Coarse wavelength

division multiplexing
(CWDM)
WDM or Dense WDM (DWDM) made a tremendous impact on
the long haul portion of the network by reducing the cost of
bandwidth.

CWDM is primarily deployed as Customer Premises

Equipment (CPE), or in the metro, access portion of the
network.

CWDM is used for storage area networking applications

While DWDM systems are optimized for capacity, CWDM is

optimized for cost.
 CWDM Channel Grid
As the name suggests, CWDM is the technique of combining several optical
channels, which are separated by a wide spacing.
Figure 1 shows the wavelength grid as per ITU-T Recommendation G.694.2 of a
CWDM system overlaid on the loss of a single mode fiber.
Three of the CWDM channels operate close to the high attenuation band caused by
the presence of the Hydroxyl (OH) ions in the fibers. However, newer fiber types such
as Zero Water Peak Fiber (ZWPF) suppress the absorption due to the OH ions, which
ensure that CWDM signals do not experience high attenuation.
Fig.1 CWDM Channel Grid
The CWDM grid wavelengths within the range 1271 nm to 1611 nm are shown in Table 1.
Figure 2: Allocation of Filter Bandwidth
Figure 3. Traditional CWDM System
Figure 4: Open CWDM Systems Standards
Figure 5: Hybrid CWDM and DWDM Systems
Figure 6. Generic Layout of Service Provider Network
Figure 7. CWDM Deployment in a Multi-tenant Unit
 Comparison of CWDM with DWDM;

Sr Key Feature CWDM DWDM

No.

1 Applications Ideal for Short haul Networks Ideal for Long haul Networks

2 Operating bands Full band (O~E) 1260 to 1610 nm can be Only C~L band 1530 to 1620 nm, utilized
utilized (ITU-T G694.2) (ITU-T G 694.1)

3 Channel Spacing Wider wavelength spacing (20nm) Tight wavelength spacing (0.4 nm or less)

4 Transmission Up to 2.5 Gbps Up to 10 Gbps

Capacity

5 No. of Channel Maximum number of channels 18 Hundreds of channels

6 Configuration Used Repeater-less, no EDFA used EDFA is used

7 Ideal Fiber type Zero Water Peak Fiber Non Zero Dispersion Shifted Fiber

8 Laser Used Un-cooled DFB Lasers are cheaper, occupy Cooled DFB Lasers are costlier, occupy 8 times
less space,power consumption 4 watts more space, power consumption 80 watts

9 Filter Filters used are less expensive Sharp Filters required are Costly

10 Repeater less 70 to 200 Km. 100 to 500 Km.

Transmission
Capacity

11 Cost Low cost High cost

 Fig.8 G.695 Black Box approach

Fig. 9 G.695 Linear Black Link approach

Figure 10 Ring "black-link" approach
Fig.-11 Black Box approach for bi-directional application
Figure 12 Linear "black-link" approach for bidirectional applications
Figure 13 Ring "black-link" approach for bidirectional applications