The emergence of DWDM is one of the most recent and important phenomena in the development of fiber optic transmission technology. In the following discussion we briefly trace the stages of fiber optic technology and the place of DWDM in that development. We then examine the functions and components of a DWDM system, including the enabling technologies, and conclude with a high-level description of the operation of a DWDM system.
Evolution of Fiber Optic Transmission
The reality of fiber optic transmission had been experimentally proven in the nineteenth century, but the technology began to advance rapidly in the second half of the twentieth century with the invention of the fiberscope, which found applications in industry and medicine, such as in laparoscopic surgery.
After the viability of transmitting light over fiber had been established, the next step in the development of fiber optics was to find a light source that would be sufficiently powerful and narrow. The light-emitting diode (LED) and the laser diode proved capable of meeting these requirements. Lasers went through several generations in the 1960s, culminating with the semiconductor lasers that are most widely used in fiber optics today.
Light has an information-carrying capacity 10,000 times greater than the highest radio frequencies. Additional advantages of fiber over copper include the ability to carry signals over long distances, low error rates, immunity to electrical interference, security, and light weight.
Aware of these characteristics, researchers in the mid-1960s proposed that optical fiber might be a suitable transmission medium. There was an obstacle, however, and that was the loss of signal strength, or attenuation, seen in the glass they were working with. Finally, in 1970, Corning produced the first communication-grade fibers. With attenuation less than 20 decibels per kilometer (dB/km), this purified glass fiber exceeded the threshold for making fiber optics a viable technology.
Innovation at first proceeded slowly, as private and government monopolies that ran the telephone companies were cautious. AT&T first standardized transmission at DS3 speed (45 Mbps) for multimode fibers. Soon thereafter, single-mode fibers were shown to be capable of transmission rates 10 times that of the older type, as well as spans of 32 km (20 mi). In the early 1980s, MCI, followed by Sprint, adopted single-mode fibers for its long-distance network in the U.S.
Further developments in fiber optics are closely tied to the use of the specific regions on the optical spectrum where optical attenuation is low. These regions, called windows, lie between areas of high absorption. The earliest systems were developed to operate around 850 nm, the first window in silica-based optical fiber. A second window (S band), at 1310 nm, soon proved to be superior because of its lower attenuation, followed by a third window (C band) at 1550 nm with an even lower optical loss. Today, a fourth window (L band) near 1625 nm is under development and early deployment. These four windows are shown relative to the electromagnetic spectrum in Figure 2-1.
Development of DWDM Technology
Early WDM began in the late 1980s using the two widely spaced wavelengths in the 1310 nm and 1550 nm (or 850 nm and 1310 nm) regions, sometimes called wideband WDM. Figure 2-2 shows an example of this simple form of WDM. Notice that one of the fiber pair is used to transmit and one is used to receive. This is the most efficient arrangement and the one most found in DWDM systems.
Figure 2-2 WDM with Two Channels
The early 1990s saw a second generation of WDM, sometimes called narrowband WDM, in which two to eight channels were used. These channels were now spaced at an interval of about 400 GHz in the 1550-nm window. By the mid-1990s, dense WDM (DWDM) systems were emerging with 16 to 40 channels and spacing from 100 to 200 GHz. By the late 1990s DWDM systems had evolved to the point where they were capable of 64 to 160 parallel channels, densely packed at 50 or even 25 GHz intervals.
As Figure 2-3 shows, the progression of the technology can be seen as an increase in the number of wavelengths accompanied by a decrease in the spacing of the wavelengths. Along with increased density of wavelengths, systems also advanced in their flexibility of configuration, through add-drop functions, and management capabilities.
Figure 2-3 Evolution of DWDM
ncreases in channel density resulting from DWDM technology have had a dramatic impact on the carrying capacity of fiber. In 1995, when the first 10 Gbps systems were demonstrated, the rate of increase in capacity went from a linear multiple of four every four years to four every year (see Figure 2-4).
Figure 2-4 Growth in Fiber Capacity
DWDM System Functions
At its core, DWDM involves a small number of physical-layer functions. These are depicted in Figure 2-5, which shows a DWDM schematic for four channels. Each optical channel occupies its own wavelength.
