Module - 4: WDM Concepts and Components

Module – 4
Part - 1
WDM Concepts and Components

By
Dr Suresh. D
Professor
ECE Dept.,
RNS Institute of Technology
Dept. of Electronics and Communication

Contents
• WDM Concepts and Components:
• Overview of WDM:
• Operational Principles of WDM,
• WDM standards,
• Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Multiplexers,
• Isolators and Circulators,
• Fiber grating filters,
• Dielectric Thin-Film Filters,
• Diffraction Gratings,
• Active Optical Components,
• Tunable light sources
2
WDM Concepts and Components
• A powerful aspect of optical communication link is that many
different wavelengths can be sent along the fiber
simultaneously.
• The technology of combining a number of wavelengths on to
the same fiber is known as wavelength division multiplexing
or WDM
• The key system features of WDM are as follows:
a) WDM can increase the capacity of fiber network.
b) An important aspect of WDM is that each optical channel can carry
any transmission format.
c) The use of wavelength-sensitive optical routing devices makes it
possible to use wavelength as another dimension in designing
communication network and switches.
d) Wavelength routed networks are based on wavelength switched
architectures. 3
Overview of WDM
• A characteristic of WDM is that the discrete wavelengths form
an orthogonal set of carriers that can be separated, routed, and
switched without interfering with each other.
• WDM networks require a variety of passive and active devices
to combine, distribute, isolate, and amplify optical power at
different wavelengths.
Operational Principles of WDM

• Figure 1 show the implementation of passive and active
components in a typical WDM link containing various types
of optical amplifiers.
• At the transmitting end, a multiplexer is needed to combine
several optical outputs into a serial spectrum of closely spaced
wavelength signals and couple them onto a single fiber.
4
Operational Principles of WDM
• At the receiving end, a demultiplexer is required to separate

the optical signals into appropriate detection channels for
signal processing.
5
WDM Spectral Bands
• Many independent narrowband regions in the O- through L-
bands in which narrow – line width optical sources can be
used simultaneously.
• These regions are designated either in terms of spectral width
or optical bandwidth.
• The optical bandwidth Δν related to a particular spectral width
Δλ is found by differentiating c = λν; for Δλ << λ2
6
WDM Spectral Bands
7
WDM Standards
• WDM standards developed by the International
Telecommunication Unit (ITU) specify channel spacing in
terms of frequency.
• G.692 was the first ITU – T specification for WDM.
• The term dense WDM (DWDM) generally referred to small
wavelength separations, such as those denoted by ITU –T
G.692.
• ITU-T Recommendation G.694.1 specifies DWDM operation
in the S-, C-, and L-bands for frequency spacing of 100 to 12.5
GHz (or, equivalently, 0.8 to 0.1 nm at 1550 nm).
• The number NM is used by ITU-T to designate a specific
19N.M-THz C-band 100-GHz channel, e.g., the frequency
194.3 THz is ITU channel 43.
8
WDM Standards
9
WDM Standards
• The concept of coarse WDM (CWDM) emerged from the

combination of the full spectrum G.652C and G.652D fibers.
10
Passive Optical Couplers
• Passive devices operate completely in the optical domain to

split and combine light streams.
• They include N  N couplers (with N ≥ 2), power splitters,
power taps, and star couplers.
• They can be fabricated either from optical fibers or by means
of planar optical waveguides using material such as LiNbO3,
InP, silica, silicon oxynitride, or various polymers.
11
The 2  2 Fiber Coupler
• P0 is the input power, P1 is the throughout power, and P2 is the power
coupled into the second fiber.
• P3 and P4 are extremely low signal levels (-50 to -70 dB below the input
level) resulting from backward reflections and scattering in the device
The evanescent tail
from one fiber core
couples into
another closely
spaced fiber core
Optical power
coupling
12
Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Multiplexers
• This 2x2 MZI consists of three stages: an initial 3-dB
directional coupler which splits the input signals, a central
section where one of the waveguides is longer by ΔL to give a
wavelength dependent phase shift between two arms, and
another 3-db coupler which recombines the signals at the
output.
• By splitting the input beam and introducing a phase shift in
one of the paths, the recombined signals will interfere
constructively at one output and destructively at the other.
• In the central region, when the signals in the two arms come
from the same light source, the outputs from these two guides
have a phase difference.
13
Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Multiplexers
• The signals then finally emerge from only one output

port.
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15
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Cascaded MZIs
23
Cascaded MZIs
• Using basic 2  2 MZIs, any size N  N multiplexer (with N =
2n) can be constructed.
• Each module i has a different ΔLi in order to have all
wavelengths exit at port C
Figure 6. Example of a four-channel wavelength multiplexer

using three 2 x 2 MZI elements
24
25
Optical Isolators
• Optical isolators allow light to pass in only one direction.
• This prevents scattered or reflected light from traveling in
the reverse direction.
• Faraday rotator is nonreciprocal, that is it works differently
when its inputs and outputs are reversed. Here light diverges
coming from other directions.
• E.g., can keep backward-traveling light from entering a laser
diode and possibly causing instabilities in the optical output.
26
Optical Isolators
• Operation of the devices:
• Light can be represented as a combination of a parallel vibration and
a perpendicular vibration, which are called the two orthogonal plane
polarization states of a lightwave.
• A polarizer is a device that transmits only one polarization
component and blocks the other.
• A Faraday rotator is a device that rotates the state of polarization
(SOP) of light passing through it by a specific angular amount.
• A device made from birefringent materials splits the light signal
entering it into two orthogonally (perpendicular) polarized beams,
which then follow different paths through the material.
• A half wave plate rotates the SOP clockwise by 45 degree for signals
going from left to right, and counterclockwise by 45 degree for
signals propagating in the other direction.
27
Optical Isolators
Fig. 6: Polarization-independent isolator made of three miniature

optical components
28
Optical Circulators
• An optical circulator is a
nonreciprocal multiport passive
device that directs light
sequentially from port to port in
only one direction.
• In the 3–port example, an input on
port 1 is sent out on port 2, an
input on port 2 is sent out on port
3, and an input on port 3 is sent
out on port 1. Fig. Operational concept
Of a three port circulator
• This is used in optical amplifiers,
add/drop multiplexers and
dispersion compensation materials.
29
Isolator and Circulator Parameters
30
Fiber Grating Filters
• A grating is an important element in WDM systems for
combining and separating individual wavelengths.
• A grating is a periodic structure or perturbation in a material.
• This variation in the material has the property of reflecting or
transmitting light in a certain direction depending on the
wavelength.
• Categories:
i) Transmitting grating and
ii) Reflecting grating.
31
Fiber Grating Filters
32
Fiber Bragg Grating
• A Bragg grating is constructed within an optical fiber constitutes

a high performance device for accessing individual wavelengths
in the closely spaced spectrum of dense WDM systems.
• Advantages are low cost, low loss, ease of coupling with other
fibers, polarization insensitivity, low temperature coefficient and
simple packaging.
• A fiber grating is a narrow band reflection filter that is fabricated
through a photoimprinting process.
• The technique is based on the observation that germanium doped
silica fiber exhibits high photosensitivty to ultraviolet light. This
means that one can induce a change in the refractive index of the
core by exposing it to ultraviolet radiation of 244nm.
33
Fiber Bragg Grating
• Fig. 9 demonstrates the external writing technique to create
fiber phase grating..
• Grating fabrication is accomplished by means of two
ultraviolet beams transversley irradiating the fiber to produce
an interference pattern in the core.
• The region of high intensity cause an increase in the local
refractive index of the photosensitive core, whereas it remains
unaffected in the zero-intensity regions. A permanent reflective
Bragg grating is thus written into the core.
• When a multi-wavelength signal encounters the grating, those
wavelengths that are phase matched to the Bragg reflection
condition are not transmitted.
34
Fiber Bragg Grating
35
36
37
FBG Applications
• Fig. 10 shows a simple concept of a demultiplexing function
using a fiber Bragg grating.
• Circulator and grating are used to extract desired wavelength.
• Four wavelengths enter through port1 of the circulator and
leave from port 2. All wavelengths except λ2 pass through the
grating.
• This reflected wavelength enters port 2 of the circulator, and
exits at port 3.
38
FBG Applications
39
FBG Applications
• For a system to combine or to separate N wavelengths, N-1
FBGs and N-1 circulators are needed.
• Fig.11 illustrates a multiplexing function for the four
wavelengths λ1, λ2, λ3, and λ4 using three FBGs and three
circulators (C2, C3, and C4)
• Fiber grating filters FBG2, FBG3, and FBG4 are constructed to
reflect wavelengths λ2, λ3, and λ4 respectively and to pass to all
others.
• Consider the combination of circulator C2 and fiber filter FBG2.
• Filter FBG2 reflects wavelength λ2 and allows wavelength λ1 to
pass through.
• After wavelength λ1 to passes through FBG2 it enters port 2 of
circulator C2 and exits from port 3. Wavelength λ2 enters port 1
of circulator C2 and exits from port 3
40
FBG Applications
• After being reflected from FBG2 λ2 enters port 2 of circulator
C2 and exits from port 3 together with wavelength λ1.
• Similarly it continues to flow through the remaining FBGs and
Circulators till all the four wavelengths exit together from port
2 of circulator C4.
41
Dielectric Thin-Film Filters
• A Dielectric thin-film filter (TFF) is used as an optical band
pass filter.
• It allows a very narrow wavelength band to pass straight
through it and reflects all other wavelengths.
• The basis of these devices is a two parallel highly reflective
mirror surfaces called a Fabry-Perot interferometer or an
etalon.
• It is also known as a thin-film resonant cavity filter.
• Consider a light signal that is incident on the left surface of the

etalon. After the light passes through the cavity and hits the inside
surface on the right, some of the light leaves the cavity and some
is reflected.
42
• The amount of light that is

