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Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
Course Objectives:
·To master the purpose of DWDM networks and applicable
environments
Reference:
·Optical Wavelength Division Multiplexing System
1.1.2 Evolution of Transmission Technology in Optical Network (PDH, SDH and DWDM)........ 2
i
3.2 Light Source Technology.................................................................................................................40
3.3.1 Overview...............................................................................................................................42
3.4.1 Overview...............................................................................................................................47
ii
4.4 Two-Fiber Bidirectional Channel Shared Protection ...................................................................... 71
Appendix A Abbreviations.......................................................................................................................... 77
-iii-
1 Introduction to DWDM
Key points
With the constant development of wide-band and high-rate services in the information
era, not only larger capacity and longer distance, but also convenient and rapid
exchanges are needed for optical transmission systems. Then the multiplexing
technology is introduced into optical transmission systems. This technology enables the
transmission of multiple-channel signals through a single fiber or fiber cable with the
broad frequency band and large-capacity features of fibers. In transmission systems for
multiple signals, the multiplexing mode affects the performance and cost of the system
greatly.
The multiplexing technology of fiber optic transmission network has gone through
three development stages: Space Division Multiplexing (SDM), Time Division
Multiplexing (TDM), and Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM).
The SDM technology features simple design and practicability. But it requires that the
quantity of fiber transmission cores must be configured in accordance with the quantity
1
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
The traditional fiber optic transmission technologies, such as PDH and SDH, employ
the one-wavelength-in-one-fiber transmission mode. Due to the restriction caused by
the characteristics of their own components, neither the transmission capacity nor the
capacity expansion mode can meet the requirements of the rapid development of
communication networks, leaving the massive bandwidth resources of fibers far from
being fully exploited.
The DWDM technology allows the transmission of multiple wavelengths over a single
fiber, which has become the most economical and practical means for the fiber capacity
expansion. With its unique technical advantages, the DWDM technology becomes a
simple and economical means to expand the fiber transmission capacity in a rapid and
effective manner. It can fully meet the current needs of the network broadband service
development and lays a solid foundation for the development of the future fully-optical
transmission network.
The development process of PDH, SDH and DWDM, and the interface specifications
of each technology are briefly described as follows.
1. PDH
The early optical transmission system uses PDH, which introduced Pulse Code
Modulation (PCM) digital transmission technology based on the former analog
telephone network. It multiplexes signals at low rate level into high-speed
signals by means of bit stuffing and byte interleaving.
The signals of the primary group of the PDH system adopts the synchronous
TDM mode, and the multiplexing of other high-order groups adopts
plesiochronous (or called asynchronous) TDM mode.
2
Chapter 1 Introduction to DWDM
The PDH system includes three kinds of regional rate level standards
respectively for Europe, North America, and Japan, as listed in Table 1.1-1.
Country/
Primary Group Secondary Group Tertiary Group Quartus Group
Region
8.448 Mbit/s 34.368 Mbit/s 139.264 Mbit/s
Europe and 2.048 Mbit/s
120 channels 480 channels 1920 channels
China 30 channels
(30×4) (120×4) (480×4)
6.312 Mbit/s 44.736 Mbit/s 274.176 Mbit/s
North 1.544 Mbit/s
96 channels 672 channels 4032 channels
America 24 channels
(24×4) (96×7) (672×6)
6.312 Mbit/s 32.064 Mbit/s 97.728 Mbit/s
1.544 Mbit/s
Japan 96 channels 480 channels 1440 channels
24 channels
(24×4) (96×5) (480×3)
From early 1970's to 1980's, the PDH system and devices were popularly used
in the digital network. However, along with the developing fiber communication
technology and user's increasing demands for communication services, the
disadvantages of PDH can not be ignored any longer.
1) The compatibility between the three rate standards is not available, which
obstructs the development of international interconnection.
4) The operation, management, and maintenance must depend upon manual digital
signal cross-connection and service-suspension test, which cannot meet the
monitoring and network management requirements of the modern
communication network.
5) Along with the rate increase, it is more and more difficult to implement
3
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
2. SDH
The SDH signals use the synchronous multiplexing mode and a flexible
multiplexing and mapping structure. Code streams at different levels are
arranged regularly in the payload of the frame structure. The payload is
synchronous with the network, so the corresponding software can be used to
directly demultiplex a high-speed signal into the low-speed tributary signal at a
time, called “one-step” demultiplexing”.
The rate specifications of the SDH system are shown in Table 1.1-2.
SDH standardizes the features of the digital signals, such as frame structure,
multiplexing mode, transmission rate level, and interface code pattern. It
provides a frame that is supported globally, on which a world-class telecom
transmission network has been developed, featuring flexibility, reliability and
easy management. This kind of transmission network is easy to expand and
applicable to the development of the new telecom services. In addition, it makes
possible the interworking between the devices of different manufacturers.
When the transmission rate exceeds 10 Gbit/s, however, the system dispersion
and other negative influences increase difficulty of long-distance transmission.
Furthermore, the SDH system is the TDM system based on single wavelength.
4
Chapter 1 Introduction to DWDM
3. DWDM
In the DWDM system, each optical channel can bear different customer signals,
such as SDH signal, PDH optical signal and ATM signal.
Since the optical fiber communication and its networking technologies have
unique advantages in accommodating multi-service and broadband requirements,
the high-speed SDH system, N×2.5 Gbit/s and N×10 Gbit/s DWDM systems
have become the major part and backbone of the core network.
5
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
The advantage of TDM is that the fixed arrangement of time slots makes it
flexible to adjust and control these time slots. Thus the TDM mode is applicable
to the transmission of data information.
The drawback of the TDM mode is low utilization ratio of lines. When a signal
source has no data for transmission, its corresponding channel will be idle. At
the same time, other busy channels can not make use of this idle channel. And
due to the limitation of high-speed electron devices and modulation capability of
lasers, transmission systems with capacity over 40 Gbit/s can not be achieved.
Therefore, it is difficult to upgrade lines and expand the network capacity with
the TDM technology.
The SDM technology divides the space into different channels to implement
wavelength multiplexing. For example, more cores or fibers are involved in the
optical cable to form different channels.
The SDM technology is easy for design and practice, but it requires that fiber
cores of certain number must be configured according to the channel quantity of
signals to be multiplexed. And this results in poor investment profit.
6
Chapter 1 Introduction to DWDM
The SCM technology is mainly used in the Cable Television (CATV) multi-band
transmission system of access networks.
In early 1970's, this multiplexing technology only used two wavelengths: one in
1310 nm window and the other in 1550 nm window. It implemented single-fiber
dual-window transmission through the WDM technology, which was the initial
wavelength division multiplexing case.
2) CWDM
The CWDM technology refers to the WDM technology with large spacing
(usually no less than 20 nm) between adjacent wavelengths. Generally, the
wavelength quantity is 4 or 8 (16 at most). The CWDM uses 1200 nm - 1700 nm
windows.
The cost of CWDM system is lower than DWDM because it adopts non-cooling
lasers and does not need optical amplifying components. The disadvantages of
CWDM are low capacity and short transmission distance. Therefore, the
CWDM technology is applicable to the communication situations with short
distance, broad bandwidth and dense access points, for example, the network
communication inside a building or between buildings.
