com
Figure 7: A hubbed CWDM network for broadband access.
The central-office is populated with Mux/Demux units
terminating all wavelengths. The access terminals are
populated with OADMs for wavelength reuse. The logical
connection in this architecture is protected point-to-point
wavelength connections between central office and
access terminals. In normal operation each access
terminal receives 2 Gbps capacity, in case of a fiber cut 1
Gbps capacity survives.
Rev 1.2