OTC000003 WDM Principle ISSUE1.1

OTC000003
WDM Principle
ISSUE1.1
OTC000003 WDM Principle ISSUE1.1
Contents
Contents
Course Explanation......................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction to the Course.......................................................................................................... 1
Course Structure........................................................................................................................ 1
Course Objectives...................................................................................................................... 1
References................................................................................................................................. 1
Chapter 1 WDM Overview............................................................................................................... 3
1.1 WDM Optical Transmission Technology...............................................................................3
1.1.1 WDM Conception....................................................................................................... 3
1.1.2 WDM Technology Background...................................................................................3
1.2 Overview of DWDM Principle...............................................................................................5
1.3 Transmission Methods of WDM Equipment.........................................................................6
1.3.1 Unidirectional WDM................................................................................................... 6
1.3.2 Bi-directional WDM.................................................................................................... 7
1.4 Open and Integrated System...............................................................................................8
1.5 WDM System Compositions:................................................................................................ 8
1.6 Advantages of WDM............................................................................................................ 9
1.7 Brief Introduction to CWDM................................................................................................ 10
1.8 Questions........................................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 2 WDM Transmission Media........................................................................................... 12
2.1 Optical Fiber Structures...................................................................................................... 12
2.2 Types of Optical Fiber........................................................................................................ 13
2.3 Basic Features of Optical Fiber.......................................................................................... 14
2.3.1 Physical Dimension (Mode Field Diameter).............................................................14
2.3.2 Attenuation Constant............................................................................................... 15
2.3.3 Dispersion Coefficient.............................................................................................. 15
2.4 Questions........................................................................................................................... 16
Chapter 3 DWDM Key Technologies............................................................................................ 17
3.1 Light source........................................................................................................................ 17
3.1.1 Modulation Mode Of A Laser....................................................................................18
3.1.2 Wavelength Stability of the Laser.............................................................................20
3.2 Photoelectric Detector........................................................................................................ 22
3.2.1 Positive Intrinsic Negative Photodiode (PIN)...........................................................22
3.2.2 Avalanche Photo Diode (APD).................................................................................22
3.3 Optical Amplifier................................................................................................................. 23
3.3.1 Optical Amplifier Overview.......................................................................................23
3.3.2 Erbium Doped Fiber (EDF)......................................................................................24
3.3.3 EDFA Flat Gain Control........................................................................................... 25
3.3.4 EDFA Gain-Lock...................................................................................................... 26
3.3.5 Advantages and Disadvantages of EDFA................................................................27
3.3.6 Raman Fiber Amplifier............................................................................................. 28
3.3.7 Related Technical Features.....................................................................................29
3.4 Optical Multiplexer and Optical Demultiplexer....................................................................29
3.4.1 Optical Grating Type Wavelength Division Multiplexer.............................................30
3.4.2 Dielectric Film Wavelength Division Multiplexer.......................................................31
3.4.3 Fused Conical Type Wavelength Division Multiplexer..............................................32
3.4.4 Integrated Optical Waveguide Type Wavelength Division Multiplexer......................33
3.4.5 Performances of Wavelength Division Multiplexing Components............................33
3.4.6 Basic Requirements to Optical Multiplexing Components.......................................34
3.5 Optical Supervisory Channel.............................................................................................. 35
3.5.1 Requirements on Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC)............................................35
3.5.2 Interface parameters for supervisory channel..........................................................36
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Confidential Information of Huawei. No Spreading without Permission
Contents
3.5.3 Frame Structure of Supervisory Channel.................................................................36

Questions................................................................................................................................. 37
Chapter 4 Technology Specifications for DWDM Optical Transmission System.....................38
4.1 ITU-T Recommendations on WDM....................................................................................38
4.2 Definition of Transmission Channel Reference Points.......................................................38
4.3 Distribution of Optical Wavelength Areas...........................................................................39
Questions................................................................................................................................. 41
Terms and Abbreviations.............................................................................................................. 42
ii
Course Explanation
Course Explanation
Introduction to the Course
This course mainly introduces the basic knowledge of WDM technologies, expounds
key technologies and optical transmission specification of DWDM. Through this
course, you will have a relatively complete understanding of the WDM knowledge and
the development orientation of optical transmission networks.
Course Structure
This course is divided into four sections as follows:
Section 1 WDM Overview
This section tells you what WDM is, how it derives, the operation modes, structure
and characteristics of DWDM. After reading this book, you will have a basic idea of
the advancing front technology of optical transmission network-WDM.
Section 2 WDM Transmission Media
This section tells us the basic structures and types of optical fibers,and we will learn
the characteristics of optical fibers,including attenuator,dispersion and so on.
Section 3 DWDM Key Technologies
From the aspect of hardware, how to implement DWDM when converting it into
commercial product? Reading this section with the question, you'll know the key
technologies and implementation methods of DWDM, including light sources,
components for optical amplification and wavelength division multiplexing, etc.
Section 4 Technical Specifications of DWDM Optical Transmission System
This chapter mainly introduces some proposals and specifications of ITU-T to WDM,
and gives us a basic understanding of some of the ITU-T knowledge involved in the
WDM system.
Course Objectives
1)
2)
3)
4)
To know the basic conception, principle, transmission mode and structure of