reflected depends on the
reflectivity R of the surface.
If the roundtrip distance
between the two mirrors is an
integral multiple of a
wavelength λ (i.e., λ, 2 λ, 3 λ,
etc.) all the wavelengths pass
through right facet add in
phase.
• These wavelengths interfere
Fig.12: Two parallel light reflecting mirrored
constructively and are called Surfaces define a Fabry-Perot resonator
resonant wavelengths Cavity or an etalon
43
• The transmission T of an ideal etalon in which there is no light
absorption by the mirrors is an Airy function.
• where R is the reflectivity of the mirrors and ϕ is the round trip

phase change of the light beam.
• Ignoring the phase change at the mirrors, then the phase
change for a wavelength λ is
• where n is the refractive index, D is the distance between

mirrors, and θ is the angle to the normal of the incoming light
beam.
44
• Fig. 13 shows the generalized plot of eqn. T over the range
-3π≤ ϕ ≤ 3π. Since ϕ is proportional to the optical frequency
f = 2π/λ, power transfer function T is periodic in f (or λ)
• The peaks of the
spacings, called the
passbands, occur at
those wavelengths that
satisfy condition Nλ =
2nD, where N is an
integer.
• The distance between
adjacent peaks is called Fig.13: The behavior of the resonant
the free spectral range wavelengths In a Fabry-Perot cavity for three
values of the Mirror reflectivity based on the
or FSR.
Airy function.
45
• The ratio FSR/FWHM gives an approximation of the number
of wavelengths that a filter can accommodate. This ratio is
known as the finesse F of the filter and is given by
[Note: FWHM (Full-width half-maximum): It is measure of the full width of the pass
band at its half-maximum value.]
Fig.14: A multilayer optical thin film filter consists of a

stack of several dielectric thin films.
46
Dielectric Thin-Film Filter
• Above TFF consists of multilayer thin-film coatings of
alternating low-index and high index materials, such as SiO2
and Ta2O5.
• Each dielectric layer acts as a non-absorbing reflecting
surface, so that structure is a series of resonance cavities each
of which is surrounded by mirrors.
• In figure 14, the filter is made such that if the input spectrum
contains wavelength 1 through N, then only k passes
through the device. All other wavelengths are reflected.
TFF(Thin film filter) Applications
• Wavelength multiplexing device for combining or separating N
wavelength channels, one needs to cascade N-1 thin film filters
• Figure illustrates multiplexing function for the four wavelengths
1 ,2,3, and 4
Fig. 15: Multiplexing four wavelengths using thin-film filters

48
TFF applications
• Filters labeled TFF2, TFF3, and TFF4 pass wavelengths 2,3,

and 4, respectively, and reflect all others.
• The filters are set at a slight angle in order to direct light from
one TFF to another.
• First filter TFF2 reflects wavelength 1 and allows
wavelength 2 to pass through. These two signals then are
reflected from filter TFF3 where they are joined by
wavelength 3
• After a similar process at filter TFF4 the four wavelengths can
be coupled in to a fiber by means of a lens mechanism.
49
Active Optical Components
• Active components require some type of external energy either
to perform their functions or to be used over a wider operating
range than a passive device, thereby offering greater
application flexibility
• Many active optical components use micro-electrical-
mechanical systems or MEMS technology
• A simple example of a MEMS actuation method.
MEMS Technology:
Micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) are miniature devices

that can combine mechanical, electrical, and optical components
to provide sensing and actuation functions.
50
MEMS Technology
• At the top of the device shown in the figure, there is a thin
suspended polysilicon, and at the bottom there is a silicon
ground plane which is covered by insulator. There is a gap of
0.6 µm between beam and insulator.
• When a voltage is applied between the silicon ground plane
and the polysilicon beam, the electric force pulls the beam
down so that it makes contact
with the lower structure.
• Fig.: 16: Example of a MEMS

actuation method. Top shows
an “off” position and the bottom
shows an “on” position.
51
Variable optical attenuators
• A variable optical attenuator(VOA) offers dynamic signal level
control.
• Needed at the receiver to prevent photo-detector saturation, Certain
channels need to be blanked out to perform network monitoring, to
maintain all signal strengths at a user location is same.
• This device attenuates optical power by various means to control
signal levels precisely without disturbing other properties of a light
signal.
• The device should be polarization independent, attenuate light
independent of the wavelength, and with low insertion loss.
• The control methods are mechanical, thermo-optic, MEMS, or
electro-optic techniques.
• When wavelengths are added, dropped, or routed in a WDM system,
a VOA can mange the optical power fluctuations of this and other
simultaneously propagating wavelength signals.
52
Tunable optical filter
• Tunable optical filters are key components for dense WDM
optical networks.
• Two key technologies to make the filters are MEMS based and
Bragg-grating based devices
•A tunable optical filter can be varied to select a specific narrow
spectral band within a much wider optical band.
•The MEMS based device consists of two sets of epitaxially grown
semiconductor layers that form a single Fabry-Perot Cavity.
•The device operation is based on allowing one of the two mirrors
to be moved precisely by an actuator. This enables a change in the
distance between the two cavity mirrors, thereby resulting in the
selection of different wavelengths to be filtered.
53
• Fiber Bragg gratings are wavelength selective reflective filters
with steep spectral profiles (Fig. 17).
• This method involves stretching and relaxation process of the
spacing in the fiber grating, that is in the periodic variation in
the refractive index along the core.
• This process induces a change in the Bragg wavelength
thereby changing the center wavelength of the filter.
Fig. 17: Example of the

Reflection band and steep
Spectral profiles for a 50-GHz
Fiber Bragg grating filter
55
• The stretching can be done by thermo-mechanical,
piezoelectric, or by stepper motor method.(shown in fig.)
• In the thermo-mechanical methods the high expansion bar
changes its length more with temperature than the low
expansion frame, thereby leading to temperature induced
length variations in the filter grating.
• The piezoelectric technique uses a material that changes its
length when a voltage is applied. It gives precise wavelength
resolution, but expensive and complex to implement.
• The stepper motor method changes the length of the fiber
grating by pulling or relaxing one end of the structure. It has a
moderate cost, reliable and has a reasonable tuning speed.
56
Dynamic Gain Equalizers
•A Dynamic gain equalizer(DGE) is used to reduce the attenuation of
the individual wavelengths within a spectral band.
•These are also called dynamic channel equalizers(DCE) or dynamic
spectral equalizers.
•The function of a DGE is equivalent to filtering out individual
wavelengths and equalizing them on a channel by channel basis.
Their applications include flattening the nonlinear gain profile of an
optical amplifier.
•A dynamic gain equalizer (DGE) equalizes the gain profile of an
erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA)
•These devices operate by having individually tunable attenuators,
such as a series of VOAs, control the gain of a small spectral
segment across a wide spectral band, such as the C or L band.
57
Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers
• This is to insert(add) or extract (drop) one or more selected
wavelengths at designated point in an optical network.
• A simple OADM shown in the figure has four input and four
output ports.
• Add and drop functions are controlled by MEMS based
miniature mirrors that are activated selectively to connect the
desired paths.
Fig.: 20: Example of adding and

Dropping wavelengths with a
4x4 OADM device that uses
Miniature switching mirrors.
58
Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers
• When no mirrors are activated, each incoming channel passes

through the switch to the output port.
• Incoming signals can be dropped from the traffic flow by
activating the appropriate mirror pair.
• The operation is independent of wavelength, data rate, and
signal format.
59
Polarization Controllers
• Polarization controllers offer high speed real time polarization
control in a closed loop system.
• This includes a polarization sensor and control logic.
• These devices dynamically adjust any incoming state of
polarization to an arbitrary output state of polarization. For Ex.
Output becomes fixed, linearly polarized state.
• Applications:
i) Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensation.
ii) Polarization scrambling
iii) Polarization multiplexing.
60
Chromatic dispersion compensators
• Chromatic dispersion above 2.5Gb/s causes pulse broadening
which leads to increased bit error rate.
• To minimize this effect, dispersion compensating fibers, which
operates across a wide spectral range are used. Then fine
tuning is carried out by dispersion compensating
module(DCM) to correct any variable dispersion.
• This module can be tuned manually, remotely or dynamically.
• Manual tuning is done by a network technician.
• By using network management software it can be adjusted
remotely.
• Dynamic tuning is done by the module itself without any
human intervention.
61
Chromatic dispersion compensators Contd..
• Chromatic dispersion compensation is achieved by Dynamic
tuning through the use of a chirped fiber Bragg grating(FBG)
• The grating spacing varies linearly over the length of the
grating, which is known as chirped grating. This results in a
range wavelengths that satisfy the Bragg condition for
reflection.
62
Chromatic dispersion compensators Contd..
• The relative delays induced by the grating on the

frequency components of the pulse are the opposite of
the delays caused by the fiber.
• This results in dispersion compensation, since it
compresses the pulse.
63
Tunable light sources
• Tunable light source is using single laser device to operate
over the range of wavelengths instead of having array of
lasers.
• This is achieved by using discrete single wavelength DFB
(Distributed feedback) or DBR (Distributed bragg reflector)
lasers.
• The fundamental concept of making such a laser is to change
the cavity length in which the lasing occurs in order to have
the device emit at different wavelengths.
• Sources must be carefully controlled and monitored to ensure
that their wavelengths do not drift with time and temperature
into the spectral region of adjacent sources.
.
64
Tunable light sources
• The basic tuning options:
i) Wavelength tuning of a laser by means of temperature or
current variations.
ii) Specially designed wavelength tunable or frequency tunable
lasers
iii) Frequency locking to a particular lasing mode
iv) Spectral slicing by means of a fixed or Tunable narrow band
optical filter and a broadband LED.
Frequency tuning is achieved either by changing the
temperature of the device (wavelength changes 0.1nm/degree
C), or by altering the injection current into the
active(gain)section or the passive section. The latter method
results in a change in the effective refractive index, which
causes a shift in the peak output wavelength.
65
Tunable DBR Laser
Fig.: Tuning range of an injection-tunable three-section DBR laser