3) DWDM
The DWDM technology refers to the WDM technology with small spacing
between adjacent wavelengths, with the operating wavelength in the 1550 nm
window. It can carry 8 - 160 wavelengths on one fiber, and is mainly used in
long-distance transmission systems.
7
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
Both the DWDM system and the SDH system belong to the transport network
layer. They are the transmission means established on the fiber transport
medium. Their relationship of them in the transport network is shown in Fig.
1.2-1.
The SDH is a kind of TDM system based on single wavelength (one fiber
transmitting one wavelength channel). When the transmission rate exceeds
10 Gbit/s, the system dispersion and other negative influences will make the
long-distance transmission more difficult.
8
Chapter 1 Introduction to DWDM
The wavelengths used in the DWDM system are mutually separated and
unrelated with the formats of service signals. Therefore, each wavelength can
carry the optical signal with totally different features from the other one. In this
way, the DWDM can implement the hybrid transmission of various signals.
The relationship between DWDM system and some common services is shown
in Fig. 1.2-2.
IP
DWDM
The optical interfaces of SDH devices should accord with the ITU-T G.957
recommendation, which does not specify the central operating wavelength.
The optical interfaces in DWDM systems must accord with the ITU-T G.692
recommendation, which specifies the reference frequency, channel spacing,
nominal central frequency (central wavelength), central frequency offset and
other parameters of each optical channel. Therefore, the DWDM system can be
either an open system or an integrated one.
· Open DWDM system: The transmitting side of the system provides the Optical
Transponder Unit (OTU) to converts the customer signals with non-standard
wavelength into the standard wavelength compliant with ITU-T G.692. The
"Open" means that the DWDM system has no special requirements for the
operating wavelength of input signals. For example, the signals are accessed
through “Open Optical Interfaces” as shown in Fig. 1.2-2.
9
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
· Integrated DWDM system: All the customer signals accessed to the DWDM
system must comply with ITU-T G.692. For example, some signals are accessed
to the DWDM system not through “Open Optical Interfaces” as shown in Fig.
1.2-2.
The quartz fiber has three low-loss windows: 860 nm, 1310 nm and 1550 nm, as shown
in Fig. 1.2-3.
O: Original Band E: Extend Band S: Short Band C: Conventional Band L: Long Band
1. 860 nm window
The wavelength range is 600 nm - 900 nm. It is always used in multi-mode fiber,
and the transmission loss is large (2 dB/km averagely). The 860 nm window is
applicable to short-distance access networks, such as for Fiber Channel (FC)
services.
10
Chapter 1 Introduction to DWDM
2. 1310 nm window
The lower limit of available wavelengths in this window depends on the fiber
cut-off wavelength and attenuation coefficient, while the upper limit depends on
the OH absorption peak at 1385 nm. The operating wavelength range is 1260 nm
- 1360 nm. The average loss is 0.3 dB/km - 0.4 dB/km.
3. 1550 nm window
The operating wavelength in the 1550 nm window is divided into three parts (S
band, C band and L band), with the wavelength range shown in Fig. 1.2-4.
1) S band (1460 nm - 1530 nm): Since the operating wavelength range of EDFA is
in C band or L band, S band is not used in the DWDM system at present.
11
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
2) C band (1530 nm - 1565 nm): It is often used as the operating wavelength area
of DWDM systems under 40 wavelengths (with channel spacing 100 GHz),
DWDM systems under 80 wavelengths (with channel spacing 50 GHz) and
SDH systems.
Based on the quantity of multiplexing channel and frequency spacing, the system of 40
wavelengths or below, 80-wavelength system and 160-wavelength system are
introduced respectively as follows.
1. 8/16/32/40-wavelength system
Central frequency offset: ±20 GHz (at rate lower than 2.5 Gbit/s); ±12.5 GHz (at
rate 10 Gbit/s)
2. 80-wavelength system
3. 160-wavelength system
Frequency range: C band (192.1 THz - 196.0 THz) + L band (190.90 THz -
186.95 THz)
12
Chapter 1 Introduction to DWDM
13
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
14
Chapter 1 Introduction to DWDM
15
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
The DWDM technology makes full use of the huge bandwidth (about 25 THz)
resource of fibers and thus expands the transmission capacity of the system.
The wavelengths in the DWDM system are separated to each other, and thus are
capable of transmitting different services transparently, such as SDH, GbE and
ATM signals, to implement the hybrid transmission of multiple kinds of signals.
16
Chapter 1 Introduction to DWDM
Since the DWDM system transmits the data in each wavelength channel
transparently and does no process the channel data, the capacity of the system
can be expanded conveniently and practically only by adding more multiplexing
wavelength channels.
The all optical network is the development trend of the optical transport network.
In such network, the WDM system is connected to Optical Add/Drop
Multiplexers (OADMs) and Optical Cross-connection (OXC) devices, directly
adding/dropping or cross-connecting services carried by the optical wavelength
signals. In this way, the all optical network with high flexibility, reliability,
survivability and economical efficiency is formed to meet the requirements of
information society for the broadband transport network in the future.
The channel rate of the DWDM system has developed to 10 Gbit/s from 2.5
Gbit/s, and the system at 40 Gbit/s rate is in experimentation and the technology
becomes more and more mature.
The DWDM system at early phase usually adopts 8/16/32 wavelengths with
channel spacing 100 GHz and the operating wavelength is in C band. Along with
the constant development of DWDM technology, the operating wavelength can
cover C and L bands with the spacing 50 GHz.
ZTE's ZXWM M900 DWDM Optical Transmission System can support the
multiplexing of 160 wavelengths at most.
17
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
The initial construction cost and operation cost for the network can be reduced
through extending all optical transmission and reducing electrical regeneration
nodes.
At earlier time, only the high-rate SDH services can be accessed to the DWDM
system. With the development of DWDM technology, both SDH services at
various rate and IP services can be accessed via the continuous-rate service
access board, subrate convergence board and GE service access board. All these
make the DWDM system satisfy the requirements of metro area networks for
service access.
In addition, the OADM equipment can implement the protection and recovery of
optical layer services by constructing chain or ring optical networks. It can
implement the protection based on chain networks, such as optical multiplex
section 1+1 protection, optical channel 1+1 protection and optical channel 1:N
protection, and the protection based on ring networks, such as two-fiber
bidirectional multiplex section protection, two-fiber bidirectional channel shared
protection and channel 1+1 protection. The DWDM technology provides a
perfect protection mechanism for services in metro area networks, especially for
GE services, and thus improves the network reliability greatly.
Therefore, more and more DWDM systems are adopted in the construction of
18
Chapter 1 Introduction to DWDM
metro area networks and local backbone networks. ZTE’s ZXMP M800 with
various service interfaces and perfect network protection mechanism, which can
implement the effective convergence of services and smooth expansion, is just
the product of this development trend.
The Optical Cross-Connect (OXC) is the route switch of next generation optical
communication. In the full optical network, it provides these functions:
connection function based on wavelengths, wavelengths add/drop function of
optical channels, leading the wavelength channels for the sake of best utilization
of fiber infrastructure, and implementing protection and restoration on
wavelength, wavelength group and fiber levels. The OXC is set at the important
tandem point of the network, converging different wavelengths input from
19
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
different directions and then output signals with proper wavelengths. Through
OADM and OXC, we can construct more complicated ring network. In the next
generation IP Over DWDM telecom/network architecture, the OXC is an
important stage in the future development of WDM technology.