WDM;
To know the basic structures,types and characteristics of optical fibers;
To know the technical principle of DWDM and the method to implement its key
technologies.
To know the technical specifications of DWDM optical transmission system.
References
(1) Basis for Optical Communication
(2) Guide to DWDM Technologies
1
Course Explanation
(3) DWDM Transmission System Principle and Testing

(4) High Speed Optical Communication ITU-T Specification and System Design
(5) Metropolitan Area Fiber Network
(6) TA052401 Optical Supervisory Channel and Its Application in DWDM ISSUE 1.0
(7) TC000001 Fiber and Optical Components ISSUE1.0
(8) TC000001 Optical Amplifier ISSUE1.0
Chapter 3 DWDM Key Technologies
Chapter 1 WDM Overview

Objectives:
To master the basic concepts of WDM
To master the basic principle, communication method and component of WDM
To understand the DWDM background and technical features.
1.1 WDM Optical Transmission Technology

1.1.1 WDM Conception
Optical communication system can be classified according to different modes. If it is
classified according to signal multiplex mode, it can be classified into FDM (FDMFrequency Division Multiplexing), TDM (TDM-Time Division Multiplexing), WDM
(WDM- Wavelength Division Multiplexing) and SDM (SDM-Space Division
Multiplexing). FDM, TDM, WDM and SDM refer to optical communication systems
classified according to the frequency, time, wavelength and space. It can be said that
frequency is closely connected with the wavelength. Frequency division is wave
division. But in optical communication system, WDM system adopts optical spectral
component that is different from filter adopted in the common communication. So we
still classify them into two different systems.
WDM is a kind of transmission technology of fiber communication. Depending on the
fact that a fiber can transmit several optical carrier of different wavelengths at the
same time, it divides wavelength possibly used by fiber into several bands. As an
independent channel, each band transmits a kind of optical signal with a preset
wavelength. Optical and wavelength division multiplex is in fact the optical and
frequency division multiplex on fiber (OFDM), but optical wave usually use
wavelength instead of frequency, to describe, supervise and control. Along with the
development of the electric-optical technology, the wavelength density in the same
fiber will become very high. Compared with DWDM (DWDM-Dense Wavelength
Division Multiplexing), there are still WDM with low densities that are called CWDM
(CWDM-Coarse Wave Division Multiplexing).
A fiber can be regarded as a road with several driveways here. The traditional TDM
system just uses one of driveways. To increase bit rate is to increase the driving
speed in the driveway in order to increase the transportation burden in unit time. To
use DWDM technology is similar to using the driveway not yet used, so as to obtain
the large transportation capacity to be developed in fiber.
1.1.2 WDM Technology Background

With the rapid development of science and technology, information transmission in
communication area expands with accelerated speed. Information Age requires
transmission network with larger and larger capacity. In recent years, companies and
manufacturers worldwide have paid more and more attention to WDM technology,
and been more concerned about it. There are many methods to increase the capacity
and flexibility of fiber network, and increase the transmission speed and expand
capacity. We shall compare the different expansion methods in the following.
1. SDM (Space Division Multiplexing)

The SDM method increases the transmission capacity linearly by adding the number
of optical fibers, and the transmission equipment will be increased linearly, too.
At present, the optical cable manufacturing technology is very much matured, the
multi-core band optical cables are widely used, the advanced optical fiber connection
technology makes the construction easier, but the increase in the number of optical
fibers will inevitably complicate the cable layout and maintenance. If there are not
enough optical fibers in the existing optical cable tunnel, you will have to lay down
additional cables to expand the capacity, and this method will multiply the engineering
cost. This means doesnt make full use of transmission bandwidth of fibers as well
and results in the waste of fiber bandwidth resources. As the construction of
communication networks, it is impossible to expand capacity by laying down new
fibers all the time. In fact, it is very hard to estimate the increasing business demand
and the number of fibers that should be laid down at the beginning of the project.
Therefore, the method to expand capacity in SDM is very limited.
2. TDM (Time Division Multiplexing)