Tunable laser characteristics
Fig.: Relationship between tuning range, channel spacing, and source

spectral width.
Diffraction Gratings
• Diffraction grating is an optical device that spatially separates
the different wavelengths contained in a beam of light.
• The device consists of set of a diffracting elements, such as
narrow parallel slits or grooves, separated by a distance
comparable to the wavelength of light.
• Types are reflection grating and transmission grating.
• Separating and combining wavelengths with diffraction
gratings is parallel process.
• Reflection gratings:
• These are fine ruled or etched parallel lines on some type of
reflective surfaces.
• The angle at which the light leaves the grating depends on its
wavelength, so the reflected light fans out in a spectrum.
68
Diffraction Gratings Contd..
• For DWDM applications, the

lines are spaced equally and
each individual wavelength
will be reflected at a slightly
different angle as shown in
fig.
• There are reception fibers at
each of the positions where
reflected light gets focused.
• The reflective diffraction
gratings also works
reciprocally.
69
Transmission grating:
70
• Transmission grating is known as phase grating, consists of a
periodic variation of the refractive index of the grating.
• These may be characterized by a Q-parameter which is defined
as Q = 2πλd/ng ∆2cos α
• where λ is wavelength, d is the thickness of the grating, ng is
the refractive index of the material, ∆ is the grating period, and
α is the incident angle as shown in fig.
• The phase grating is called thin for Q<1 and thick for Q>10.
• After a spectrum of wavelength channels passes through the
grating, each wavelength emerges at a slightly different angle
and can be focused in to a receiving fiber.
71
Thank You
72
Module – 4
Part - 2
Optical Amplifiers
By
Dr Suresh. D
Professor
ECE Dept.,
Contents
Optical amplifiers:
• Basic application and Types,
• Semiconductor optical amplifiers,
• Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers,
• Raman Amplifiers,
• Wideband Optical Amplifiers
Optical Amplifiers
An optical amplifier is a device which amplifies the
optical signal directly without ever changing it to
electricity. The light itself is amplified.
The three fundamental optical amplifier types are
Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs)
Doped Fibre Amplifiers (EDFAs) (most common)
Raman amplifiers.
Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are used

in the C-band(1530 to 1560nm) for optical
communication networks.
Basic Applications and Types
• Applications ranging from ultra-long undersea
links to short links in access networks.
• Since many closely spaced wavelength channels
are being transported over these links, the
amplifier must have a wide spectral response
range and be highly reliable.
• Optical amplifiers are applicable where traffic
patterns can be bursty, and or wavelengths can
often be added or dropped depending on
customers demand for service.
General Applications
•In-line amplifier: Amplifies the signal to compensate
transmission loss in a fiber and increase the distance between
regenerative repeaters. This is useful in single mode link.
•Preamplifier: Used as a front-end amplifier for an optical
receiver. A Weak optical signal is amplified before photodetection
so that the signal to noise ratio degradation caused by thermal
noise in the receiver electronics can be suppressed.
•Power (booster) amplifier: This device is placed immediately
after an optical transmitter to boost the transmitted power. This
serves to increase the transmission distance by 10-100km
depending on amplifier gain and fiber loss.
•LAN booster amplifier: Boosting the optical signal in front of a
passive star coupler. This amplifier is used to compensate for
coupler-insertion loss and power-splitting loss.
Four Applications of optical amplifiers
Amplifier Types
a) Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA).
b) Active fiber or doped-fiber amplifier (DFA)
c) Raman amplifiers.
• All optical amplifiers increase the power level of incident light
through a stimulated emission or an optical power transfer
process.
• In the above types of amplifiers, the mechanism for creating
the population inversion that is needed for stimulated emission
to occur is same as is used in laser diodes.
Amplifier Types Contd..
• The device absorbs energy supplied from an external source
called the pump. The pump supplies energy to electrons in an
active medium, which raises them to higher energy levels to
produce a population inversion.
• An incoming signal photon will trigger these excited electrons
to drop to lower levels through a stimulated emission process.
This results in amplified output signal.
Fig. 2: Basic operation of a Generic optical amplifier

SOA Parameters
• Wavelength ~1300 nm or ~1550 nm
• residual reflectivity of less than 10-4 to ensure a gain
ripple below 0.5dB
• low optical loss to achieve a net gain as high as 30 dB
• high material gain to allow low-drive current operation (20
to 30 dB fiber-to-fiber gain for a 100-mA drive current)
• high output saturation power, defined as the output power
for which the gain is reduced by 3 dB
• chip-to-fiber coupling loss of less than 3 dB per facet,
which is achieved using integrated mode-expanding
tapered waveguides at the output facets.
Doped fiber amplifiers (DFA)
• Doped fiber amplifiers (DFAs) are optical amplifiers that use
a doped optical fiber as a gain medium to amplify an optical
signal. They are related to fiber lasers.
• The signal to be amplified and a pump laser are multiplexed into
the doped fiber, and the signal is amplified through interaction
with the doping ions.
• The most common example is the Erbium Doped Fiber
Amplifier (EDFA), where the core of a silica fiber is doped with
trivalent erbium ions and can be efficiently pumped with a laser
at or near a wavelength of 980 nm or 1480 nm, and exhibits gain
in the 1550 nm region. The EDFA amplification region varies
from application to application and can be anywhere between
few nm up to ~80nm.
• Typical use of EDFA in telecommunications calls for C-band
amplifiers ( from ~1528 nm to ~1565 nm) or L-band amplifiers
(from ~1565 nm to ~1605 nm).
Semiconductor optical amplifier
• A semiconductor optical amplifier is an InGaAsP laser that
is operating below its threshold point.
• SOA can be made to work in any narrow wavelength band
extending from 1280nm in the O-band to 1650nm in the U-
band.
• SOA belongs to the travelling-wave (TW) amplifier
category. Here the optical signal travels through the
device only once.
• During this single passage the signal gains energy and
emerges intensified at the other end of the amplifier.
Semiconductor optical amplifier
Amplifier Gain:
Amplifier gain G or Signal gain of an optical amplifier is
defined as
where Ps,in and Ps,out are the input and output powers,
respectively. The single-pass gain in the active medium of
the SOA is
Amplifier Gain:
Amplifier Gain: (contd..)
Fig.3 illustrates the dependence of the gain on the input power.
The curve shows that as the input signal power is increased, the
gain first stays near the small-signal level and then starts to
decrease.
Fig.3: Typical dependence of the single-pass gain on optical input

Power for a small signal gain of G0 = 30dB (a gain of 1000)
Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA)
• The active medium in an optical fiber amplifier consists of a 10
to 30m length of optical fiber that has been lightly doped (1000
parts per million weight.) with Erbium(Er), ytterbium(Yb),
thulium (Tm), or praseodymium (Pr).
• The host fiber material is silica, a flouride based glass, or a
tellurite glass.
• A popular material in the application is silica fiber doped with
erbium, which is known as Erbium doped fiber amplifier or
EDFA.
• In some cases Yb is added to increase the pumping efficiency
and the amplifier gain.
• Works on the concept of stimulated emission
• Operates in the C band (1530-1560) and can extended to S-
band L-band.
EDFA
Erbium:
• Erbium has several important properties that make it
an excellent choice for an optical amplifier
• Erbium ions (Er3+) have quantum levels that allows
them to be stimulated to emit in the 1540nm band,
which is the band that has the least power loss in
most silica-based fiber.
• Erbium's quantum levels also allow it to be excited
by a signal at either 980nm or 1480nm, both of
which silica-based fiber can carry without great
losses
Fig.: Erbium energy-level diagram
Fig.5: Simplified energy-level diagrams and various transition

Processes of Er3+ ions silica
EDFA
Amplification Mechanism:
• The possible pump wavelengths are 980 & 1480 nm
• In normal operation, a pump laser emitting 980-nm
photons is used to excite ions from the ground state to the
pump level, as shown by transition process.
• These excited ions decay(relax) quickly (in about 1 μs)
from the pump band to the metastable band, shown as
transition process 2.
• During this decay, the excess energy is released as
phonons or, equivalently, mechanical vibrations in the
fiber.
• Within the metastable band, the electrons of the excited
ions tend to populate the lower end of the band. Hence,
they are characterized by a very long fluorescence time of
about 10 ms.
EDFA
Amplification Mechanism contd….:
• Another possible pump wavelength is 1480 nm. The
energy of these pump photons is very similar to the signal-
photon energy, but slightly higher. The absorption of a
1480-nm pump photon excites an electron from the ground
state directly to the lightly populated top of the metastable
level, as indicated by transition process 3.
• These electrons then tend to move down to the more
populated lower end of the metastable level (transition 4).
Some of the ions sitting at the metastable level can decay
back to the ground state in the absence of an externally
stimulating photon flux, as shown by transition process5.
This-decay phenomenon is known as spontaneous
emission and adds to the amplifier noise.
EDFA
Amplification Mechanism contd….:
• Two more types of transitions occur when a flux of signal
photons that have energies corresponding to the band gap
energy between the ground state and the metastable level
passes through the device.
• First, a small portion of the external photons will be absorbed
by ions in the ground state, which raises these ions to the
metastable level, as shown by transition process 6.
• Second, in the stimulated emission process (transition process
7) a signal photon triggers an excited ion to drop to the ground
state, thereby emitting new photon of the same energy,
wavevector and polarization as the incoming signal photon.
EDFA
Loss/Gain(dB/m) vs Wavelength:
• The absorption and emission responses of an EDFA depend on
the types of dopants, such as Ge and Al in the glass. Fig.6
shows an example of for a Ge-doped silica glass that has Al
codopants added.
• Peak gain response at 1532nm and a 20 to 30nm region at
longer wavelengths in which the gain is relatively flat. Beyond
1560nm the gain decreases.
Fig.6: Absorption and gain