20
2 Overview of Optical Fiber
Key points
Optical fiber is a kind of cylinder glass fiber with a good light conducting performance
and a small diameter. It consists of fiber core, cladding, and coating layer, as shown in
Fig. 2.1-1.
Coating
Cladding Fiber core
n2 n1
1. Fiber core
It is mainly made of SiO2 (quartz) and comprises few doped chemical, such as
GeO2, to improve refractive index (n1) of the fiber core. The diameter of the
fiber core usually ranges from 5 μm to 50 μm.
2. Cladding
It is made of pure SiO2, with the outer diameter of 125 μm. The refractive index
21
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
3. Coating
This section introduces three classification methods of optical fiber, in terms of the
distribution pattern of refractive index, fiber material and transmission mode.
When a beam of light is transferred through a fiber, each incident ray arrives at
the interface between the fiber core and the cladding by a proper angle. Since
the refractive index of the fiber core (n1) is larger that that of the cladding (n2),
the light will be reflected totally in the fiber core repeatedly on the interface if
the reflection angle meets the total internal reflection condition. In this case, the
light travels forward along a “Z” path, which forms the transmission wave. All
the light energy is constrained within the fiber core.
Fig. 2.1-2 illustrates the relationship between the refractive index and the fiber
structure, as well as the transmission path of light in the fibers.
n1
22
Chapter 2 Overview of Optical Fiber
n1
Fig. 2.1-2 Comparison Between Step Index Fiber and Grade Index Fiber
According to the materials of fibers, optical fibers are classified into silica fiber,
various glass fibers containing different ingredients, plastic-clad silica fiber with
a silica-based core and a plastic cladding, and all plastic optical fiber with a
plastic core as well as a plastic cladding etc.
Among these fiber types, the silica fibers have less loss than the other fibers.
Generally, the fibers with great loss are only employed in short-distance systems
in buildings or rooms.
For a specific fiber structure, only a series of certain electromagnetic waves can
be effectively transmitted in the fiber. Such specific electromagnetic wave is
called optical fiber mode. In the fiber, the conductible mode quantity depends on
the structure and refractive index radial distribution of the fiber.
23
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
Fiber
SMF MMF
Item
Transmission Only supports the transmission in base Supports multiple conduction
mode mode modes
Fiber core Small (about 5 μm - 10 μm) Large (about 50 μm)
The dispersion of SMF is mainly MMF has great mode dispersion
caused by the transmission rates of due to different transmission rates
Dispersion different frequency elements in optical of different modes, which directly
signal, which increases along with the affects the transmission bandwidth
spectral width of the optical signal. and transmission distance.
Ordinary SMF, Dispersion Shifted
Type Fiber (DSF) and Dispersion Ordinary MMF
Compensation Fiber (DCF)
Working
1310 nm and 1550 nm 850 nm and 1310 nm
window
Short-distance fiber
Long-distance fiber communication
Applications communication systems at low
systems with large capacity
rate
With the improvement of fiber manufacturing techniques, the fiber transmission loss
keeps decreasing. At present, there are five low-loss windows, as shown in Fig. 2.1-3.
3.0
140
~
THz
2.5 50
~
OH-Absorption THz
2.0 peak OH-
Loss Absorption
(dB/km) peak
1.5
I OH- II V III IV
Absorption
1.0 peak
0.5
O E S C L
0 80 100 120 140 160
0 0 0 0 0
Wavelength (nm)
O: Original Band E: Extended Band S: Short Band C: Conventional Band L: Long Band
24
Chapter 2 Overview of Optical Fiber
Table 2.1-2 lists the optical signal mark, wavelength range, applied fiber types and
application occasions of the five low-loss windows: I, II, III, IV and V.
This section briefly introduces the features and functions of three kinds of SMFs, G.652,
G.653 and G.655. The fiber types applied in the DWDM systems are also involved.
When the G.652 fiber is used in the 1310 nm window, it is only applicable to
SDH systems; while it is applicable to both SDH systems and DWDM systems
when it is used in the 1550 nm window. The dispersion compensation is needed
when the single channel rate is over 2.5 Gbit/s.
The G.653 fiber has the smallest loss and the smallest dispersion in the 1550 nm
window. Therefore, it mainly works in the 1550 nm window.
25
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
In the 1550 nm window, the absolute dispersion of G.655 fiber is within a certain
range instead of zero. It ensures the smallest loss and small dispersion in this
window.
The features and applications of some new-type fibers are introduced below.
The G.654 fiber works in the 1550 nm window with the average loss of
0.15dB/km - 0.19dB/km, which is less than that of other fibers. Its
zero-dispersion point is also in the 1310 nm window.
2. Full-wave fiber
The full-wave fiber, water peak free fiber, eliminates the appended water peak
attenuation caused by the OH- ions by eliminating OH- ions near the 1385 nm
wavelength. In this way, the fiber attenuation is only determined by the internal
scattering loss of the silicon glass.
The attenuation of the full-wave fiber becomes flat at the band of 1310 nm-
1600 nm. As internal OH- ions are already eliminated, no water peak attenuation
will occur even when the fiber is exposed to hydrogen gas. It has the long-term
attenuation reliability.
26
Chapter 2 Overview of Optical Fiber
The full-wave optical fiber can provide a complete transmission band from 1280
nm to 1625 nm. The available wavelength range is about 1.5 times of the
wavelength range of ordinary fibers.
3. Real-wave fiber
The real-wave fiber has small dispersion slope and dispersion coefficient with
the capability of tolerating higher non-linear effect. It is applicable to
large-capacity optical transmission systems, and thus reducing the network
construction cost.
2.2.1 Loss
The loss of power during transmission is one of the basic and important parameters of
optical fibers. Due to the existence of loss, the optical power transmitted in fibers
attenuates by index with the increase of transmission distance.
The loss of optical fiber mainly comes from the following two causes:
1) Loss coming from the optical fiber itself, including the inherent absorption loss
27
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
2) Since optical cables are made of a bundle of clustered optical fibers, the layout
of optical cables, connection of optical fibers, and coupling and connection of
the transmission system may all cause the additional loss of fibers, including
bending loss, microbending loss, coupling loss in the optical fiber line, and
coupling loss between optical components.
The fiber attenuation spectrum is shown in Fig. 2.1-3. As shown in the figure,
the average loss of window I is 2 dB/km, that of window II is 0.3dB/km to
0.4dB/km, and that of window III is 0.19dB/km to 0.25dB/km. The 1380 nm
point in window V is an OH- absorption peak.
OSNR is the ratio between optical signal power and noise power. It is a very
important parameter for estimating and measuring the system bit error
performance, engineering design and maintenance.
Take the OSNR at the receiving end of a DWDM system for example. The
calculation formula is:
Where,
28
Chapter 2 Overview of Optical Fiber
L: Loss between any two optical amplifiers, that is, section loss (dB)
The formula shows that when the other parameters keep unchanged, greater line
loss leads to lower OSNR, which means decreased transmission quality of the
optical line.
