Optical Training

Basics

Matthias Foerster, Amsterdam September 2nd/3rd

 Outline
• WDM basics
– Optical spectrum
– Optical fiber
– Optical impairments
• WDM systems
– Terminal
– Amplifier
– Dispersion compensation
– OADM
– Special case – 100G
• WDM Market
• WDM Applications addressed by Sorrento
– Enterprise Networks
– Data Center Connectivity
 What is WDM - School Physics Lesson

White light

Spectrum

Glass prism

Wavelength Division Multiplexing : combining and separating lightwaves

 Optical Spectrum

15xx nm

The lightwaves we use are not visible to the human eye (infrared)
Wavelength/Attenuation
 Optical fiber types
Multi-mode and Single Mode

n2 Cladding
Multi-mode Fiber (MMF)
Core diameter: 50  m or 62.5  m Core
Cladding diameter 125  m n1 Core
Bit rate-distance product >500 MHz-km

Cladding

n2 Cladding
Single Mode Fiber (SMF)
Core diameter: 9  m Core
n1 Core
Cladding diameter 125  m
Bit rate-distance product >100 THz-km
Cladding

The core is ~ 10 x smaller than the human hair

 Optical Fiber Constraints
Attenuation

A fibre has a ‘loss’ which represents the power used to travel

a certain distance (typically < 0.25 dB per km)

Dispersion Input Output

Pulse Pulse

Lig
ht T1 Optical Fiber T2
T2 > T1

fi+j-k=2

Fiber non-linearities
Spectral Density
fi+j-k=1 f i+j-k=3

means that new spectral components f i+j-k=-2

f i+j-k=-1 fi+j-k=1
f i+j-k=2
– noise signals! – can potentially be generated
f1 f2 f3 f
[Stimulated Brilliouin Scattering (SBS), Self phase modulation (SPM), Frequency

Polarisation mode dispersion (PMD), Cross phase modulation (XPM),

Four wave mixing]
 Outline
• WDM basics
– Optical spectrum
– Optical fiber
– Optical impairments
• WDM systems
– Terminal
– Amplifier
– Dispersion compensation
– OADM
– Special case – 100G
• WDM Market
• WDM Applications addressed by Sorrento
– Enterprise Networks
– Data Center Connectivity
 What is WDM – engineering lesson
Data Channel 1
Optical
Data Channel 2 Fibre

Optical filters
Data Channel 3

Data Channel n

 Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) combines a number of

data channels onto a single fibre pair.
 Each channel is transmitted on a separate colour.
 The channels are combined using optical filters.
 WDM Transmission Over Fiber
FSP FSP
Ethernet Ethernet
O/E/O O/E/O
FICON Transmission over fiber FICON
O/E/O O/E/O
FC O/E/O FC
O/E/O

SDH O/E/O O/E/O SDH

Sonet Sonet

CWDM (Coarse WDM) 20 nm spacing

8/16 wavelengths

DWDM (Dense WDM) 100/50 GHz spacing

32/40/80/96 C-band wavelengths
120 C/L-band wavelengths

WDM multiplies fiber capacity; is able to support any bitrate and protocol
 Basic elements of a WDM system
l1 l1
Tx Rx

l2 l2
Tx Rx
OADM Amp
l3 l1,2,3,4 l3
Tx Rx
l1 l1 l4
l4 Rx
Tx Multi-
Rx Tx
wavelength
Optical Filter optical
(multiplexer) Optical ADM Optical Filter
amplifier
• Combines optical (fixed or • Amplifies all
(demultiplexer)
signals onto one • Splits the optical signal
fiber
ROADM) transmitted
wavelengths without into different
• Provides access O/E/O wavelengths
to all or selected
Transponder wavelengths
• Optical/electrical/optical without O/E/O
conversion
• 3R (re-timing, re-shaping,
re-amplification)
• Defines transmit wavelength
• Wideband receiver
 A closer look - WDM Terminal Node

Shelf
communication
Shelf NE Routing or
Controller Controller OSC card
OSC

SFP
SFP SFP
To/from
Services SFP SFP
Switch
SFP
WDM link
Trunk
Channel
Card WDM Filter Switch Amplifier OSC Filter