Spectra for erbium ions in
a silica fiber doped with Ge
And Al.
EDFA Architecture
Fig.7: Three possible configurations of an EDFA. a) co-directional pumping

b) Counter directional pumping and c) dual pumping.
EDFA Architecture contd…
• The pump light is usually injected from the same direction

as the signal flow. This is known an co-directional
pumping.
• It is also possible to inject the pump power in the opposite
direction to the signal flow, which is known as counter
directional pumping.
• One can employ either a single pump source or a dual
pump schemes. Counter Directional pumping allows
higher gains, but co directional pumping gives better noise
performance.
EDFA Power-Conversion Efficiency and Gain
• The reduction of gain in an EDFA occurs when the
population inversion is reduced significantly by a large signal
as shown in the figure.
• The input and output powers of an EDFA can be expressed in
terms of the principle of energy conservation.
Ps,out ≤ Ps,in + (λp/ λs)Pp,in ……….(16)
where Pp,in is the input

pump power, and λp and λs
are the pump and signal
wavelengths, respectively.
EDFA Power-Conversion Efficiency and Gain. Contd..
• From Eq. (16), the maximum output signal power depends on
the ratio λp/ λs. For the pumping scheme to work, we need to
have λp< λs,and, to have appropriate gain, it is necessary that
Ps,in ≤ Pp,in Thus, the power conversion efficiency(PCE), defined
by PCE = (Ps,out - Ps,in )/ Pp,in = Ps,out /Pp,in ≤ λp/ λs ≤ 1 ….(17)
• The maximum theoretical value of the PCE = λp/ λs
• It is useful to define quantum conversion efficiency (QCE),
which is wavelength independent and is defined by
QCE = (λs / λp)PCE …………… (18)
From Eqn (16), amplifier gain G is
G = Ps,out /Ps,in ≤ 1+ ≤ λpPp,in/λs Ps,in ….. (19)
This shows the relationship between signal input power and gain.
EDFA Power-Conversion Efficiency and Gain. Contd..
• When the input signal power is very large so that
Ps,in >> (λp/λs)Pp,in then the maximum amplifier gain is unity.
From Eq. (19), in order to achieve a specific maximum gain
G, the input signal power cannot exceed a value given by
Ps,in ≤ {(λp/λs)Pp,in}/(G-1) ----- (20)
Gain versus EDFA length
Fig.9: Calculation of the dependence of EDFA gain on fiber length

And pump power for a 1480nm pump and a 1550nm signal.
Gain versus pump level in EDFA
Fig.10: Gain behavior of an EDFA as a function of output signal

Power for various pump levels.
Advantages
• Commercially available in C-band & L-band

• Insensitivity to light polarization state
• High gain
• Low noise figure: 4.5 dB to 6dB
• No distortion at high bit rates
• Simultaneous amplification of wavelength division
multiplexed signals
• Immunity to cross talk among wavelength
multiplexed channels
• Do not require high speed electronics
• Independent of bit rate (Bit rate transparency)
Drawbacks
• Pump laser necessary
• Need to use a gain equalizer for multistage
amplification
• Difficult to integrate with other components
• Dropping channels can give rise to errors in surviving
channels
Raman Amplifiers
• Raman optical amplifier is based on a nonlinear effect
called stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), which occurs in
fibers at high optical powers.
• The SRS effect is due to an interaction between an optical
energy field and the vibrational modes of the lattice
structure in a material.
• Here, atom first absorbs a photon at a particular energy and
then releases another photon at a lower energy, that is, at a
longer wavelength than that of the absorbed photon.
• The energy difference between the absorbed and the
released photons is transformed into phonon. (vibrational
mode of the material)
Raman Amplifiers Contd…
• The power transfer to higher wavelengths occurs over a broad
spectral range of 80 to 100nm. The shift to a particular
wavelength is referred to as the Stokes shift.
• Fig.11 shows the Raman gain spectrum for a pump laser
operating at 1445nm and illustrates the SRS induced power
transfer to a signal at 1535nm, which is 90nm away from the
pump wavelength. Gain curve is in terms of Raman gain
coefficient gR
Fig.11: Stokes shift and the

Resulting Raman gain spectrum
From a pump laser operating at
1445nm.
• Raman amplifier makes use of the standard transmission
fiber itself as the amplification medium.
• Raman gain mechanism is achieved using i) lumped
(discrete) amplifier, ii) distributed amplifier.
• Lumped Raman Amplifier: A spool of about 80 m of
small core fiber along with pump lasers is inserted into the
transmission path as a distinct packaged unit.
• Distributed Raman amplifier: Optical power from one or
more Raman pump lasers is inserted into the end of the
transmission fiber toward the transmitting end.
• This process converts the final 20 to 40km of the
transmission fiber into a preamplifier. Hence the word
distributed is used, since the gain is spread out over a wide
distance.
• Fig.12 shows this effect on single wavelength for several
different pump lasers. Here the on-off gain is defined as the
increase in the signal power at the receiver amplifier output
when the Raman pump lasers are turned on.
Fig.12: Stimulated signal power evolution along a 100km fiber link

for different values of on-off Raman gain, which is the increase in signal
power at the amplifier output when the pump lasers are turned on.
• As the optical power from the pumps travels from the
receiver toward the sender, the SRS effect is progressively
transfers power from shorter pump wavelengths to longer
signal wavelengths.
• This occurs over the characteristic Raman-gain length
LG = gRP/Aeff,
• where P is the pump laser power and Aeff is the effective area
of the transmission fiber and gR Raman gain coefficient.
• Noise factors limit the practical gain of a distributed Raman
amplifier to less than 20dB.
• Fig.13 shows the use of several pump lasers to generate a
flat wideband gain spectrum. Fig. shows Raman gain
spectrum for six pump lasers at different wavelengths.
Fig.13: Numerical example of broadband Raman gain in a non-zero

dispersion shifted fiber when using six pump lasers.
• Since the pumps at short wavelengths amplify the power of

longer wavelengths, the shorter wavelengths pumps need
to have higher power levels.
• Although ten percent of the total pump power comes from
the laser operating at 1495nm, since it is amplified by the
other pumps it contributes 80 percent of the gain for the
longest wavelength.
Fig.14 shows pump combiner multiplexes the outputs
from four pump lasers operating at different wavelengths
(Ex. 1425, 1445, 1465, and 1485nm) onto a single fiber.
Fig.14: Setup for a typical Raman amplification system

• This combined pump power is coupled into the
transmission fiber in a counter propagating direction
through a broadband WDM coupler.
• The differences in the power levels measured between the
two monitoring photodiodes gives the amplification gain.
• The gain flattening filter (GFF) is used to equalize the
gains at different wavelengths.
Wideband Optical Amplifier
• Wideband optical amplifiers are needed to meet the
growing demand for more bandwidth.
• This method is to operate over several wavelength bands to
handle a large number of WDM channels simultaneously.
• Two amplifier types can provide amplification in both C
and L bands or in the S and C bands.
• Three amplifier types can provide signal gains in the S, C,
and L bands, in the C, L, and U bands, or some other
combination.
• The amplifier combinations are of two types: i) Parallel
and ii) Series. Shown in the figures.
• The gain flattening filter (GFF) is used to equalize the
gains at different wavelengths.
Wideband Optical Amplifier Contd…
• Parallel and Series types:

