Seminar Report 03

CONTENTS
Definition and Overview Fundamentals of DWDM Technology Development of DWDM Technology WDM with Two Channels Evolution of DWDM

The Challenges of Today's Telecommunications Network Resolving the Capacity Crisis Capacity Expansion and Flexibility Capacity Expansion Potential DWDM Incremental Growth The Optical Layer as the Unifying Layer Optical Amplifiers Multiplexers and Demultiplexers DWDM System Functions Enabling Technologies Components and Operation Transponders Operation of a Transponder Based DWDM System Key DWDM System Characteristics Conclusion

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Definition
Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) is a fiber-optic transmission technique that employs light wavelengths to transmit data parallel-by-bit or serial-by-character.

Overview
The role of scalable DWDM systems in enabling service providers to accommodate consumer demand for ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth is important. DWDM is discussed as a crucial component of optical networks that allows the transmission of e-mail, video, multimedia, data, and voicecarried in Internet protocol (IP), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), and synchronous optical network/synchronous digital hierarchy (SONET/SDH), respectively, over the optical layer.

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Fundamentals of DWDM Technology

The emergence of DWDM is one of the most recent and important phenomena in the development of fiber optic transmission technology. The functions and components of a DWDM system, including the enabling technologies, and a description of the operation of a DWDM system are discussed below.

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Development of DWDM Technology

Early WDM began in the late 1980s using the two widely spaced wavelengths in the 1310 nm and 1550 nm (or 850 nm and 1310 nm) regions, sometimes called wideband WDM. Figure below shows an example of this simple form of WDM. One of the fiber pair is used to transmit and the other is used to receive. This is the most efficient arrangement and the one most found in DWDM systems.

WDM with Two Channels

The early 1990s saw a second generation of WDM, sometimes called narrowband WDM, in which two to eight channels were used. These channels were now spaced at an interval of about 400 GHz in the 1550nm window. By the mid-1990s, dense WDM (DWDM) systems were emerging with 16 to 40 channels and spacing from 100 to 200 GHz. By the late 1990s DWDM systems had evolved to the point where they were capable of 64 to 160 parallel channels, densely packed at 50 or even 25 GHz intervals.

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The progression of the technology can be seen as an increase in the number of wavelengths accompanied by a decrease in the spacing of the wavelengths. Along with increased density of wavelengths, systems also advanced in their flexibility of configuration, through add-drop functions, and management capabilities.

Evolution of DWDM

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The Challenges Network

of

Today's

Telecommunications

To understand the importance of DWDM and optical networking, these capabilities must be discussed in the context of the challenges faced by the telecommunications industry, and, in particular, service providers. Forecasts of the amount of bandwidth capacity needed for networks were calculated on the presumption that a given individual would only use network bandwidth six minutes of each hour. These formulas did not factor in the amount of traffic generated by Internet access (300 percent growth per year), faxes, multiple phone lines, modems, teleconferencing, and data and video transmission. Had these factors been included, a far different estimate would have emerged. In fact, today many people use the bandwidth equivalent of 180 minutes or more each hour. Therefore, an enormous amount of bandwidth capacity is required to provide the services demanded by consumers. No one could have predicted the network growth necessary to meet the demand. In addition to this explosion in consumer demand for bandwidth, many service providers are coping with fiber exhaust in their networks. An industry survey indicated that in 1995, the amount of embedded fiber already in use in the average network was between 70 percent and 80 percent. Today, many carriers are nearing one hundredpercent capacity utilization across significant portions of their networks. Another problem for carriers is the challenge of deploying and integrating diverse technologies in one physical infrastructure. Customer demands and competitive pressures mandate that carriers offer diverse services economically and deploy them over the embedded network. DWDM provides service providers an answer to that demand.

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Optical Transport to Optical Networking: Evolution of the Phototonics Layer

Use of DWDM allows providers to offer services such as e-mail, video, and multimedia carried as Internet protocol (IP) data over asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and voice carried over SONET/SDH. Despite the fact that these formatsIP, ATM, and SONET/SDHprovide unique bandwidth management capabilities, all three can be transported over the optical layer using DWDM. This unifying capability allows the service provider the flexibility to respond to customer demands over one network.

A platform that is able to unify and interface with these technologies and position the carrier with the ability to integrate current and nextgeneration technologies is critical for a carrier's success.