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Figure 2-5 DWDM Functional Schematic
The system performs the following main functions:
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In addition to these functions, a DWDM system must also be equipped with client-side interfaces to receive the input signal. This function is performed by transponders (see the "Interfaces to DWDM" section). On the DWDM side are interfaces to the optical fiber that links DWDM systems.
Enabling Technologies
Optical networking, unlike SONET/SDH, does not rely on electrical data processing. As such, its development is more closely tied to optics than to electronics. In its early form, as described previously, WDM was capable of carrying signals over two widely spaced wavelengths, and for a relatively short distance. To move beyond this initial state, WDM needed both improvements in existing technologies and invention of new technologies. Improvements in optical filters and narrowband lasers enabled DWDM to combine more than two signal wavelengths on a fiber. The invention of the flat-gain optical amplifier, coupled in line with the transmitting fiber to boost the optical signal, dramatically increased the viability of DWDM systems by greatly extending the transmission distance.
Other technologies that have been important in the development of DWDM include improved optical fiber with lower loss and better optical transmission characteristics, EDFAs, and devices such as fiber Bragg gratings used in optical add/drop multiplexers.
Components and Operation
DWDM is a core technology in an optical transport network. The essential components of DWDM can be classified by their place in the system as follows:
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These and other components, along with their underlying technologies, are discussed in the following sections. While much of this information, particularly the pros and cons of various competing technologies, may be of more importance to a system designer than to an end user or network designer, it may also be of interest to other readers. Note as well that this is summary information and is not intended to be complete or authoritative. For in-depth information on components and underlying technologies, refer to the sources cited in the "Additional Reading" section.
Optical Fibers
The following discussion of DWDM components and technologies includes a refresher on optical fibers, with emphasis on their application for DWDM. Background information on subjects such as the properties of light and optical theory can be found in many readily available printed sources and online, for example, in the tutorial at http://www.vislab.usyd.edu.au/photonics/fibres/index.html.
How Fiber Works
The main job of optical fibers is to guide lightwaves with a minimum of attenuation (loss of signal). Optical fibers are composed of fine threads of glass in layers, called the core and cladding, that can transmit light at about two-thirds the speed of light in a vacuum. Though admittedly an oversimplification, the transmission of light in optical fiber is commonly explained using the principle of total internal reflection. With this phenomenon, 100 percent of light that strikes a surface is reflected. By contrast, a mirror reflects about 90 percent of the light that strikes it.
Light is either reflected (it bounces back) or refracted (its angle is altered while passing through a different medium) depending upon the angle of incidence (the angle at which light strikes the interface between an optically denser and optically thinner material).
Total internal reflection happens when the following conditions are met:
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The principle of total internal reflection within a fiber core is illustrated in Figure 2-6. The core has a higher refractive index than the cladding, allowing the beam that strikes that surface at less than the critical angle to be reflected. The second beam does not meet the critical angle requirement and is refracted.
Figure 2-6 Principle of Total Internal Reflection
An optical fiber consists of two different types of highly pure, solid glass (silica)—the core and the cladding—that are mixed with specific elements, called dopants, to adjust their refractive indices. The difference between the refractive indices of the two materials causes most of the transmitted light to bounce off the cladding and stay within the core. The critical angle requirement is met by controlling the angle at which the light is injected into the fiber. Two or more layers of protective coating around the cladding ensure that the glass can be handled without damage.
Multimode and Single-Mode Fiber
There are two general categories of optical fiber in use today, multimode fiber and single-mode fiber. Multimode, the first type of fiber to be commercialized, has a larger core than single-mode fiber. It gets its name from the fact that numerous modes, or light rays, can be carried simultaneously through the waveguide. Figure 2-7 shows an example of light transmitted in the first type of multimode fiber, called step-index. Step-index refers to the fact that there is a uniform index of refraction throughout the core; thus there is a step in the refractive index where the core and cladding interface. Notice that the two modes must travel different distances to arrive at their destinations. This disparity between the times that the light rays arrive is called modal dispersion. This phenomenon results in poor signal quality at the receiving end and ultimately limits the transmission distance. This is why multimode fiber is not used in wide-area applications.