Thank You
Module - 5
Optical Networks
By
Dr Suresh D
Professor, Dept. of ECE,
Contents
• Optical network evolution and concepts: Optical networking
terminology, Optical network node and switching elements,
Wavelength division multiplexed networks, Public
telecommunication network overview.
• Optical network transmission modes, layers and protocols:
Synchronous networks, Asynchronous transfer mode, OSI
reference model, Optical transport network, Internet protocol,
• Wavelength routing networks: Routing and wavelength
assignment, Optical switching networks: Optical circuit
switched networks, packet switched networks, Multiprotocol
Label Switching, Optical burst switching networks,
• Optical network deployment: Longhaul networks,
Metropoliton area networks, Access networks, Local area
networks.
Optical network evolution and concepts
• Optical network is a telecommunications network with optical
fiber as the primary transmission medium.
• Optical fiber has become the preferred medium for voice,
video and data transmission.
• Fiber offers far greater bandwidth and is less bulky than
copper cables.
• The industry has undergone unprecedented technological
change due to the rapid growth of the Internet and the World
Wide Web.
• Optical networking technology and techniques have therefore
evolved in order to meet the growing demands for efficient,
cost-effective, reliable, high service level, worldwide
communications.
Optical network evolution
• Optical network evolution identifying the generations of
the network development is illustrated in Figure 15.1
• Synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) or Synchronous optical network
(SONET) are in the process of being upgraded with wavelength routed
networking technologies.
• Contributing factors leading to this evolution have been the network
structure or configuration, the switching speed and the optical device
enabling technologies.
• Based on improvements in these aspects, optical fiber networks can be
currently divided into the three generations which are shown in Figure
15.1
• First-generation optical networks were composed by optical fiber
point-to-point transmission links substituting copper-based lines
maintaining the terminating electronic equipment.
• Second-generation which utilize wavelength routing techniques.
• The third generation of optical fiber networks is to exhibit
fast and reconfigurable network features by overcoming
the existing static network architectures. This can be
achieved using enhanced optical switching techniques.
• The three modes of optical switching which can be used to
increase the operational speed and produce reconfigurable
networks are circuit switching, packet switching and burst
switching.
• In optical circuit switching (OCS) a path is set up between
the source and destination before the transmission can take
place and then after successful transmission of the entire
message the path is removed.
• In optical packet switching (OPS), instead of achieving
complete transmission in a single step the message is
broken into small units.
• Optical burst switching (OBS) is a technique which lies
between optical circuit switching and optical packet
switching. In this case a message is transmitted in data
bursts on an established path while separate bursts of
information are sent containing the control data.
Optical network concepts
• Optical fiber is used as a transmission medium to provide a
connection between many users to enable them to communicate
with each other.
• It may also require an intermediate stage to process the data for
control operation.
• Figure 15.2 shows the simple optical network which consists of
optical nodes interconnected with optical fiber links.
• An optical node is a multifunctional element which basically
acts as a transceiver unit capable of receiving, transmitting and
processing (if required) the optical signal.
• Optical fibers provide point-to-point physical connections
between network nodes.
Optical network concepts
• Three broad areas of optical networks
1) Optical networking terminology,
2) the functions and types of optical network node and
switching elements, and
3) wavelength division multiplexed optical networks.
1. Optical networking terminology
• Networks employing optical fiber can transmit and receive
using either unidirectional or bidirectional transmission
over the same single optical fiber.
• A transmission path must be established either to switch or
route the messages to their final destinations.
• i) Network topologies: The network structure formed due
to the interconnectivity patterns is known as a topology,
which can take a form of a bus, ring, star or a mesh
structure.
• Figure 15.3 depicts these topologies where the circles
represent the interconnected nodes.
• ii)Network architecture:
• This provides for the implementation of networking
functionalities in different layers of a reference model
• The partitioning of functions following a logical
methodology defines communication tasks into a set of
hierarchical layers within a standardized network
architecture.
• Each layer in the network architecture performs a related
set of functions in order that a user system will be able to
communicate with another user system.
• The purpose of this approach is to produce a network that
can be physically and operationally interconnected.
• A major functionality of the optical network physical layer
is to provide appropriate routing and switching strategies
within optical multiplexed networks.
• iii)Networking modes
• There are two networking modes in which a transmission
path can be established and these are referred to as either
connection oriented, or connectionless
• Connection-oriented networks employ a bidirectional
communication environment to initiate a connection so that
both source and destination can communicate with each
other.
• Once the path is determined all the subsequent information
and the data are sent to and from the destination using the
established connection.
• Connectionless networks: There is no dedicated end-to-
end connection in the connectionless networking mode and
therefore no explicit connection setup is performed before
the actual data transmission.
• Information transmission is in one direction (i.e. from the
source to destination) without confirming the presence or
readiness of the destination to receive the information
• In its network both the addressing information and the data
are organized in small blocks, known as packets.
• Each packet is assigned a unique number and sent in a
sequence such that the destination node can reassemble
them to construct the complete message.
• iv) Network switching modes:
• Two switching modes are
a) Circuit switching, and ii) Packet switching or cell
switching.
• a) In the circuit-switched mode, an end-to-end circuit is
required to be set up before establishing a connection
• All the specific network resources are dedicated for the
particular transmission during which no other transmission
can access these resources.
• Transmissions are continuous and hence arrive in real time.
• Once the transmission is complete the circuit is terminated
and resources become available to other users.
• This mode can be characterized as continuous, selective and
temporary.
• It is connection-oriented networks.
• b) Packet or cell switching mode implies a store-and-
forward strategy where incoming messages (in the form of
blocks) are forwarded to their corresponding destinations.
• Transferring complete message in a single block requires a
buffering stage.
• Messages transmitted in a small blocks do not require
buffering stages.
• This makes the messages divided into packets with fixed
length block of data.
• Packets from many different sources are statistically
multiplexed with fixed or requested bandwidth and sent on
to their destinations.
• Packet and cell switching are applied in connection-
oriented networks. Packets, are also often employed in
connectionless networks.
• V) Virtual circuits:
• A virtual circuit is a series of logical connections between
the sending and receiving devices.
• A virtual circuit is a connection between source and
destination nodes which may consist of several different
routes
• These routes can change at any time, and the incoming
return route does not have to mirror the outgoing route.
• In switched networks, where the connections can be set up
on demand and released after the data exchange is
complete, such connections are known as switched virtual
circuits
• vi) Network routing:
• Network routing refers to the process whereby a node finds
one or more paths to possible destinations in a network.
• Here, the control and data processing functions are
performed to identify the route and to handle the data
during the transmission from source to destination
• There are three stages in routing process (known as the
control plane) are neighbor discovery, topology discovery
and path selection.
• Neighbor discovery is the first step whereby the nodes in a
network discover the identity of their immediate neighbors
and their connections to the neighboring nodes.
• Topology discovery is the process by which a node
discovers all other nodes in the network and how they are
connected to each other.
• Once the network topology is known, paths from a source
to a destination can be determined using path computation
algorithms or routing protocols.
• The control plane acquires and then provides the
reachability information throughout the network
• In order to handle the data more efficiently it requires an
additional procedure known as the data plane which allows
an optical node to forward the incoming packets towards
their destinations by using the information contained in a
forwarding table.
• vii) Modularity and scalability:
• Modularity defines the characteristics of a network which
allows the addition or reduction of networking nodes in a
modular fashion.
• Such modular networks permit the use of wavelengths in
different sections of a large optical network without
causing wavelength conflict.
• Scalability is the property of a network which enables it to
progressively accommodate a large number of nodes and
end user systems without incurring excessive overheads.
• Scalability can be achieved by employing a routing
hierarchy, or by performing route aggregation.
• Another technique for achieving scalability is to reduce the
number of routing updates using threshold schemes.
2. Optical network node and switching elements
• Optical node is considered as a multifunctional element
that performs several tasks depending upon its type and the
network requirements.
• It sends, receives and resends or redirects optical signals to
its neighboring connected nodes.
• The resending or redirecting of an optical signal to the
desired networking nodes requires the node to perform
either a routing or switching function.
• Several optical signals travel in a multiplexed form, the
optical multiplexing techniques can be used such as time
division or wavelength division multiplexing.
• An optical node can also function as a router directing an
input signal wavelength to a specified output port.
• A router essentially comprises optical couplers where the
signal can be isolated (i.e. demultiplexed) and then
directed or routed to the output port. It is referred to as a
wavelength router.
• There is wavelength changing router which is called
wavelength converting router or optical switch.
• There are wavelength switches which can be constructed
using integrated optical or optoelectronic devices.
• The four different functions of an optical router are
depicted in Figure 15.4
• Figure 15.4(a) is a 1×2 wavelength demultiplexer which
illustrates the splitting of an optical signal present at input
port 1 containing two signal wavelengths (i.e. λ1 and λ2) and
routing them to ports 2 and 3, respectively.
• A three-port wavelength multiplexer combining two
wavelength signals is indicated in Figure 15.4(b).
• An optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM) which also
comprises a wavelength add/drop device (WADD) is shown
in Figure 15.4(c).
• Figure 15.4(d) shows a simple 2 × 2 optical switch with two
input and two output ports. The two optically multiplexed
signals comprising wavelengths λ1λ2 and λ3λ4 are present at
input ports 1 and at 2, respectively. At the output ports the
wavelengths are required to be switched and multiplexed as
λ1λ3 and λ2λ4 emerging at the output ports 3 and 4,
respectively.
• A combination of an OADM and an optical switch
producing a reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer
(ROADM) is illustrated in Figure 15.4(e).
• This device can drop one or a desired number of wavelength
channels after demultiplexing a wavelength multiplexed
signal and, similarly, it can also add a new single or more
wavelength channels through an optical switch.
• For complex mesh topologies which incorporate a large