In the initial design of a DWDM system, besides the loss limit and dispersion
limit, the OSNR at the receiving end, Q value and Bit Error Ratio (BER) should
also be considered. The design is qualified only when all these three factors
satisfy the requirements.
2.2.2 Dispersion
After the incidence optical pulse signal has been transmitted through a long distance,
time spreading occurs on the optical pulse waveform at the output end of the fiber. This
phenomenon is called dispersion. Fig. 2.2-1 illustrates the dispersion in a Single-Mode
Fiber (SMF) for example.
Optical
power Optical power
SMF
Time Time
Emergent optical pulse
ncident optical pulse waveform
waveform
Dispersion will cause inter-symbol interference, affect the correct judgment of optical
pulse signal at the receiving end, deteriorate the BER performance and severely affect
the information transmission.
29
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
1) Material dispersion: The fiber material of quartz glass has different refractive
indexes for different optical wavelengths; while light source has certain spectral
width, and different wavelengths result in different group rates. Therefore, the
optical pulse spreading occurs.
2) Chirp effect: Dispersion not only results in pulse spreading but also makes pulse
to generate phase modulation. Such phase modulation makes different parts of
the pulse to generate different offsets from the central frequency, so that
different parts have different frequencies, which is called Chirp effect of pulse.
Due to chirp effect, the fiber is divided into normal dispersion fiber and
abnormal dispersion fiber. In the normal dispersion fiber, the high-frequency
30
Chapter 2 Overview of Optical Fiber
component of the pulse is located at the rear edge of the pulse, and the
low-frequency component is located at the front edge of the pulse. In the
abnormal dispersion fiber, the low-frequency component of the pulse is located
at the rear edge of the pulse, and the high-frequency component is located at the
front edge of the pulse. In the transmission line, proper usage of these two fibers
can offset the chirp effect and remove the pulse dispersion spreading.
Since the DWDM system mostly works in the 1550 nm window, if G.652 fiber is
used, it is required to use the DCF fiber with negative wavelength dispersion to
compensate the dispersion and reduce the total dispersion value of the whole
transmission line.
PMD is a kind of physical phenomenon existing in the fields of optical fiber and
optical component.
The basic mode in SMF has two polarization modes that are orthogonal. In ideal cases,
two polarization modes should have the same feature curve and transmission
characteristics. However, due to geometrical and pressure asymmetry, two polarization
modes have different transmission rates, resulting in delay and PMD, as shown in Fig.
2.2-2. Usually, the unit of PMD is ps/km1/2.
Optical fiber
Incident light Emergent light
Delay
In the digital transmission system, PMD results in pulse separation and pulse spreading,
degrades transmission signal, and limits the transmission rate of carriers.
Compared with other dispersions, PMD can almost be omitted but cannot be totally
eliminated. Instead, it can only be minimized through optical components. The
narrower the pulse in the ultra-high speed system is, the greater the PMD influence is.
31
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
In common fiber communication systems, the transmitting optical power is low and the
fiber exhibits a linear transmission feature. For the DWDM system, however, the fiber
exhibits the non-linear effect after EDFA is used.
Four non-linear effects are introduced in this section, including Self-Phase Modulation
(SPM), Cross-Phase Modulation (XPM), Four Wave Mixing (FWM), Stimulated
Raman Scattering (SRS), and Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBC).
Due to the dependency between refractive index and light intensity, the
refractive index changes during optical pulse continuance, and the pulse peak
phase is delayed for both front and rear edges. With the transmission distance
increasing, the phase shift keeps accumulating and represents a large phase
modulation upon reaching a certain distance, resulting in the spectrum spreading
which causes pulse spreading. This process is called SPM, as shown in Fig.
2.2-3.
Strength
Spectrum before
transmission λ
Pulse width before transmission
Strength
32
Chapter 2 Overview of Optical Fiber
When the system works in the fiber working area with negative dispersion index
(such as the short wavelength area of G.653 fiber, or working area with negative
dispersion of G.655 fiber), SPM will result in smaller dispersion limit distance.
When the system works in the fiber working area with positive dispersion index
(such as the long wavelength area of G.652 or G.653 fiber, or working area with
positive dispersion of G.655 fiber), SPM will result in greater dispersion limit
distance.
The SPM effect mainly occurs within a certain distance from the transmitter. In
addition, the low-dispersion fiber can also reduce such SPM effect on system
performance.
When two or more light waves with different frequencies are simultaneously
transmitted in non-linear media, the amplitude modulation of each frequency
light wave will result in the corresponding changes of the fiber refractive index,
resulting in non-linear phase modulation of the light wave with other frequency.
This is called XPM.
XPM often occurs along with SPM. XPM may cause a series of non-linear
effects, such as signal interference between DWDM system paths, and
non-linear dual-refraction of fiber, leading to unstable polarization of the fiber
transmission. Meanwhile, XPM also affects waveform and spectrum of pulse.
33
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
New light
The SRS effect results in the attenuation of the short-wavelength signals and
reinforcement of the long-wavelength signals, as shown in Fig. 2.2-5.
... ...
λ1 λ2 λ3 λ λ1 λ2 λ3 λ
SRS effect is widely applied in the fiber optic transmission, for example,
distributed Raman amplifier can be made based on the Raman gain to provide
distributed broadband amplification for optical signals, the DRA board of ZTE
DWDM equipment implements the optical amplification function through the
SRS effect. On the other hand, SRS exerts certain negative influence on the
transmission system. In the DWDM system, lights in the short-wavelength
channel serve as the pump light to transfer energy to the long-wavelength
channel, resulting in Raman crosstalk between channels.
34
Chapter 2 Overview of Optical Fiber
non-linear effect. It originates from the mutual action and energy exchange
between photon and acoustical phonon (crystal vibration status).
The SBS effect can be used to make the fiber Brillouin laser and amplifier. On
the other hand, SBS results in unstable signal light source and crosstalk between
reverse transmission channels. However, along with the increase of system
transmission rate, the SBS peak gain obviously reduces. Therefore SBS will not
greatly affect the high-speed fiber transmission system.
35
3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
Key points
z Supervision technology
36
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
After the optical wave in the line fiber being amplified through the OPA, it is
de-multiplexed by the optical de-multiplexer (OD) and then the signals of
different wavelengths are respectively input to the corresponding multiplexing
channel optical receivers, RX1…RXn.
This module is omitted in Fig. 3.1-1. The DWDM NMS is capable of managing
optical amplifying units (such as OBA, OLA and OPA), wavelength division
multiplexers, OTUs and the performance of supervisory channel on one
platform. In addition, it can manage the equipment in terms of performance,
fault, configuration and security. The information of the NMS is carried by the
supervision signals in the optical supervisory channel.
The transmission in the DWDM system with 40 wavelengths or below adopts the C
band and the spacing 100 GHz. Fig. 3.1-2 illustrates the principle diagram of the
DWDM system.
37
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
The transmission in the DWDM system with 80 wavelengths or below adopts the C
band and the spacing 50 GHz with the application of Interleave technology. Fig. 3.1-3
illustrates the principle diagram of the DWDM system.
38
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
39
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
At present, the semi-conductor optical sources widely used are Laser Diode (LD)
and Light Emitting Diode (LED).