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Resolving the Capacity Crisis

Faced with the multifaceted challenges of increased service needs, fiber exhaust, and layered bandwidth management, service providers need options to provide an economical solution. One way to alleviate fiber exhaust is to lay more fiber, and, for those networks where the cost of laying new fiber is minimal, this will prove the most economical solution. However, laying new fiber will not necessarily enable the service provider to provide new services or utilize the bandwidth management capability of a unifying optical layer.

A second choice is to increase the bit rate using time division multiplexing (TDM), where TDM increases the capacity of a fiber by slicing time into smaller intervals so that more bits (data) can be transmitted per second. Traditionally, this has been the industry method of choice (DS1, DS2, DS3, etc.). However, when service providers use this approach exclusively, they must make the leap to the higher bit rate in one jump, having purchased more capacity than they initially need. Based on the SONET hierarchy, the next incremental step from 10 Gbps TDM is 40 Gbpsa quantum leap that many believe will not be possible for TDM technology in the near future. This method has also been used with transport networks that are based on either the synchronous optical network (SONET) standard for North America or the synchronous digital network (SDH) standard for international networks.

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Capacity Expansion and Flexibility: DWDM

The third choice for service providers is dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), which increases the capacity of embedded fiber by first assigning incoming optical signals to specific frequencies (wavelength, lambda) within a designated frequency band and then multiplexing the resulting signals out onto one fiber. Because incoming signals are never terminated in the optical layer, the interface can be bit-rate and format independent, allowing the service provider to integrate DWDM technology easily with existing equipment in the network while gaining access to the untapped capacity in the embedded fiber.DWDM combines multiple optical signals so that they can be amplified as a group and transported over a single fiber to increase capacity. Each signal carried can be at a different rate (OC3/12/24, etc.) and in a different format (SONET, ATM, data, etc.) A system with DWDM can achieve all this gracefully while maintaining the same degree of system performance, reliability, and robustness as current transport systemsor even surpassing it. Future DWDM terminals will carry up to 80 wavelengths of OC48, a total of 200 Gbps, or up to 40 wavelengths of OC192, a total of 400 Gbpswhich is enough capacity to transmit 90,000 volumes of an encyclopedia in one second. Increased Network CapacityWDM

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Capacity Expansion Potential

By beginning with DWDM, service providers can establish a grow-asyou-go infrastructure, which allows them to add current and nextgeneration TDM systems for virtually endless capacity expansion. DWDM also gives service providers the flexibility to expand capacity in any portion of their networksan advantage no other technology can offer. Carriers can address specific problem areas that are congested because of high capacity demands. This is especially helpful where multiple rings intersect between two nodes, resulting in fiber exhaust. Capacity Expansion Evolution: A Strategy for the Long Term

Service providers searching for new and creative ways to generate revenue while fully meeting the varying needs of their customers can benefit from a DWDM infrastructure as well. By partitioning and maintaining different dedicated wavelengths for different customers, for example, service providers can lease individual wavelengthsas opposed to an entire fiberto their high-use business customers. Compared with repeater-based applications, a DWDM infrastructure also increases the distances between network elementsa huge benefit

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for long-distance service providers looking to reduce their initial network investments significantly. The fiber-optic amplifier component of the DWDM system enables a service provider to save costs by taking in and amplifying optical signals without converting them to electrical signals. Furthermore, DWDM allows service providers to do it on a broad range of wavelengths in the 1.55m region. For example, with a DWDM system multiplexing up to 16 wavelengths on a single fiber, carriers can decrease the number of amplifiers by a factor of 16 at each regenerator site. Using fewer regenerators in long-distance networks results in fewer interruptions and improved efficiency.

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DWDM Incremental Growth

A DWDM infrastructure is designed to provide a graceful network evolution for service providers who seek to address their customers' ever-increasing capacity demands. Because a DWDM infrastructure can deliver the necessary capacity expansion, laying a foundation based on this technology is viewed as the best place to start. By taking incremental growth steps with DWDM, it is possible for service providers to reduce their initial costs significantly while deploying the network infrastructure that will serve them in the long run.

Some industry analysts have hailed DWDM as a perfect fit for networks that are trying to meet demands for more bandwidth. However, these experts have noted the conditions for this fit: a DWDM system simply must be scalable. Despite the fact that a system of OC 48 interfacing with 8 or 16 channels per fiber might seem like overkill now, such measures are necessary for the system to be efficient even two years from now.