Figure 2-7 Reflected Light in Step-Index Multimode Fiber
To compensate for the dispersion drawback of step-index multimode fiber, graded-index fiber was invented. Graded-index refers to the fact that the refractive index of the core is graded—it gradually decreases from the center of the core outward. The higher refraction at the center of the core slows the speed of some light rays, allowing all the rays to reach their destination at about the same time and reducing modal dispersion.
The second general type of fiber, single-mode, has a much smaller core that allows only one mode of light at a time through the core (see Figure 2-8). As a result, the fidelity of the signal is better retained over longer distances, and modal dispersion is greatly reduced. These factors attribute to a higher bandwidth capacity than multimode fibers are capable of. For its large information-carrying capacity and low intrinsic loss, single-mode fibers are preferred for longer distance and higher bandwidth applications, including DWDM.
Figure 2-8 Reflected Light in Single-Mode Fiber
Single-Mode Fiber Designs
Designs of single-mode fiber have evolved over several decades. The three principle types and their ITU-T specifications are:
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As discussed earlier, and shown in Figure 2-1, there are four windows within the infrared spectrum that have been exploited for fiber transmission. The first window, near 850 nm, was used almost exclusively for short-range, multimode applications. Non-dispersion-shifted fibers, commonly called standard single-mode (SM) fibers, were designed for use in the second window, near 1310 nm. To optimize the fiber's performance in this window, the fiber was designed so that chromatic dispersion would be close to zero near the 1310-nm wavelength.
As optical fiber use became more common and the needs for greater bandwidth and distance increased, a third window, near 1550 nm, was exploited for single-mode transmission. The third window, or C band, offered two advantages: it had much lower attenuation, and its operating frequency was the same as that of the new erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). However, its dispersion characteristics were severely limiting. This was overcome to a certain extent by using narrower linewidth and higher power lasers. But because the third window had lower attenuation than the 1310-nm window, manufacturers came up with the dispersion-shifted fiber design, which moved the zero-dispersion point to the 1550-nm region. Although this solution now meant that the lowest optical attenuation and the zero-dispersion points coincided in the 1550-nm window, it turned out that there are destructive nonlinearities in optical fiber near the zero-dispersion point for which there is no effective compensation. Because of this limitation, these fibers are not suitable for DWDM applications.
The third type, non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber, is designed specifically to meet the needs of DWDM applications. The aim of this design is to make the dispersion low in the 1550-nm region, but not zero. This strategy effectively introduces a controlled amount of dispersion, which counters nonlinear effects such as four-wave mixing (see the "Other Nonlinear Effects" section) that can hinder the performance of DWDM systems.
Transmission Challenges
Transmission of light in optical fiber presents several challenges that must be dealt with. These fall into the following three broad categories:
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Each of these effects has several causes, not all of which affect DWDM. The discussion in the following sections addresses those causes that are relevant to DWDM.
Attenuation
Attenuation in optical fiber is caused by intrinsic factors, primarily scattering and absorption, and by extrinsic factors, including stress from the manufacturing process, the environment, and physical bending. The most common form of scattering, Rayleigh scattering, is caused by small variations in the density of glass as it cools. These variations are smaller than the wavelengths used and therefore act as scattering objects (see Figure 2-9). Scattering affects short wavelengths more than long wavelengths and limits the use of wavelengths below 800 nm.
Figure 2-9 Rayleigh Scattering
Attenuation due to absorption is caused by the intrinsic properties of the material itself, the impurities in the glass, and any atomic defects in the glass. These impurities absorb the optical energy, causing the light to become dimmer (see Figure 2-10). While Rayleigh scattering is important at shorter wavelengths, intrinsic absorption is an issue at longer wavelengths and increases dramatically above 1700 nm. However, absorption due to water peaks introduced in the fiber manufacturing process are being eliminated in some new fiber types.
Figure 2-10 Absorption
The primary factors affecting attenuation in optical fibers are the length of the fiber and the wavelength of the light. Figure 2-11 shows the loss in decibels per kilometer (dB/km) by wavelength from Rayleigh scattering, intrinsic absorption, and total attenuation from all causes.