LD is coherence light source, with large in-fiber power, narrow spectral line
width and high modulation rate. It is applicable to the long-distance high-speed
system. The LED is non-coherence light source, with small in-fiber power,
broad spectral line width and low modulation rate. It is applicable to
short-distance low-speed system.
The light source of the DWDM system adopts the semi-conductor laser diode.
The DWDM system has very strict requirements for the operating wavelength of
each multiplexing channel. Wavelength drift will cause unstable and unreliable
operation of the system.
Fiber transmission may be limited by system loss and dispersion. With increased
transmission rate, the dispersion influence is larger. The dispersion limit can be
solved by using optical fiber cables with small dispersion coefficient or
semi-conductor laser with narrow spectral width. For the optical cables have
been laid, minimizing spectral width of light source devices is an effective
measure to solve the dispersion limit problem.
There are two methods of light source intensity modulation: Direct modulation
and indirect modulation (that is, external modulation).
1) Direct modulation
40
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
the optical pulse stream corresponding to the electrical signal pulse. For example,
when the electrical pulse signal is "1", the working current of the laser is larger
than its current threshold; and then it generates an optical pulse. When the
electrical pulse signal is "0", the working current of the laser is smaller than its
current threshold; therefore it does not generate optical pulse.
The direct modulation mode is simple, with low loss and low cost. But, the
super-speed change of working current will result in modulation chirp easily.
And the chirp will limit transmission rate and distance.
The direct modulation mode is often used in the transmission system composed
of G.652 fiber, with transmission distance shorter than 100 km and rate lower
than 2.5 Gbit/s.
· EA modulator
It uses absorber controlled by electrical pulse signals to absorb or not absorb the
optical wave transmitted by the continuous-wave semi-conductor laser (CW),
and thus control optical pulse stream indirectly with the electrical pulse signal
stream.
The EA light source features small size, high integration, low driving power and
low power consumption. The maximum dispersion can reach 12 000 ps/nm.
At the input end, the CW is in continuous wave working status. The optical
wave emitted by it is divided into two equal signal channels by the optical
41
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
The M-Z light source features high modulation rate, large maximum dispersion
value, and large extinction ratio. Its chirp coefficient can be zero in theory.
However, its disadvantage is that polarization maintaining fiber must be used to
connect the laser and the modulator, because modulation status is related to light
polarization status.
3.3.1 Overview
The optical wavelength division multiplexer and de-multiplexer, also called optical
multiplexer and de-multiplexer, is actually a kind of optical filter.
At the transmitting end, the Optical Multiplexer Unit (OMU) combines the optical
signals with nominal wavelength in each multiplexing channel into a beam of optical
wave, and then transmits it into the fiber for transmission, that is, multiplexing optical
wave.
At the receiving end, the Optical De-multiplexer Unit (ODU) divides the optical wave
in the fiber into optical signals with formal nominal wavelength of each multiplexing
channel, and then inputs them into corresponding optical channel receivers, that is,
de-multiplexing optical wave.
Since the performance of OMU and ODU determine the system transmission quality,
the attenuation, offset and channel crosstalk of them must be small.
Four types of common OMs are briefly introduced below, as well as the OM types
often used in the DWDM systems with different wavelength numbers.
42
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
1) Grating OM
Since the optical signals with different wavelengths have different refractive
angles on the grating, it divides and combines the optical signals with different
wavelengths. Its working principle is shown in Fig. 3.3-1.
λ 1,2,3,...n
λ1
λ2
λ3
λ4
λn
43
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
λ 1,2,3,...n
λ1
λ3
λ2
λ5
λ4
λ7
λ6
The dielectric thin film OM is a kind of compact passive optical device with
stable structure, featuring flat signal passband, low insertion loss and sound
channel isolation.
Due to compact structure and low insertion loss, it is the best scheme for optical
wavelength division multiplexing/de-multiplexing in the optical transport
network.
4) Coupling OM
It is a kind of surface interactive device with two or more fibers close to each
other and properly melted, which is mainly used as OM. The working principle
is shown in Fig. 3.3-4.
44
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
λ1
λ2
λ3
λ4
λ5
λ1,2,3……
λ6
λ7
λ8
The coupling OM can only implement the multiplexing function, with low cost
but large insertion loss.
Table 3.3-1 Relationship between DWDM Systems and Corresponding Optical Wavelength Division Multiplexers
OMD &Wavelength
OM OD
Below 32 40 Above 80 Below 32 40 Above 80
Type
wavelengths wavelengths wavelengths wavelengths wavelengths wavelengths
Coupling type √ - - - - -
Array waveguide type √ √ - √ √ -
Dielectric thin film type √ √ - √ √ -
Grating type - - √ - - √
2. Insertion loss
45
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
3. Isolation
It is meaningful only for the wavelength sensitive devices (TFF type and AWG
type devices). It is not meaningless for coupling devices.
4. Reflection coefficient
It is the ratio between the reflection optical power and incidence optical power
at the input end of the wavelength division multiplexer. Smaller coefficient is
preferable.
It represents the maximum change value of the insertion loss caused by the
change of optical wave polarization status.
6. Temperature coefficient
7. Bandwidth
The bandwidth is a parameter of the wavelength sensitive devices (TFF type and
AWG type devices). It is meaningless for coupling multiplexers.
46
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
It describes the bandpass feature of the OD. A sound bandpass feature curve
should be flat and wide. Greater bandpass value is preferable.
It describes the stopband feature of the OD. The stopband feature curve should
be sharp. Smaller bandwidth value is preferable.
3.4.1 Overview
The increase of passive regeneration distance in the DWDM system requires the
greater dispersion tolerance distance of the light source, and the capability of
solving non-linear effect of the fiber.
47
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
When the transponder unit serves as a regenerator, it has the data regeneration
function, which is an optional function of the OTU.
1. Working principle
The OTU converts the multiplexing optical channel signals which accord with
the ITU-T G.957 to electrical signals through O/E conversion, and implements
shaping, timing extraction and data regeneration (whether perform regeneration
depends on actual situations) for the electrical signals, and then performs E/O
conversion to output optical signals whose wavelength, dispersion and optical
transmitting power accord with G.692 specifications.
If only shaping and timing processing (that is, 2R functions) are implemented
after the O/E conversion, this OTU only implements the function of wavelength
conversion, and thus the transmission distance supported by it will be short.
It is located in the 1550 nm low-loss window, being divided into C band and L
band.
48
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
y Note
2) Channel spacing
Channel spacing means the nominal frequency difference between two adjacent
multiplexing channels, covering uniform channel spacing and non-uniform
channel spacing. At present, uniform channel spacing is used mostly.
The minimum channel spacing of the DWDM system is the integer times of 50
GHz.
· When the multiplexing channels are 8 wavelengths, the channel spacing is 200
GHz.
· When the multiplexing channels are 16/32/40 wavelengths, the channel spacing
is 100 GHz.
· When the multiplexing channels are above 80 wavelengths, the channel spacing
is 50 GHz.
Smaller channel spacing requires higher resolution of the OD and means more
multiplexing channels.
For example, when the multiplexing channels are 16/32/40 wavelengths, the
central frequency of the first wavelength is 192.1 THz and the channel spacing
is 100 GHz. The frequency increases in ascending order.