Because OC48 terminal technology and the related operations support systems (OSSs) match up with DWDM systems today, it is possible for service providers to begin evolving the capacity of the TDM systems already connected to their network. Mature OC192 systems can be added later to the established DWDM infrastructure to expand capacity to 40 Gbps and beyond.

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The Optical Layer as the Unifying Layer

Aside from the enormous capacity gained through optical networking, the optical layer provides the only means for carriers to integrate the diverse technologies of their existing networks into one physical infrastructure. DWDM systems are bit-rate and format independent and can accept any combination of interface rates (e.g., synchronous, asynchronous, OC3, 12, 48, or 192) on the same fiber at the same time. If a carrier operates both ATM and SONET networks, the ATM signal does not have to be multiplexed up to the SONET rate to be carried on the DWDM network. Because the optical layer carries signals without any additional multiplexing, carriers can quickly introduce ATM or IP without deploying an overlay network. An important benefit of optical networking is that it enables any type of cargo to be carried on the highway.

But DWDM is just the first step on the road to full optical networking and the realization of the optical layer. The concept of an all-optical network implies that the service provider will have optical access to traffic at various nodes in the network, much like the SONET layer for SONET traffic. Optical wavelength add/drop (OWAD) offers that capability, where wavelengths are added or dropped to or from a fiber, without requiring a SONET terminal. But ultimate bandwidth management flexibility will come with a cross-connect capability on the optical layer. Combined with OWAD and DWDM, the optical cross-connect (OXC) will offer service providers the ability to create a flexible, high-capacity, efficient optical network with full optical bandwidth management.

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Optical Amplifiers
The technology that allows this high-speed, high-volume transmission is in the optical amplifier. Optical amplifiers operate in a specific band of the frequency spectrum and are optimized for operation with existing fiber, making it possible to boost lightwave signals and thereby extend their reach without converting them back to electrical form. Demonstrations have been made of ultrawideband optical-fiber amplifiers that can boost lightwave signals carrying over 100 channels (or wavelengths) of light.

Due to attenuation, there are limits to how long a fiber segment can propagate a signal with integrity before it has to be regenerated. Before the arrival of optical amplifiers (OAs), there had to be a repeater for every signal transmitted. The OA has made it possible to amplify all the wavelengths at once and without optical-electrical-optical (OEO) conversion. Besides being used on optical links, optical amplifiers also can be used to boost signal power after multiplexing or before demultiplexing, both of which can introduce loss into the system.

Multiplexers and Demultiplexers

Because DWDM systems send signals from several sources over a single fiber, they must include some means to combine the incoming signals. This is done with a multiplexer, which takes optical wavelengths from multiple fibers and converges them into one beam. At the receiving end the system must be able to separate out the components of the light so that they can be discreetly detected. Demultiplexers perform this function by separating the received beam into its wavelength components and coupling them to individual fibers. Demultiplexing must be done before the light is detected, because

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photodetectors are inherently broadband devices that cannot selectively detect a single wavelength.

In a unidirectional system, there is a multiplexer at the sending end and a demultiplexer at the receiving end. Two system would be required at each end for bidirectional communication, and two separate fibers would be needed.

Multiplexing and Demultiplexing in a Unidirectional System

In a bidirectional system, there is a multiplexer/demultiplexer at each end and communication is over a single fiber pair. Multiplexing and Demultiplexing in a Bidirectional System

Multiplexers and demultiplexers can be either passive or active in design. Passive designs are based on prisms, diffraction gratings, or filters, while active designs combine passive devices with tunable filters. The primary challenges in these devices is to minimize crosstalk and maximize channel separation.

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DWDM System Functions

At its core, DWDM involves a small number of physical-layer functions. Which shows a DWDM schematic for four channels. Each optical channel occupies its own wavelength.

DWDM Functional Schematic

The system performs the following main functions: Generating the signalThe source, a solid-state laser, must provide stable light within a specific, narrow bandwidth that carries the digital data, modulated as an analog signal. Combining the signalsModern DWDM systems employ

multiplexers to combine the signals. There is some inherent loss associated with multiplexing and demultiplexing. This loss is dependent upon the number of channels but can be mitigated with optical amplifiers, which boost all the wavelengths at once without electrical conversion. Transmitting the signalsThe effects of crosstalk and optical signal degradation or loss must be reckoned with in fiber optic transmission. These effects can be minimized by controlling variables such as channel spacings, wavelength tolerance, and laser

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power levels. Over a transmission link, the signal may need to be optically amplified. Separating the received signalsAt the receiving end, the multiplexed signals must be separated out. Although this task would appear to be simply the opposite of combining the signals, it is actually more technically difficult. Receiving the signalsThe demultiplexed signal is received by a photodetector.