number of nodes, require an additional element to provide a
means of cross network interconnection with the added
features of an ROADM.
• This additional element is an optical cross-connect (OXC)
which has the capability of switching the connection
between two interfaced points.
• A block schematic of different OXC structures is provided
in Figure 15.5.
• A large number of wavelength signals (i.e. λ1, λ2, . . . , λN)
can be demultiplexed at the input ports of an OXC as
shown in Figure 15.5(a) and then these are internally
connected to the desired output ports where the different
wavelength signals are multiplexed for onward
transmission.
• Physical interconnection is provided by the fiber switching
capability within the OXC as illustrated in Figure 15.5(b).
In this case optical fibers are switched and connected to the
desired network node.
• The OXC can also facilitate the logical wavelength
interconnection features as indicated in Figure 15.5(c) for
multiple wavelength signals which can be routed to their
destination either individually or in a group of different
wavelength signals.
3. Wavelength division multiplexed networks
• Optical fiber networks using WDM techniques can be
classified as either broadcast-and-select networks or
wavelength routing networks.
• A broadcast-and-select network strategy based on a star
coupler is shown in Figure 15.6
• The optical transmission is broadcast to all other nodes
using fixed transmitters and a tunable receiver at the
destination node extracts the desired signal from the entire
group of wavelength multiplexed signals (i.e. λ1, λ2, λ3, . .
. , λn).
• In wavelength routing, instead of distributing the message
over the entire network, the signal is routed to the specific
destination through either a single node or using multiple
nodes.
• The concept of wavelength routing is illustrated in Figure 15.7
• Physical bidirectional interconnections between five nodes
(i.e. A, B, C, D and E) are shown in Figure 15.7(a).
• Using three wavelengths (i.e. λ1, λ2 and λ3) any network node
can transmit or receive a signal from another node within the
network.
• This strategy of wavelength implementation or path selection
shown in Figure 15.7(b) is known as routing and wavelength
assignment (RWA).
• Ex.: Node A can transmit to node B using wavelength λ1 and
it can simultaneously receive from node B using wavelength
λ2 only when the signal is routed through node E.
• To simplify such routing and wavelength assignments a
virtual topology is used to describe only the enabled
wavelength paths.
• The virtual topology is indicated in Figure 15.7(c) where
only wavelength signals identify the possible
interconnections between nodes as given by the RWA.
• By comparing Figure 15.7(a) and (c), it can be observed that
there exists no physical connection between nodes C and E
but both nodes can communicate via the virtual connection
set up using wavelengths λ1 and λ3.
Public telecommunications network overview
• The telecommunications network providing services in the
public domain is known as the public telecommunications
network.
• Here, the service providers (or carriers) offer a variety of
services for the provision of voice, data and video transmission.
• Figure 15.8, is shown a public telecommunication network
which is divided into three tiers: long-haul, metropolitan and
access networks.
• Long-haul network: It is also known as the core or sometimes
the backbone network, provides national or global coverage
with a reach of thousands of kilometers.
• This connects many metropolitan networks within a country or
interconnect together several country-wide long-haul networks.
• Interconnection between optical nodes is accomplished by
means of optoelectrical conversion and/or optical switches
employing OXCs.
• Metropolitan area network (MAN): This is called the metro,
or sometimes the back-haul network.
• These networks offer a multiservice platform and is confined
to a region spreading to tens of kilometers. They are
implemented using the ring topology.
• The interconnections between optical nodes in metro networks
are also achieved using OADMs while the larger metro
networks can also incorporate OXCs.(optical cross-connect )
• Local access network: This is extended from a few hundreds
of meters to 20 kilometers or so.
• It provides the initial interface to the network for residential
and business customers.
• The users are connected to a branching node known as a
remote node (RN) which interconnects the users with the
local office/ telephone exchange.
• In order to provide larger interconnectivity, several local
offices/ exchanges are connected using a metropolitan area
network.
Optical network transmission modes,
layers and protocols
• These network structures incorporate complex combinations
of both optical and electronic infrastructure.
• Optical network is utilized for optical signal transmission
and electronic devices are used for signal control.
• The end points of the optical network comprise network
nodes and network stations.
• The nodes connect the fibers within the optical network
while the stations connect the optical network to the non-
optical systems in the electronic domain.
• The stations and nodes comprise both optoelectronic and
photonic components (e.g. lasers, photodetectors,
couplers/splitters, switches, amplifiers, regenerators,
wavelength converters, etc.)
.
• i) Synchronous networks:
• A schematic of pre-existing multichannel PCM transmission
hierarchies for the telecommunications network is shown in
the 15.9(a).
• Each 2 Mbit s−1 transmission circuit has its own independent
clock to provide for timing and synchronization.
• This results in slightly different frequencies occurring
throughout a network and is referred to as pleisochronous
transmission.
• Here, extra bits need to be inserted (bit stuffing) at each
intermediate level so as to maintain pleisochronous operation.
• The presence of bit stuffing in the existing pleisochronous
digital hierarchy (PDH) makes it virtually impossible to
identify and extract an individual channel.
• Thus to obtain an individual channel the whole
demultiplexing procedure through the various levels (Figure
15.9(a)) must be carried out.
• This process is both complex and uneconomic.
• A substantial saving in electronic hardware together with
increased reliability could be achieved by
multiplexing/demultiplexing as shown in Figure 15.9(b).
• SONET concepts in 1986 which resulted in basic
recommendations for a new synchronous digital hierarchy
(SDH) in November 1988 with a base rate of 51.84Mbps
• Synchronous optical network recommendations is referred as
SONET in North America and SDH in Europe.
•The SONET standard is developed by ANSI which defines a
digital hierarchy with a base rate of 51.840 Mbit s−1, as shown in
Table 15.1.
•The OC notation refers to the optical carrier level signal.
• The base rate signal is OC-1.
• The STS level is synchronous transport signal. STS-1 is the
basic building block of the SONET.
• The basic STS-1 frame structure illustrated in Figure 15.10
comprises nine rows, each of 90 bytes, which provide a total
of 810 bytes or 6480 bits per 125 μs frame. This results in
the 51.840 Mbit s−1 base rate (6480 bits / 125 μs )
• The first three bytes in each row
of the STS-1 frame contain
transport overhead bytes, leaving
the remaining 783 bytes to be
designated as the synchronous
payload envelope (SPE).
• Apart from the first column (9
bytes) which is used for the path
overhead, the remaining 774
bytes in the SPE constitute the
SONET data payload.
•The transport overhead bytes are utilized for functions such as
framing, scrambling, error monitoring, synchronization and
multiplexing
• Path overhead within the SPE is used to provide end-to-
end communication between systems carrying digital
voice, video and other signals which are to be multiplexed
onto the STS-1 signal.
• In this case the 125 μs frame structure is referred to as a synchronous
transport module (STM) (SDH level) and the base rate STM-1 is
155.520 Mbit s−1 which corresponds to OC-3 (STS-3), as may be
observed from Table 15.2.
• ii)Asynchronous transfer mode
• Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is a packetized
multiplexing and switching technique which seeks to combine
the benefits of packet switching and circuit switching.
• An ATM cell comprises a header and payload data as shown
in Figure 15.12. It contains 48 bytes of data with 5 bytes of
header information.
• Each single byte in the header field includes different
information to identify destination, path, channel and the error
control bits.
• iii) Open Systems Interconnection reference
model
• Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) describes a standard
architecture to be used for designing networks.
• Below figure shows the structure of OSI network
reference model and identifies functions of each of the
seven levels or layers.
• The application layer which is at the top of the hierarchy
as the seventh layer provides a means for a user to access
information on the network by receiving a service (e.g.
database management, network management). This layer is
the main interface for the users to interact through
applications with the network.
• The sixth level is the presentation layer which transforms
data to provide a standard interface for the application
layer.
• The session or fifth layer controls the dialogs (sessions)
between intelligent devices. It establishes, manages and
terminates the connections between the local and remote
application.
• The fourth level is the transport layer which provides
transparent transfer of data between end users, thus
relieving the upper layers from any transport concern while
providing reliable data transfer
• The transport layer controls the reliability of a specific link
through flow control, segmentation/desegmentation and
error control. Some protocols are both state and connection
oriented.
• The best known example of protocol of this layer is the
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) which is a
connection oriented protocol that provides basic data
transfer between nodes offering interconnection, flow
control, multiplexing with reliable priority and security
• The network layer at the third level provides the functional and
procedural method for transferring variable length data sequences
from a source to a destination via one or more networks while
maintaining the quality of service requested by the transport layer.
• The data link layer at the second level provides the functional and
procedural mechanisms to enable transfer of data between network
entities and to detect, and potentially correct, errors that occur in the
physical layer.
• Data link layer protocols are High-level Data Link Control (HDLC)
and the Advanced Data Communications Control Procedure
(ADCCP) for point-to-point or packet-switched networks.
• The physical layer (PHY) defines all the electrical, optical and
physical media specifications for devices (e.g. the fiber type, cable
specifications, hubs, repeaters, network adaptors). It also ensures that
communication resources are effectively shared among multiple
users.
Optical transport network
• Optical transport network (OTN) is set of facilities using
optical fiber interconnections to carry data between network
elements that switch or route the data from different
customers into the network.
• OTN provides for the transport, multiplexing, routing,
supervision and survivability for client signals and the OTN
is the successor to SDH/ SONET.
• Four layers of OTN which provides information about
hierarchical structure and interface functionalities is shown
in fig. 15.4a. These are
a) optical channel (OCh);*
b) optical channel transport unit (OTU);†
c) optical channel data unit (ODU); and
d) optical channel payload unit (OPU).
• * OChr – the letter r indicates a reduced functionality.
• † OTUk – the letter k is used to describe a sublayer.
• The OTN hierarchy to support these four layers which
include three sections as shown in Figure 15.14(b), which
are: the optical transmission section (OTS); the optical
multiplexing section (OMS); the optical physical section
(OPS).
• These sections are further divided into a number of
subsections n.
• Figure 15.14(c) provides the basic functional structure for
the OTN layers and sections which facilitates the method
for interfacing between different transmission domains.
• Different physical sections of the OTN are interfaced
based on the information obtained from OTS, OMS and
OPS, respectively
Internet Protocol
• The Internet Protocol (IP) is a network layer that contains both
addressing and control information to enable packets to be
routed within a network.
• As indicated in Figure 15.15, the IP provides the means of
communication between the link and transport layers.
• A virtual connection is established between nodes requiring
communication when IP is combined with a specific higher
level protocol such as the Transmission Control Protocol
(TCP) or the User Datagram Protocol (UDP).
• The IP provides protocols for both the functions of signaling
and routing.
• The signaling protocols
include Multiprotocol Label
Switching (MPLS) and
Generalized Multiprotocol
Label Switching (GMPLS)
while the routing protocols
include the Open Shortest-
Path First (OSPF), the
Intermediate-System-to-
Intermediate System (IS–IS)
and the Border Gateway
Protocol (BGP).
• Three generic stages of deployment for optical IP networks
are shown in Figure 15.16. The first generation used ATM to
carry IP packets (i.e. IP over ATM), which has proved not to
be an efficient technique as compared with the direct use of
SDH/SONET
• The second stage and column in Figure 15.16 shows the
three tiers comprising IP, a thin layer of SONET and dense
WDM.
• The ongoing IP revolution suggests that SDH/SONET is not
bandwidth efficient for IP packet transport.
• A thin SONET layer is present in the second stage with the
switch over from WDM to DWDM at the physical layer.
• The removal of the ATM and SONET layers to produce IP
over DWDM is possible due to the increasing sophistication
of the optical and photonic enabling technologies. Hence the
third stage of deployment for IP optical networks is to
incorporate optical/ photonic switching.
• The realization of IP running directly on a DWDM physical