It is also called frequency offset. It refers to the offset between the actual
working central frequency of the multiplexing optical channel and nominal
49
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
central frequency.
The maximum central frequency offset is the value which can still be met when
the designed life cycle of the system expires, with temperature, humidity and
other factors taken into consideration.
5) Dispersion tolerance
Dispersion reflects the spreading of the optical pulse during the transmission in
the fiber.
The pulse spreading will result in decreased extinction ratio of signal pulse at
the receiving end, that is, the electrical level of bit “1” and bit “0” are close to
each other, which may lead to mistaken judgment of the receiver. To avoid bit
errors, it is required to take proper measures to compensate the optical pulse
spreading in the fiber transmission process, for the pulse spreading will be more
and more serious with the increasing of transmission distance.
6) Receiver sensitivity
The receiver sensitivity refers to the minimum average receiving optical power
on the OTU input port when the input signals are located in the 1550 nm
window and the bit error rate reaches 10-12.
The overloaded optical power refers to the maximum average receiving optical
power on the OTU input port when the input signals are located in the 1550 nm
window and the bit error rate reaches 10-12.
50
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
According to the location in DWDM systems, OTU can be classified into transmitter
OTU (OTUT), receiver OTU (OTUR) and regenerator OTU (OTUG). Fig. 3.4-2
illustrates the application of three kinds of OTUs in a DWDM transmission system.
Line
Internal fiber
fiber
1. OTUT
The OTUT is applied between the client-side equipment at the transmit end and
OM. It forwards the optical signal that meets the specification of G.692 to the
OM. Besides the Optical/Electrical/Optical (O/E/O) conversion function, the
OTUT also has the functions of reshaping and retiming (2R) as well as the
checking of the byte B1.
2. OTUR
The OTUR is applied between the OD and the client-side equipment at the
receive end. The optical signal output by the OD meets the specification of
G.692. The OTUR has similar functions as the OTUT, including wavelength
conversion, 2R and B1 byte check.
3. OTUG
The OTUG is applied between OM and OD. Both the input and the output
optical signal of it meet the specification of G.692. Besides the O/E and E/O
conversion functions, the OTUG also has the functions of reshaping, retiming
and regenerating (3R), as well as the checking of the byte B1. With the 3R
function, the OTUG is equivalent to a general regenerator (REG).
51
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
Optical amplifier is the technology to solve the problem of optical power limit. Without
the O/E/O conversion, it directly amplifies the optical signals. The classification of
optical amplifier is shown in Fig. 3.5-1.
In this section, the EDFA and Raman fiber amplifier are introduced.
1. Amplifying principle
52
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
N3~0
1550 nm N2
signal light
1550 nm
980 nm 1480nm stimulated
pump light emission
N1
The Er3+ ion free from stimulation is at the lowest energy level. When the pump
light is shot in, the Er3+ ion absorbs energy from the pump light and transits
itself to the higher energy level. At the higher energy level, the Er3+ ions are in
instable status, therefore they continuously converge to metastable energy level
in non-radiant transition format, and thus implementing population inversion
distribution. When the optical signals with 1550 nm wavelength pass this
segment of EDF, the metastable particles are transited to the ground status in
stimulated emission format, and then photons which are the same as those in the
incoming signal light are generated. In this way, the optical signals are
amplified.
2. Composition
The EDFA consists of the EDF, bump light source, coupler and isolator, as
shown in Fig. 3.5-3.
λ λ λ λ λ λ
The coupler is used to combine the signal light with pump light. The isolator is
used to suppress the light reflection, to ensure stable working of the optical
amplifier. The pump laser generates pump light source.
53
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
1) Gain (G)
It is the ratio between output optical signal power and input optical signal power.
Greater gain means more powerful amplifying capability.
It is the ratio between the Signal-Noise Ratio (SNR) at the EDFA input end and
SNR at output end.
EDFA noise comes from many ways, such as signal shot noise, internal
reflection noise and Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) noise, which is the
major part of EDFA noise.
y Note
ASE is the emission noise caused by the EDFA’s own factors, such as the unbalance
between optical transmitting area and absorption area, the different population
inversion degrees (quantity of ions in stable energy level E2 and the quantity of ions in
ground energy level E1 are different), the gain and working status of the EDFA.
Since the EDFA can amplify both optical signal and noise, the parameter NF
appears which is closely related to the ASE noise of the EDFA. It greatly affects
the system performance, especially the OSNR of the whole system. Smaller NF
is preferable, for example, below 5.0 dB.
3) Bandwidth
The operating wavelength range of the DWDM system covers C band and L
band. The optical amplifier needs to amplify all the multiplexing channel signals
of the system, so its bandwidth should be wide enough.
It represents the allowed fluctuation of EDFA gain within the specified working
band range. In order to get sound flatness, the aluminum doped technology is
usually used in the EDF.
54
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
On the other hand, to ensure the gain flatness and low noise performance, the
EDFA should work in small signal working range, that is, the input/output power
range of the EDFA cannot be too large. It is more important that the EDFA
output power cannot be too large in order to avoid fiber non-linear effect. For
this purpose, the optical power of a signal channel cannot be too large. The
proper power should be determined according to the signal rate and the type of
transmission fiber.
Since the EDFA generates different gains for optical waves in different
polarization statuses. So, the maximum EDFA gain change caused by the
polarization status change of the optical wave is called as PDG. Smaller PDG
value is preferable.
Although optical isolators are configured at the input and output ends of the
EDFA, a few pump light leakage occurs. Smaller leakage is preferable.
Pump light leakage represents the ratio between the pump light leakage power
and the input/output pump light power.
It is the ratio between the optical power at the EDFA input/output end and the
reflection optical power. Greater value is preferable.
To ensure the transmission quality of DWDM systems, the EDFAs used in the
DWDM system must have sufficient bandwidth, flat gain, low NF and high
55
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
Depending on the location of EDFA in the DWDM system and pump source types, two
EDFA classification modes are introduced below.
1. Classification by location
The EDFA is divided into Optical Booster Amplifier (OBA), Optical Line
Amplifier (OLA) and Optical Pre-Amplifier (OPA).
2) OLA: It is located in the middle of the regeneration segment, with the EDFA
inserted directly into the fiber transmission link for amplifying signals. Multiple
OLAs can be equipped in the regeneration segment as required.
3) OPA: It is located between the end of the regeneration segment and the optical
receiving device. The OPA is mainly used to pre-amplify small signals going
through line attenuation, and boost the power of optical signals before entering
the receiver so as to meet the sensitivity requirements of the receiver.
The locations of these three kinds of amplifiers in the optical line are shown in
Fig. 3.5-4.
Regeneration
segment
The pump sources often used now cover 980 nm and 1480 nm, for these two
types of pump sources have high pump efficiency.
The 980 nm pump light source has lower NF; while the 1480 nm one has higher
pumping efficiency and therefore a larger output power is obtainable (about
56
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
In actual applications of line amplifier, most 8-channel WDM systems use the
980 nm pump source, because the WDM system of G.652 fiber mostly features
dispersion limit other than loss limit. If such WDM system uses the 1480 nm
pump source, the system power attenuation will increase and it is unnecessary to
boost EDFA output power.