In addition to these functions, a DWDM system must also be equipped with client-side interfaces to receive the input signal. This function is performed by transponders. On the DWDM side are interfaces to the optical fiber that links DWDM systems.

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Enabling Technologies
Optical networking, unlike SONET/SDH, does not rely on electrical data processing. As such, its development is more closely tied to optics than to electronics. In its early form, WDM was capable of carrying signals over two widely spaced wavelengths, and for a relatively short distance. To move beyond this initial state, WDM needed both improvements in existing technologies and invention of new technologies. Improvements in optical filters and narrowband lasers enabled DWDM to combine more than two signal wavelengths on a fiber. The invention of the flat-gain optical amplifier, coupled in line with the transmitting fiber to boost the optical signal, dramatically increased the viability of DWDM systems by greatly extending the transmission distance.

Other technologies that have been important in the development of DWDM include improved optical fiber with lower loss and better optical transmission characteristics, EDFAs, and devices such as fiber Bragg gratings used in optical add/drop multiplexers.

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Components and Operation

DWDM is a core technology in an optical transport network. The essential components of DWDM can be classified by their place in the system as follows: On the transmit side, lasers with precise, stable wavelengths On the link, optical fiber that exhibits low loss and transmission performance in the relevant wavelength spectra, in addition to flatgain optical amplifiers to boost the signal on longer spans On the receive side, photodetectors and optical demultiplexers using thin film filters or diffractive elements Optical add/drop multiplexers and optical cross-connect

components

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Transponders
Transponders convert incoming optical signals into the precise ITUstandard wavelengths to be multiplexed,and are currently a key determinant of the openness of DWDM systems.

Within the DWDM system a transponder converts the client optical signal from back to an electrical signal and performs the 3R functions. This electrical signal is then used to drive the WDM laser. Each transponder within the system converts its client's signal to a slightly different wavelength. The wavelengths from all of the transponders in the system are then optically multiplexed. In the receive direction of the DWDM system, the reverse process takes place. Individual wavelengths are filtered from the multiplexed fiber and fed to individual transponders, which convert the signal to electrical and drive a standard interface to the client.

Transponder Functions

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Operation of a Transponder Based DWDM System

End-to-end operation of a unidirectional DWDM system. Anatomy of a DWDM System

The following steps describe the system shown in Figure above. 1. The transponder accepts input in the form of standard single-mode or multimode laser. The input can come from different physical media and different protocols and traffic types. 2. The wavelength of each input signal is mapped to a DWDM wavelength. 3. DWDM wavelengths from the transponder are multiplexed into a single optical signal and launched into the fiber. The system might also include the ability to accept direct optical signals to the multiplexer; such signals could come, for example, from a satellite node. 4. A post-amplifier boosts the strength of the optical signal as it leaves the system (optional). 5. Optical amplifiers are used along the fiber span as needed (optional). 6. A pre-amplifier boosts the signal before it enters the end system (optional).

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7. The incoming signal is demultiplexed into individual DWDM lambdas (or wavelengths). 8. The individual DWDM lambdas are mapped to the required output type (for example, OC-48 single-mode fiber) and sent out through the transponder.

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References

1. Computer Networks-S.Tenanbaum 2. www.iec.org 3. www.itpapers.com

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I thank God Almighty for the successful completion of my seminar. Sincere feelings of gratitude for Dr.Agnisharman Namboothiri, Head of the Department, Information Technology. I express my heartfelt gratitude to Staff-in-charge, Miss. Sangeetha Jose and Mr. Biju, for their valuable advice and guidance. I would also like to express my gratitude to all other members of the faculty of Information Technology department for their cooperation.

I would like to thank my dear friends, for their kind-hearted cooperation and encouragement.

SHAHAN BABU.P

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ABSTRACT

DWDM(Dense wavelength division multiplexing) is a fiber-optic transmission technique which is an optimal solution to consumer demand for ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth. DWDM is a crucial component of optical networks that resolves capacity crisis, provides flexibility to expand capacity ,enables efficient and cost-effective data transfer and helps to integrate various technologies into single infrastructure.