Transpoder
Amplifier
turns service signal
amplifies line signal
into colored line signal
(all wavelengthes)
(and vice versa)l WDM Multiplexer
multiplexes several transponder
output signals onto one fiber
(and vice versa)
 Amplifier Application Scenarios

Pre-amplifier

Transponder

DMX
MUX
Tx Rx Transponder
Transmitter Receiver

Inline amplifier

Transponder Transponder
MUX

DMX
Tx Rx
Transmitter Receiver

Booster amplifier

Transponder
MUX

Transponder

DMX
Tx Rx
Transmitter Receiver
 What is a ROADM ?
• ROADM = Reconfigurable Optical ADD & DROP Multiplexer
• A ROADM is an optical network element which is capable to pass through
any separate wavelength between DWDM node line interfaces and
add/drop any separate wavelength from DWDM line interfaces to add/drop
ports.
• The re-configurability is software based. Therefore remote re-configuration
via management systems is possible.
• In general a ROADM is optical transparent. This means that the ROADM is
transparent for the data-rate, the framing or the modulation format of the
wavelengths.
• ROADM types and functionalities:
• 2 degree ROADM
• Multi degree ROADM
• Directionless add/drop
• Colorless add/drop
• Gridless ROADM
• Contentionless ROADM
• More or less any combination of node types and functionalities
 Dispersion Compensation

Chromatic dispersion
If different spectral components of the light signal travel at different speeds the transmitted
pulses will become broader. Therefore pulses will overlap which can only be tolerated to a
certain extend at a given data rate or nominal pulse width. If the overlap becomes too large
detection won’t be possible anymore. Therefore chromatic dispersion has to be
compensated. The level of compensation depends on the data rate and limits total distance.

Polarization mode dispersion (PMD)

Two polarization modes are transmitted in single-mode fibers. A good example is circular
polarization with its two modes: left turning and right turning. In case of dispersion both
modes travel at different speeds which again will make light pulses broader. This effect can
be compensated as well although technological complexity is much higher than in the
chromatic case. PMD constraints are very critical at ultra high data rates (40 and 100Gbit/s)
and/or ultra long distances.
 Simplification of optical line with 100G

Conventional 10Gb/s optical link with DCMs, double-stage amplifiers

Tx Rx
DCF DCF DCF DCF

100Gb/s optical link using coherent technology, single stage amplifiers

DP- QPSK
Signal DSP

Tx Rx

Fiber Effects: CD, PMD, PDL

Something Sorrento dreamed about…

 Outline
• WDM basics
– Optical spectrum
– Optical fiber
– Optical impairments
• WDM systems
– Terminal
– Amplifier
– Dispersion compensation
– OADM
– Special case – 100G
• WDM Market
• WDM Applications addressed by Sorrento
– Enterprise Networks
– Data Center Connectivity
DWDM Market in a Nutshell
Monthly IP traffic
The Motivation

Globally, IP traffic will grow 4-fold

from 2010 to 2015 (32% CAGR).
The average IP traffic will reach
245 Tb/s in 2015.

Packet optical transport & new optical core layer are required.
 Outline
• WDM basics
– Optical spectrum
– Optical fiber
– Optical impairments
• WDM systems
– Terminal
– Amplifier
– Dispersion compensation
– OADM
– Special case – 100G
• WDM Market
• WDM Applications addressed by Sorrento
– Enterprise Networks
– Data Center Connectivity
 Private Enterprise Networks

Highest Availability

Lowest Latency

Maximum Security
Primary Data Center Backup Data Center

~ 90% of Sorrento’s Business

 Data Center Connectivity Solution
FC FC
Storage Storage
Synchronuos Disk Mirror

FC Fiber FC
Switch Switch

LAN Connectivity

DCB DCB
Switch Switch

Moving VMs (Virtual Machines)

Workload, BC/DR
Blade Servers
Blade Servers
- virtual Images
- virtual Images
- I/O Consolidation
- I/O Consolidation
10G FCoE/DCB Legend
10G FCoE/DCB
GbE
8/16G FC
FCoE/DCB

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