WDM systems of more than 16 channels use the 1480 nm pump source instead,
because enormous tributaries decrease the available power range and the pump
source with higher power is necessary. A two-level pump can also be used to
improve the NF and increase the output power.
The EDFA also introduces in some new problems while solving some problems of fiber
transmission system.
1. Non-linear effect
EDFA amplifies the optical power through increasing the optical power shot into
the fiber. However, it does not mean the greater optical power is surely the best.
When the optical power is increased to certain degree, fiber non-linear effect
will occur. Therefore, in the usage of fiber amplifier, it is required to control the
value of the in-fiber optical power in a single channel.
2. Bandwidth
Bandwidth refers to the range of the optical wavelength which can be amplified
flatly. The operating wavelength range of the EDFA in C band is 1530 nm - 1561
nm, and the one in L band is 1565 nm - 1625 nm.
The gain flatness filter is used inside the EDFA, so that the EDFA has almost the
same gain to each multiplexing optical channel signal within corresponding
wavelength range. The gain fluctuation should be limited within the allowed
range, for example, ±1 dB. Therefore, the bandwidth is closely related to the
gain flatness.
3. Optical surge
When the optical line is normal, the erbium ions stimulated by the pump light
are carried off by the signal light, thus implementing the amplification of the
57
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
signal light. If the input light is interrupted, the metastable erbium ions still
converge continuously, and finally the energy transient occurs, leading to optical
surge.
4. Dispersion
1. Working principle
In the non-linear medium, the incident photons interact with phonons generated
by molecule oscillation of the medium. The incident photons are scattered by the
medium molecules to low-frequency Stocks photons, and other energies are
translated to the phonons at the same time. Then the molecules implement the
transition between oscillation states, as shown in Fig. 3.5-5. This procedure is
called as the simulated Raman scattering or the Raman effect.
58
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
If the pump light is used as the incident light in the fiber, the frequency shift
light of Stocks wave will be generated after the scattering effect of molecules.
When the frequency of the input optical signal is same as that of the Stocks
wave, the optical signal will be amplified, while the frequency downward offset
is determined by the oscillating mode of the medium and the incident pump light.
Therefore, different pump light can be selected to implement the amplification
or oscillation for optical signals as required. The application of multiple pumps
with different wavelength can provide ultra broadband amplification.
The fiber Raman amplifier mainly consists of gain medium fiber and pump
source. It has various types and structures according to different fiber types,
pump types and modes and different amplification modes. General transmission
fiber can be used; however, fibers with higher non-linear characteristic are better
to achieve higher amplification efficiency. Many kinds of pump sources can be
chosen, such as single pump, dual pumps and multiple pumps. The pump
wavelength and power should be designed elaborately for each pump source.
· With the same SNR, it can reduce the optical power at the transmitting end and
minimize the non-linear effect.
· It can generate gain for all the wavelengths, serving as full-band amplifier
(however, it should be divided into C band amplifier and L band amplifier).
· It has flat gain. The gain wavelength range depends on the pump wavelength.
· Since the noise of Raman fiber amplifier reduces with fiber distance increase,
the fiber should be long enough. There is no requirement for the fiber type.
· The pump conversion efficiency is low, so the high-power pump laser source is
59
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
required.
· The amplifying gain is low, so it needs to cooperate with the EDFA to form
combined amplifier, in order to compensate the line attenuation and node
insertion loss.
3) Application
If the DWDM system above 40 G only uses EDFA for amplifying, spontaneous
emission will accumulate, restricting the overall system performance. Compared
with EDFA, the SRA has such advantages as low noise, not introducing in
additional loss upon removal of pump light, and no transient effect. Therefore,
the combination of EDFA and SRA can form the important optical amplifying
technology for the ultra long-haul transmission system above 40 G.
Of course, the Raman amplification has its inherent shortcomings. The forward
pump and bidirectional pump Raman amplification has the problem of pump
light Relative Intensity Noise (RIN) transition, which has evident influence on
the noise characteristic of the Raman amplifier. Especially in the transmission
fibers with small dispersion coefficient, such as G.655 fiber, this RIN transition
problem becomes more serious, and it degrades the noise figure of Raman
amplifier greatly. To sum up, the discrete Raman amplifier is not better than the
EDFA on the aspect of economic efficiency and noise figure.
60
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
operations. To ensure the secure operation of DWDM systems, the supervision system
is designed as an independent system separated from working channels and devices
physically.
For example, ZTE’s DWDM system uses an independent wavelength (1510 nm) and
depends on no service channel, to ensure that no active amplification is required for the
long distance transmission and improve the reliability. In this way, the supervision
system can monitor all the NE equipment in the system.
Different from the conventional SDH system, the DWDM system with optical
amplifier can supervise and manage EDFAs in the system additionally. Since the EDFA
only amplifies optical signals without electrical signal input. Especially when it is used
as an optical amplifier regenerator, it has no electrical interface connection because no
service signal will be added or dropped on it. This makes it difficult for supervision. In
addition, there is no special byte in the SDH overhead for monitoring the EDFA, so an
electrical signal must be added to monitor the status of EDFA.
The OSC is used to transmit the NE management and supervision information related
to the DWDM system through a wavelength. The information involves the fault alarm,
fault location, quality parameter supervision during operation, the control over backup
line upon line interruption and the EDFA supervision etc. In this way, the network
operator can effectively manage the DWDM system.
The DWDM system has the following requirements for the OSC:
1. The OSC should not restrict the optical wavelengths (980 nm and 1480 nm) of
the pump light source in the optical amplifier.
2. The OSC should not restrict the transmission distance between two OLAs.
3. The OSC should not restrict the services on the 1310 wavelength in the future.
λ λ
λ λ
λ λ
For the DWDM system with line amplifiers, an additional OSC is required,
which should be able to perform adding/dropping with BER as low as possible
in each optical regenerator/amplifier.
62
Chapter 3 Key Technologies of DWDM System
Since this channel is out of the gain bandwidth of the EDFA (also called as
outband OSC), the supervision signals must be dropped (from optical channel)
ahead of EDFA and be added (to optical channel) behind the EDFA. As shown in
Fig. 3.6-1, the OSC is added behind the OBA and dropped ahead of the OPA.
With the continuous technology development, the OSC rate improves as well.
For example, ZTE’s DWDM equipment can provide supervision rate of
10 Mbit/s or 100 Mbit/s.
For the supervision system at working rate of 2 Mbit/s, thirty-two 64 kbit/s bytes
are used to carry supervision information, which is transmitted and exchanged in
PCM32 frame format.
For the system at supervision rate of 10 Mbit/s or 100 Mbit/s, taking ZTE’s
DWDM equipment as example, the supervision channel adopts 10/100 M
Ethernet technology to encapsulate supervision data in IP packets. Then the
supervision information is transmitted and exchanged in Ethernet data frames.
5. Line coding
The 2Mbit/s supervisory channel adopts Code Mark Inversion (CMI) as the line
code type.
6. OSC protection
63
Fundamentals of DWDM Technology
64
4 Protection Principles of DWDM System
Key points
y Note
The DWDM system protection involves the protection of optical channel layer and
optical Multiplex Section (MS) layer. First of all, we will introduce the location of each
layer in the system.
The DWDM system is divided into Optical Multiplex Section (OMS) layer, Optical
Transport (OTS) layer, Optical Channel (OCH) layer and Optical Access (OAC) layer.