layer is an important and its implementation schemes for IP
over DWDM and the further development of IP over OTN are
illustrated in Figure 15.17
• IP over a point-to point WDM network employing opto-electrical
conversion at the edges for the IP routing is shown in Figure
15.17(a). In this case routers are directly interconnected with
high-capacity point-to-point WDM links.
• Hence the entire traffic is processed in the router, at the packet
level, after converting the optical signal to the electronic domain
and extracting packets from the signal stream. Therefore most of
the traffic processed by the router is transit traffic, as indicated in
Figure 15.17(b).
• The IP over WDM architecture utilizes the high capacity of the
router requiring high-throughput and thus power-consuming
routers.
• IP over OTN where the traffic which passes through a node
without termination can be either switched in an optical cross-
connect (OXC) without opto-electrical conversion, or be
forwarded by a router at the packet level after E/O conversion, is
shown in Figure 15.17(c).
• Internet protocol over OTN, allow the bypass of non-transit
traffic by separately placing an IP router onto an OXC which
then provides a wavelength switching OTN layer. This
functionality is illustrated in Figure 15.17(d).
• In this case the traffic routing becomes independent of distance
in the sense that traffic between any node pair can be routed in
a single logical hop. Transit traffic can be therefore switched
in the optical layer instead of being forwarded only in routers,
as depicted by the optical bypass indicated in Figure 15.17(d).
• An advanced version of IP over optical switches where the
packets are switched in the all-optical domain (i.e. without O/E
conversion) using either optical packet switches or optical
burst switches (OBS), has also been explored. The E/O
conversion, may be required at the network edges for the
control operation to enable access to the network.
Wavelength Routing Networks
• The optical layer is based on wavelength-dependent concepts.
• The entire physical interconnected network provides
wavelength signal service among the nodes using either
single or multihop as shown in fig.15.18.
• Three network nodes are interconnected using two wavelength
channels where the solid line connecting the nodes represents
the available wavelength channel and the dashed line identifies
that the wavelength channel is in use.
• If the network node 1 is required to connect with node 3 as
shown in Figure 15.18(a), there is no single wavelength channel
available to establish a light path between them. When a light
path cannot be established on a link using a single wavelength
channel it is referred to as a wavelength continuity constraint.
• A methodology to reduce this wavelength continuity constraint
is to switch the wavelength channel at node 2 by converting the
incoming wavelength λ2 to λ1 to enable a link between node 2
and 3 to be established. This process is shown in Figure
15.18(b).
• Wavelength convertible routing network architectures:
• Several network architectures can be employed to implement
wavelength convertible networks. Three different WDM
network architectures employing the wavelength conversion
function are shown in Figure 15.19.
• Full wavelength conversion, where each network link utilizes a
dedicated wavelength converter, is shown in Figure 15.19(a).
• It is not always required to provide the wavelength conversion
function within every network node and it is more cost
effective to implement networks with fewer and hence shared
wavelength converters.
• Sparse wavelength convertible network architectures
employing a number of wavelength converters as a wavelength
converter bank (WCB) functioning on a shared basis per link
and per node are shown in Figure 15.19(b) and (c),
• Waveband switching (WBS) network architecture:
• An multi-granular optical cross connect(MG-OXC) with three
switching layers, including wavelength cross-connecting
(WXC), waveband cross-connecting (BXC) and fiber cross-
connecting (FXC) layers, is shown in Figure 15.20.
• The advantage of WBS is that it supports a greater number of
wavelength channels and it also reduces the number of
switches or ports within the optical network.
• A routing strategy in the above method requires the use of

wavelength assignment and routing algorithms for these
networks.
• i) Routing and Wavelength Assignment: In dense WDM
networks a light path is established by reserving a particular
wavelength on the physical links between the source and
destination edge nodes.
• It is a two-stage search and- select process related to both
routing (i.e. searching/selecting a suitable path) and
wavelength assignment (i.e. searching/selecting an available
wavelength for the connection).
• The overall process is often referred to as the routing and
wavelength assignment (RWA) problem.
• A five-node network with fixed connections where node 1
requested to establish a link with node 5 is illustrated in
Figure 15.21
• There are four possibilities to establish the link between
nodes 1 and 5, depending on the available or assigned
wavelengths between each of the network nodes.
• These are: via node 2 using a single hop; nodes 4 and 2
comprising two hops; nodes 2 and 3 with two hops; and the
longest possible route stretching over three hops via nodes
4, 2 and 3. Considering these four routes, the single hop
remains the shortest path between nodes 1 and 5.
• An example of wavelength assignment for a ring network
where the ring topology consists of four nodes, namely a, b, c
and d, is shown in Figure 15.22.
• There exist four possibilities for establishing light paths
between the network nodes as indicated by the two inner and
the two outer half circles.
• Although four individual wavelengths (i.e. one wavelength
per half circle) may be required, when wavelength reuse is
introduced three wavelengths are sufficient to provide similar
connectivity.
• This situation is illustrated in Figure 15.22(b) which is
drawn by cutting the ring and straightening the network
wavelength connections. This approach splits network
node d into two halves, dTx and dRx. (i.e. separating the
transmitting and receiving elements).
• A total number of five light-paths (i.e. links) using only
three wavelengths (i.e. λ1, λ2 and λ3) are therefore
indicated in Figure 15.22(b).
• For example, wavelength λ1 establishes two light paths, one

each between nodes a to dTx and c to dRx. The third light path
connecting nodes a to c via node b utilizes wavelength λ2.
Moreover, wavelength λ3 is used to establish the fourth light
path between nodes b to dTx via node a. Finally, the same
wavelength λ3 has been used to set up the fifth light path
between network nodes b to dRx via node c.
Optical switching networks
• An optical switch represents the single most dynamic
element in an optical network which traditionally can switch
data between different ports of a network.
• As with electronic switching, two types of optical switching
are i) circuit and ii) packet switching.
• i) Optical circuit-switched networks: In circuit-switched
networks a connection is established using available
network resources for the full duration of the transmission
of a message.
• Once the complete message is successfully transmitted then
the connection is removed.
• Figure 15.23 provides a block diagram illustrating an optical
circuit-switched (OCS) network.
• In this configuration six optical nodes (i.e. a to f) are
interconnected and a requested logical path for optical signal
wavelength, λ1, is established producing a circuit path
through network nodes a, b, d and f. and which are
responsible to establish connections between the desired
input and output ports.
• ii) Optical packet-switched networks: In an optical
packet-switched (OPS) network data is transported entirely
in the optical domain without intermediate opto-electrical
conversions. An optical packet switch performs the four
basic functions of routing, forwarding, switching and
buffering.
• Figure 15.24 shows the overall structure of a typical packet. It
contains a label and the payload (i.e. data) and it requires a
guard band to ensure the data is not overwritten.
• The label points to an entry in a lookup table that specifies to
where the packet should be forwarded.
• Above labeling technique is much faster than the traditional
routing method where each packet is examined before a
forwarding decision is made.
• The packets in an optical packet switched (OPS) network can

carry different types of traffic (i.e. voice, data and video) and
such an optical packet switching scheme can integrate existing
SDH/SONET and IP-based optical networks. An example of
an OPS network is shown in Figure 15.25.
• It shows a long-haul or core network connected to both a
SONET and an IP network.
• The edge routers (i.e. network nodes at the edges) perform the
functions of attaching and detaching a label.
• Routing function typically involves the following four steps:
(a) extraction of the label from the packet;
(b) processing of the label to obtain routing information;
(c) routing of the payload and contention resolution if
necessary; and
(d) rewriting of the label and recombining it with the payload.
• Sketch shown in Figure 15.26 depicts a generic OLS network