Figure 2-11 Total Attenuation Curve
Attenuation in fiber is compensated primarily through the use of optical amplifiers, as described in the "Optical Amplifiers" section.
Dispersion
Dispersion is the spreading of light pulses as they travel down optical fiber. Dispersion results in distortion of the signal (see Figure 2-12), which limits the bandwidth of the fiber.
Figure 2-12 Principle of Dispersion
Two general types of dispersion affect DWDM systems. One of these effects, chromatic dispersion, is linear while the other, polarization mode dispersion (PMD), is nonlinear.
Chromatic Dispersion
Chromatic dispersion occurs because different wavelengths propagate at different speeds. The effect of chromatic dispersion increases as the square of the bit rate. In single-mode fiber, chromatic dispersion has two components, material dispersion and waveguide dispersion.
Material dispersion occurs when wavelengths travel at different speeds through the material. A light source, no matter how narrow, emits several wavelengths within a range. Thus, when this range of wavelengths travels through a medium, each individual wavelength arrives at a different time.
The second component of chromatic dispersion, waveguide dispersion, occurs because of the different refractive indices of the core and the cladding of fiber. The effective refractive index varies with wavelength as follows:
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This result of the phenomenon of waveguide dispersion is a propagation delay in one or more of the wavelengths relative to others.
Total chromatic dispersion, along with its components, is plotted by wavelength in Figure 2-13 for dispersion-shifted fiber. For non-dispersion-shifted fiber, the zero dispersion wavelength is 1310 nm.
Figure 2-13 Chromatic Dispersion
Though chromatic dispersion is generally not an issue at speeds below OC-48, it does increase with higher bit rates due to the spectral width required. New types of zero-dispersion-shifted fibers greatly reduce these effects. The phenomenon can also be mitigated with dispersion compensators.
Polarization Mode Dispersion
Most single-mode fibers support two perpendicular polarization modes, a vertical one and a horizontal one. Because these polarization states are not maintained, there occurs an interaction between the pulses that results is a smearing of the signal.
Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) is caused by ovality of the fiber shape as a result of the manufacturing process or from external stressors. Because stress can vary over time, PMD, unlike chromatic dispersion, is subject to change over time. PMD is generally not a problem at speeds below OC-192.
Other Nonlinear Effects
In addition to PMD, there are other nonlinear effects. Because nonlinear effects tend to manifest themselves when optical power is very high, they become important in DWDM.
Linear effects such as attenuation and dispersion can be compensated, but nonlinear effects accumulate. They are the fundamental limiting mechanisms to the amount of data that can be transmitted in optical fiber. The most important types of nonlinear effects are stimulated Brillouin scattering, stimulated Raman scattering, self-phase modulation, and four-wave mixing. In DWDM, four-wave mixing is the most critical of these types.
Four-wave mixing is caused by the nonlinear nature of the refractive index of the optical fiber. Nonlinear interactions among different DWDM channels creates sidebands that can cause interchannel interference. In Figure 2-14 three frequencies interact to produce a fourth frequency, resulting in cross-talk and signal-to-noise degradation.
Figure 2-14 Four-Wave Mixing
The effect of four-wave mixing is to limit the channel capacity of a DWDM system. Four-wave mixing cannot be filtered out, either optically or electrically, and increases with the length of the fiber. Due to its propensity for four-wave-mixing, DSF is unsuitable for WDM applications. This prompted the invention of NZ-DSF, which takes advantage of the fact that a small amount of chromatic dispersion can be used to mitigate four-wave mixing.
Summary
In the long-distance network, the majority of embedded fiber is standard single-mode (G.652) with high dispersion in the 1550-nm window, which limits the distance for OC-192 transmission. Dispersion can be mitigated to some extent, and at some cost, using dispersion compensators. Non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber can be deployed for OC-192 transport, but higher optical power introduces nonlinear effects.
In the short-haul network, PMD and nonlinear effects are not so critical as they are in long-haul systems, where higher speeds (OC-192 and higher) are more common. DWDM systems using optical signals of 2.5 Gbps or less are not subject to these nonlinear effects at short distances.
The major types of single-mode fibers and their application can be summarized as follows:
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Source:www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/mels/cm1500/dwdm/dwdm_ovr.htm