The locations of these layers in the system are shown in Fig. 4.1-1, and their functions
are listed in Table 4.1-1
65
Course Code Course Name
OTM OTM
G.692 OLA
TX1 1 RX1
OTU 1 OTU
TX2 RX2
2 2 OTU
OTU
RX3
TX3 3 OP OD 3 OTU
..
OTU OM OBA OLA
.. A
TXn .
OTU
n n .
OTU
RXn
OTS OTS
OMS
OAC OCH OAC
For the protection of chain networks, the OMS line 1+1 protection or the OCH 1+1
protection can be implemented according to different configurations. In the case of
OMS protection, the “concurrent transmitting and priority receiving” is located after
the optical power amplifier and the pre-amplifier of the optical terminal. In the case of
OCH protection, it is located before the OTU board at the transmitting end and after
the OTU board at the receiving end of the optical terminal.
For ZTE’s DWDM equipment, the 1+1 protection is implemented by the OP board.
66
Chapter 4 Protection Principles of DWDM System
Depending on the location, the OP board can implement the 1+1 protection of OCH
and OMS.
The protection channel and protected channel are transmitted in the same fiber.
The channel 1+1 protection in chain networks can only protect equipment other
than routes, as shown in Fig. 4.2-1.
2. OMS 1 +1 protection
67
Course Code Course Name
λ1 λ1
OTU OTU
Line 1 in
λ2 direction A λ2
OTU OBA OPA O OTU
O
λ3 M D λ3
OTU OTU
D Line 2 in U
direction A
λn λn
OTU OTU
O O
λ1 P P
OTU λ1
Line 1 in OTU
λ2 direction B λ2
OTU OBA OTU
O OPA O
λ3 λ3
OTU D Line 2 in M OTU
D direction B U
λn λn
OTU OTU
The OP board supervises the main optical path. The switching is implemented
through the optical switch inside the board when the switching conditions are
met.
The 1+1 protection in ring networks can also be divided into the 1+1 protection of
OCH and 1+1 protection of OMS. In the ring network, the protection channel and
protected channel reaches the receiving end through different routes.
The 1+1 protection of OCH can protect not only routes but also devices.
Suppose there is a ring network as shown in Fig. 4.2-3.
Protection
channel
B D
Working A
channel
Fig. 4.2-4 illustrates the optical connection between Node A and Node B.
68
Chapter 4 Protection Principles of DWDM System
O O
M D
U U
Working
OTU channel OTU
O O
D M
U U
O O
P P
OTU O O OTU
M D
U U
Protection
channe
O O
D M
Site A U U Site B
In the ring network, the 1+1 protection of OMS protects the multiplexed signals.
When the fiber is broken, two nodes adjacent to the broken points implement the
“loop-back” function, and thus protecting all the services. It is similar to the
protection mode shown in Fig. 4.2-2.
1. The protection line is special, which can not be shared with other working lines.
2. It does not need the support of signaling, being easy for implementation.
In the 1:N protection switching, multiplex working lines share one protection line.
Both ends of N working lines are bridged to the protection line. The protection function
monitors and judges the status of received signal, and switch the services on this
working line to the protection line upon detecting any deterioration or failure of service
69
Course Code Course Name
ZTE’s DWDM equipment can provide the 1:N protection of OCH. We introduces the
implementation of the 1:N protection with the application of the Electrical Switching
Board (SWE).
The SWE board implements the switching in an electrical cross-connect mode. At the
transmitting end, N channels of service signals are input to the input ports 1 - N of the
SWE board, and then are output to the OTU through the output ports 1 - N. At the
receiving end, the input ports 1 - N of the SWE board receive the signals from OTU
respectively, and the output ports 1 - N of the SWE board output the signals to the user
terminal. The protection function is shown in Fig. 4.3-2.
70
Chapter 4 Protection Principles of DWDM System
If any channel of the N channels fails, once the receiving end detects the faulty service,
it notifies the SWE boards at the transmitting end and receiving end through protocols,
and then the receiving/transmitting end switches this channel of service to the port N +
1 to protect the service.
When multiple channels of services are faulty at the same time, the service of higher
priority will be protected first. The protection priority is set in the network management
system.
5. The bandwidth utilization ratio is high but the protection reliability is low.
As shown in Fig. 4.4-1, when a cross-segment fiber fails (the symbol “×” means
failure in the figure), the service passing this span is damaged, which leads to
the switching operation at the transmitting end of the service. Then the service is
transmitted along the protection route. Meanwhile the two switches at the
receiving end act, and then the service are received from the protection route. In
this way, the service protection is implemented.
71
Course Code Course Name
λ21(B A)
H A B B
λ21(B A)
λ22(A B)
λ22(A B)
λ22(E F)
G F E D
λ22(E F)
λ21(F E)
λ21(F E)
72
Chapter 4 Protection Principles of DWDM System
Suppose that a pair of bidirectional services between Site A and Site B need
protection. The OPCS board should be configured firstly at Sites A and B. Then
connect fibers between them.
The wavelength allocation can be flexibly adjusted. But it should be ensured that
the services are bidirectional and the operating wavelengths are different. For
the convenience of project debugging and maintenance, the adjacent odd and
even wavelengths are allocated by default.
3. Application features
· The switching is implemented in the adding channel node and the dropping
channel node of the service.
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The scheme can also be adopted to protect only eight wavelengths in the
32-wavelength system. In this case, eight wavelengths on the internal ring and
external ring protect each other, and the other 24 wavelengths are the actual
operating wavelengths. The operating wavelengths usually transmit services
while the protection wavelengths usually not.
Fig. 4.5-1 shows the principle diagram of MS protection for mutual protection of
the wavelengths in the internal and external rings, with 16 operating
wavelengths. The solid lines indicate working routes, while the dotted lines
indicate protection routes of the external ring when fault occurs between D and
E.
B A H G
λ17 λ17
C D E F
The ZTE’s DWDM equipment ZXMP M800 implements the bidirectional OMS
shared protection through the Optical MS Shared Protection (OPMS) board.
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Chapter 4 Protection Principles of DWDM System
λ21(B→A)
H A B B
λ21(B→A)
λ43(A→B)
λ43(A→B)
λ43(E→F)
G F E D
λ43(E→F)
λ21(F→E)
λ21(F→E)
Suppose that a pair of bidirectional services between Site A and Site B need
protection. The OPMS board should be installed at the site A and B. Then
connect fibers between them.
The service from A to B is carried by λ21 (external ring), while the service from
B to A is carried by λ43 (internal ring). In this way, the operating wavelength
formed by λ21 and λ43 can be repeatedly used between other nodes on the ring
network. The λ21 of internal ring serves as the protection wavelength of external
ring λ21, while the λ43 wavelength of external ring serves as the protection
wavelength of internal ring λ43. Then the shared protection of multiple services
in the ring network is implemented.
3. Application features
· The service protection is based on the multiplex section. The switching depends
on the quality of the MS signals between adjacent nodes.
· In the loop, the directions of node receiving information and node transmitting
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· The switching is executed between adjacent nodes of the faulty span when a
fault occurs.
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Appendix A Abbreviations
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Course Code Course Name
78
Appendix A Abbreviations
79