DWDM – Creating bandwidth for broadcast contribution

By Ronny Sletteng, R&D Engineer, Network Electronics AS.

Since the first realisation of optical fibre with attenuation below 20dB/km in 1970, the interest
for fibre optic communication systems has increased on a day-by-day basis. Dense
Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology is now the solution for the ever-
increasing bandwidth hunger.

Telecommunications companies have used DWDM technology for several years, so the
DWDM technology is well proven. Now that the price of the equipment has decreased, it is
time to introduce this technology to the broadcast market.

This is exactly what the Norwegian supplier Network Electronics is doing. At IBC 2000 in
Amsterdam, a live demonstration of the DWDM system in the flashlink® range was given at
the Network booth.

The immense bandwidth of the single mode optical fibre, means that SDI and other signals
can propagate uncompressed through the fibre simultaneously. This implies better picture
quality and no significant time delays. Alternatively an even higher number of MPEG-
compressed digital video channels can be transported at the same time. The equipment at both
ends of the fibre strand must of course be able to handle the pathological SDI signal. This is
not the case for standard telecom DWDM equipment, but the Network flashlink® DWDM
system copes with these signals without any changes to the signal.

DWDM- Technical aspects

DWDM systems are widely deployed in backbone telecom networks all over the world. The
price of the components has dropped, and DWDM systems are now being deployed in the
Metropolitan Area Networks (within and between cities). With Network Electronics'
technology, DWDM has now reached the broadcast arena, enabling transport of both
broadcast and telecom signals (OC3c-OC12c).

DWDM is a multiplexing technique for simultaneous transport of several different signals on

one single mode fibre. The multiplexing technique is protocol and format independent,
enabling transport of different signal formats on different wavelengths at the same time.

The forerunner of DWDM, Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) enabled transmission

of two signals, one in the second optical window around 1310nm and the other in the third
optical window around 1550nm. The principle of WDM is shown in figure 1 a). Two channels
are transmitted in the same fibre, one in each window, hence doubling the capacity of the
fibre.
Figure 1: Wavelength-band utilisation in a) WDM- and b) DWDM-systems.

From figure 1 b) we see that the capacity of the fibre is multiplied by utilising the principle of
DWDM, where many closely spaced channels within the third window are transmitted
simultaneously through one single mode fibre (only 4 channels are shown in figure 1 b).
Each channel is transmitted at a different "colour" of light than the other channels.

The centre-wavelength of each channel as well as the allowed spacing between the channels
are exactly specified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the
recommendation ITU-T G.692. Telecom DWDM-equipment follows this specification, and
for compatibility reasons so should DWDM equipment for the broadcast market too.

By a straightforward comparison of WDM and DWDM in figure 1, we see that the

wavelength stability and line-width of the lasers can have fundamentally different
characteristics.

DWDM systems demand much better wavelength accuracy and filtering performance than
regular WDM systems.
A typical specification of centre-wavelength of standard non-DWDM lasers is 1550±20nm.
Compare this to the channel spacing in a 16-channel DWDM system of 1.6 nm, and the
conclusion is that non-DWDM lasers cannot be used for DWDM applications. In DWDM
systems the wavelength stability is of crucial importance, because only a small drift in centre-
wavelength of one of the DWDM lasers may distort the signal of the adjacent channel.
Wavelength drift of a DWDM laser and error-free transmission of multiple SDI signals over
single mode optical fibre are not, and will never become compatible.

To overcome this possible cause of error, the stabilisation circuitry of the DWDM lasers as
well as the optical filters and the PCB-layout must be designed properly. This is the only way
to ensure that the signal wavelengths of the different channels are unaffected by the ambient
temperature.

Examples of DWDM applications in the broadcast environment

A DWDM system can solve many interesting applications in telecom as well as broadcast
environments.

It is possible to build point-to-point fibre links with a capacity of 16 channels per fibre strand
to interconnect studios. This enables simultaneous transmission of more SDI channels, and
multiplies the fibre capacity.

Figure 2: 16 independent channels can be transported over one fibre.

Figure 2 shows how a 16-channel system can be built. The building block is a sub-rack frame
of 4 DWDM channels at each end of the fibre. One can start with a 4-channel system, and
later upgrade the system progressively in 4-channel steps up to 16 channels without
reconfiguration of the existing equipment.

The Network flashlink® system supports the following signal formats including trailing
zeroes:
Broadcast:
• Embedded AES and Data
• 143 Mbps Digital NTSC
• 177 Mbps Digital PAL
• 270 Mbps SDI
• 360 Mbps HDTV
• 540 Mbps HDTV
• DVB-ASI
• SDTI
• M2S (Divicom)
• SMPTE 310
Telecom:
• 140 Mbps E4
• 155 Mbps STM-1 (OC-3c)
• 622 Mbps STM-4 (OC-12c)

As one of the very few suppliers, the Network flashlink® DWDM system is capable of
handling both broadcast and telecom signals in the same frame.

Figure 3: Broadcast application of DWDM technology.

In figure 3, we see a typical broadcast application, which can be solved by the flashlink®
DWDM system. 4 channels of AES digital audio are embedded into the SDI stream and then
converted from electrical signal to an optical signal at a DWDM-wavelength. This process is
independent of the processes done on each of the other available channels.

DWDM also enables the possibility to build complex contribution structures.

Combining DWDM products with digital video routing switchers gives enormous flexibility
in sending and receiving channels between different locations such as post-production houses,
studios and others. An example of a contribution node is shown in figure 4.
Figure 4: ADM-Node using DWDM products and a digital video router

This node has three main functions. Add channels, drop channels or let the channels pass
straight through. The node is often called an ADM-node (Add-Drop-Multiplex node). ADM-
nodes can be built in different sizes and with different degrees of complexity dependent on the
contribution structure. One can then customise star, mesh or ring topologies by combining
DWDM products and routing switchers in different ways. An example of a possible
metropolitan network is shown in figure 5.

Figure 5: Example of a metropolitan broadcast network

Why buy DWDM equipment?

There are several reasons for buying DWDM equipment. First of all one can multiply the
capacity of a single strand of single mode fibre by a factor of 16, postponing the need to lay
more optical fibres. Instead of transmitting one or two SDI channels per fibre one can now
transmit 16 channels, or even more in future products. Used in combination with an AV-Mux
(SDI/AES embedder), simultaneous transport of several channels of digital audio and video
over a wide range of distances is now possible.
This implies that rental of single mode fibres from telecom-providers can now be done at
much lower prices per SDI channel. The annual expense (1999 prices) of renting a single SDI
channel over 25 km of single mode fibre is more than the purchase cost of an 8 channel
DWDM solution.

The optical multiplexing technology is well proven and widely accepted in the telecom-area.
In contrast to the telecom DWDM suppliers, Network takes the broadcast industry needs
seriously. The flashlink® products handle pathological SDI signals.

The fact that DWDM works independently of signal format and protocols gives a unique
flexibility compared to proprietary video Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) solutions, which
can only transport one type of signals; 270 Mbps SDI. The flashlink® 16-channel DWDM
system on the other hand can handle all bit-rates from 40 Mbps up to 622 Mbps, making a
very flexible, cost-efficient and space saving solution for broadcast contribution with an
aggregate bandwidth of up to 10 Gbps.