configuration to route packets while also extracting and
rewriting labels at input and output interfaces.
• In this implementation only the detached label is processed
electronically and the payload (i.e. data) remains in optical
buffers before being sent through the optical switch fabric to
the desired output buffers.
• Finally, the routing processor and control section regenerate
the label which is reattached with the data at the output
interface.
Multiple Label Switching
• Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) provides for the
efficient designation, routing, forwarding and switching of
traffic flows through an optical packet-switched network.
• Multiprotocol label switching uses labels to forward traffic
across the various MPLS domains. When a labeled packet
arrives at a label switching router (LSR), the incoming label
will determine the path of this packet within the MPLS
network.
• Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) extends MPLS providing
additional protocols for wavelength and physical space
domains (i.e. optical fiber switching).
• It supports transparent traffic using DWDM and OXCs for
the implementation of label switching.
• Signaling protocols for the establishment of label-switched
paths (LSPs) for the GMPLS and MPLS are
a) label exchange to include non-packet networks (i.e.
generalized labels);
b) establishment of bidirectional LSPs;
c) signaling for the establishment of a backup path
(protection information);
d) expediting label assignment via a suggested label;*
e) waveband switching support – a set of contiguous
wavelengths switched together.
Optical burst switching networks
• Optical burst switching (OBS) is combining important
aspects of optical circuit switching and optical packet
switching.
• This hybrid switching and routing technology uses
electronics to control routing decisions but keeps data in the
optical domain as it passes through each optical node.
• Packets with a common destination are aggregated in edge
routing nodes into larger transmission units called a data
burst (DB), each of which is transmitted separately from the
data control packet called the burst header cell (BHC).
• Figure 15.27 illustrates the concept of OBS where four edge
routers of a large network are shown to establish links
between data sources (Tx) and receivers (Rx) individually
or by using multiplexers or demultiplexers, respectively.
• Figure 15.28 shows the edge router’s function in detail
providing burst assembly and disassembly operations at ingress
and egress, respectively.
• In Figure 15.28(a) each of the users operating on different
formats (i.e. IP, SONET, ATM, WDM/DWDM, etc.) sends
different data to the edge router.
• The router disassembles the data and issues BHCs (i.e. C1 and
C2 shown in Figure 15.28(a)) on the data control channel
(DCC) in advance for Burst 1 and Burst 2, respectively.
• Each burst may contain different data: for example Burst 1 contains
data Pa2, Ps1 and Pa2, where the subscripts a and s represent any
format and SDH/SONET, respectively.
• In order to perform burst assembly as shown in Figure 15.28(b) the
control channel provides BHCs (i.e. C3 and C4) for the data bursts
Burst 3 and Burst 4, respectively. The users then receive their
corresponding disassembled data that the edge router received from
the core router.
Optical network deployment
• Optical networks are dependent on the use of advanced fiber
transmission systems, developments in optical component
enabling technologies and evolution in the network topological
strategies together with the associated protocols to provide
efficient, high-capacity operation.
• The optical fiber networks are deployed in the area of the
public telecommunications network together with on-site, or
on-premises, local area networks.
• A modern, complex optical network is illustrated in Figure
15.29(a) which shows a DWDM backbone incorporating
add/drop channels together with a core ring feeding both
metropolitan area and access networks together with enterprise
and local area networks
i) Long-haul networks
• A long-haul network is a network connecting several regional
or national networks together.
• These networks are also known as core or backbone networks
and they also interconnect other long-haul networks to extend
global interconnectivity between national domains.
• A long-haul optical network comprises point-to-point DWDM
links with optical regenerators at end points and with erbium-
doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) placed between the end
terminals as shown in Figure 15.29(b).
• An optical 3R regenerator is used at 600 km intervals to
reduce overall signal degradation on the link.
• Mesh topology is preferred for the improved connectivity.
• Long-haul optical fiber networks are classified in relation to
their maximum achievable distance without optical signal
regeneration.
• These are designated as long-haul, extended long-haul (ELH)
and ultra long-haul (ULH).
• The ranges of the transmission distances for these designations
are
i. long-haul optical fiber networks from 600 to 1000 km;
ii. extended long-haul (ELH) from 1000 to 2000 km;
iii. ultra long-haul (ULH) from 2000 to 4000 km.
• The majority of existing long-haul DWDM networks operate
at channel rates of either 2.5 Gbit s−1 over 64 or more
channels and 10 Gbit s−1 with up to 40 wavelength channels.
• Submerged or transoceanic optical fiber networks cover very
long distances between the continents (i.e. in the 3000 to 10
000 km range) where most of the optical fiber cable lies in
deep sea water.
• The various elements that comprise a submerged cable system
are shown in Figure 15.31.
• This system basically consists of two sections with dry and
wet plants residing on dry land (i.e. landing section) and in
sea water (i.e. submerged section).
• The landing station houses the terminal equipment that
interconnects the optical signal from the submerged cable and
passes it on to a terrestrial system.
• The underwater cable includes repeaters, gain equalizers and
branching elements to facilitate access to other landing
stations.
• a comparative chart showing different worldwide submerged
long-haul networks and their corresponding operational
transmission capacities is provided in Figure 15.32
ii) Metropolitan area networks
• Metropolitan area networks (MANs) or metro networks
provide the regional interface interconnecting the access
network end users (i.e. business or residential customers) with
the long-haul networks.
• The MAN must be cost effective in terms of both operation
and maintenance and structured as ring topologies.
• Two metro ring networks interconnected by a digital cross-
connect (DXC) which acts as a hub node between the two
networks are depicted in Figure 15.33.
• Ring 1 constitutes a metro network providing the means of
interconnection to the long-haul and other metro rings (i.e. ring
2) while ring 2 interconnects metro networking nodes with
several access or enterprise networks.
• MAN is divided into two segments: namely, the central ring
with the neighboring ring interconnecting the access networks
with the central ring.
• Since the central ring connects to the long-haul network it is known
as a core ring (i.e. metro core) while the neighboring rings are called
access rings (i.e. metro access) or collector rings since they collect
traffic and forward it to the DXC which interconnects the two rings.
• Cross-connecting nodes, provide interconnection between metro and
long-haul networks, are called as points-of-presence (POP).
• Example of a MAN indicating both the distances and the
number of channels provided for a typical large city is shown
in Figure 15.34.
iii) Access networks
• Access network is an element of a public telecommunications
network that connects access nodes to either individual users
(i.e. business, residential) or MANs.
• It can be considered as the last link in a network between the
customer’s premises and the first point of connection to the
network infrastructure (i.e. local exchange/switching center or
local office).
• The transmission media providing strategies for the
development of an access network are shown in Figure 15.35.
• Using these different media options the access network can be
provided from a single point that can be located at the local
exchange or a regional hub (metro) or at points-of-presence
(POP) for a long-haul network connection to service end
users.
• A generic form of HFC(Hybrid fiber coaxial) network
providing cable TV services to business or 500 to 2000
residential users is depicted in Figure 15.36.
• An optical fiber access network can be divided into feeder

and distribution sections as shown in Figure 15.37(a).
• The section of the network between the local exchange and
the remote node (RN) is the feeder whereas the other section
between the RN and network interface unit (NIU) is the
distribution network.
• Optical fiber deployment strategies for the access network are
illustrated in Figure 15.37(b). Three different approaches are
shown depending upon the distance between end users and
the local exchange/office.
• An optical network unit (ONU) is used to terminate the fiber
connections. The location of ONUs and their distances from a
local exchange and an NIU determine the specific
configuration for the fiber access network. It is known as
fiber-to-the-cabinet (FTTCab) or fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC)
when ONUs are located in a cabinet situated in main streets.
When the ONU is placed within a major building, the fiber
access network is referred to as fiber-to-the-building (FTTB).
• An optical fiber access network primarily employing passive

optical components and configured around a passive
splitter/combiner is called a passive optical network (PON).
• A basic PON structure comprising essentially three elements
connecting a service provider to an output device located near
the customers’ premises is shown in Figure 15.38.
• It incorporates a passive optical splitter between an optical
line termination (OLT) at the provider end and an ONU
situated at the customer end.
• PON-based access networks can be classified into three
categories which are:
i. ATM PON (APON) or broadband PON (BPON);
ii. Ethernet PON (EPON) and Gigabit Ethernet PON (GE-PON) ;
iii. Gigabit PON (GPON).
• Figure 15.39 shows an APON with a 1 × 32 optical splitter at
the RN location covering an overall maximum distance of 20
km.
• Figure 15.40(a) depicts the downstream transmission for
EPON where the data is broadcast from the OLT to multiple
ONUs in variable length packets to the three ONUs shown.
• At the splitter, the traffic is coupled to three separate fibers,
each carrying all the same traffic. When the data reaches the
ONU it accepts the packets that are intended for it and
discards the remaining packets.
• The upstream traffic in EPON is managed by employing a
TDM approach as illustrated in Figure 15.40(b).
• The specific transmission time slots are dedicated to each
ONU in order not to interfere with each other once the data
is coupled onto the common fiber.
Local area networks
• A local area network (LAN), is an interconnection topology
which is usually confined to either a single building or group
of buildings contained entirely within a confined site (e.g.
industrial, educational, military, etc.).
• Optical fiber communication technology has found
application within LANs to meet the on-site communication
requirements of large commercial organizations and to
enable access to distributed or centralized computing
resources.
• Figure 15.47 shows the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI)
seven-layer network model.
• Two bottom layers of the OSI model are redefined into three
layers, as displayed in Figure 15.47.
• The functions of the data link layer, are separated into two
layers: i) the logical link control (LLC) layer which
assembles/disassembles data frames or packets and provides
the appropriate address and error checking fields; and ii) the
medium access control (MAC) layer which organizes
communications over the link
• The MAC layer embodies the set of logical rules which
allow nodes to access the common communication
channel, and several MAC options are provided for the
same LLC layer.
Thank you

Module - 4: WDM Concepts and Components

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Module – 4

WDM Concepts and Components

Dept. of Electronics and Communication

Operational Principles of WDM

• At the receiving end, a demultiplexer is required to separate

• The concept of coarse WDM (CWDM) emerged from the

• Passive devices operate completely in the optical domain to

• The signals then finally emerge from only one output

Figure 6. Example of a four-channel wavelength multiplexer

Fig. 6: Polarization-independent isolator made of three miniature

• A Bragg grating is constructed within an optical fiber constitutes

• Consider a light signal that is incident on the left surface of the

• The amount of light that is

• where R is the reflectivity of the mirrors and ϕ is the round trip

• where n is the refractive index, D is the distance between

Fig.14: A multilayer optical thin film filter consists of a

Fig. 15: Multiplexing four wavelengths using thin-film filters

• Filters labeled TFF2, TFF3, and TFF4 pass wavelengths 2,3,

Micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) are miniature devices

• Fig.: 16: Example of a MEMS

Fig. 17: Example of the

Fig.: 20: Example of adding and

• When no mirrors are activated, each incoming channel passes

• The relative delays induced by the grating on the

Fig.: Tuning range of an injection-tunable three-section DBR laser

Fig.: Relationship between tuning range, channel spacing, and source

• For DWDM applications, the

Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are used

Fig. 2: Basic operation of a Generic optical amplifier

Fig.3: Typical dependence of the single-pass gain on optical input

Fig.5: Simplified energy-level diagrams and various transition

Fig.6: Absorption and gain

Fig.7: Three possible configurations of an EDFA. a) co-directional pumping

• The pump light is usually injected from the same direction

where Pp,in is the input

Fig.9: Calculation of the dependence of EDFA gain on fiber length

Fig.10: Gain behavior of an EDFA as a function of output signal

• Commercially available in C-band & L-band

Fig.11: Stokes shift and the

Fig.12: Stimulated signal power evolution along a 100km fiber link

Fig.13: Numerical example of broadband Raman gain in a non-zero

• Since the pumps at short wavelengths amplify the power of

Fig.14: Setup for a typical Raman amplification system

• Parallel and Series types:

• For complex mesh topologies which incorporate a large

• The realization of IP running directly on a DWDM physical

• A routing strategy in the above method requires the use of

• For example, wavelength λ1 establishes two light paths, one

• The packets in an optical packet switched (OPS) network can

• Sketch shown in Figure 15.26 depicts a generic OLS network

• An optical fiber access network can be divided into feeder

• An optical fiber access network primarily employing passive

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