TDM is also a commonly used method for capacity expansion, e.g. multiplexing of the
primary group to the fourth group of the traditional PDH, and STM-1, STM-4, STM-16
and STM-64 of current SDH. TDM technology can enhance the capacity of optical
transmission information in duplication and greatly reduce the circuit cost in
equipment and line. Moreover, it is easy to extract specific digital signals from the
data stream via this multiplexing method. It is especially suitable for networks
requiring the protection strategy of self-healing rings.
However, TDM method has two disadvantages. Firstly, Upgrading affects services. An
overall upgrade to higher rate levels required to replace the network interfaces and
equipment completely. Thus the equipment in operation must be interrupted during
the upgrade process. Secondly, rate upgrade lacks flexibility. Let's take SDH as an
example, when a system with a line rate of 155Mbit/s is required to provide two
155Mbit/s channels, the only way is to upgrade the system to 622Mbit/s even though
two 155Mbit/s are idle.
Presently, TDM equipment of higher rate costs much more, and the 40Gbit/s TDM
equipment has reached the rate limit of the electronic component. Even for the rate of
10Gbit/s, its non-linear effect in different types of optical fibers will exert various
limitations on the transmission.
Currently, the TDM technology is widely used for the capacity expansion since it can
expand the capacity by constantly upgrading the system rate. But when the rate
reaches a certain level, the limitation due to the component and line features will drive
you to look for other solutions.
All the basic transmission networks, whether using SDM or TDM to expand the
capacity, adopt traditional PDH or SDH technology, i.e. utilizing optical signals on a
single wavelength for transmission. This transmission method is a great waste of
optical capacity because the bandwidth of optical fiber is almost infinite when
compared to the single wavelength channel we currently use. We are worrying about
the jam of networks, on the other hand huge network resources are being wasted.
3. WDM ( Wavelength Division Multiplexing)

WDM utilizes the large bandwidth of low loss band section in single-mode fibers to
transmit by mixing optical signals with various rates (wavelengths). The digital signals
carried by optical signals with different wavelengths can be either the format of the
same rate and protocol or the format of different rates and protocal. We can
determine the network capacity according to requirement of the users by adding new
features of wavelength. For the WDM with rate under 2.5Gb/s, the current technology
can completely overcome the limitation due to the fiber dispersion and fiber non-linear
effect. It can satisfy various requirements for transmission capacity and transmission
distance. The disadvantage of WDM is that it needs many fiber components and
increases the failure probability.
4. Technology combination of TDM and WDM

It is the application direction to make use of the technology advantages of TDM and
WDM for network capacity expansion. We can choose the highest transmission rate
of TDM according to fibers of different types. On this basis, we can choose the
number of WDM optical channels according to the transmission capacity and use the
maximum optical carriers under the possible condition. Undoubtedly the transmission
capacity of multi-channel is forever bigger than that of single channel and is more
economical.
1.2 Overview of DWDM Principle

Based on such features as bandwidth and low loss of the single mode optical fiber,
the DWDM technology uses multiple wavelengths as carriers and allows the signals
to be transmitted simultaneously over the carrier channels in the optical fiber.
Compared with the general single channel system, the dense WDM (DWDM) not only
drastically increases the communication capacity of the network system and fully
uses the bandwidth of the optical fiber, but also has many advantages, such as
simple expansion and reliable performance, especially it can directly access multiple
services, so it enjoys bright prospects.
In analog carrier communication systems, the frequency division multiplexing (FDM)
method is often adopted to make full use of the bandwidth resources of cables and
enhance the transmission capacity of the system. That is, to transmit several signals
of different frequencies simultaneously in the same cable and, at the receiver end, to
utilize band-pass filters to filter the signal on each channel according to the frequency
differences among the carriers.
In the same way, in optical fiber communication systems, optical frequency division
multiplexing method can also be used to enhance the transmission capacity of the
systems. In fact, this multiplexing method is very effective in optical communication
systems. Unlike the frequency division multiplexing in analog carrier communication
systems, optical fiber communication systems utilize optical wavelengths as signal
carriers, divide the low attenuation window of optical fibers into several channels
according to the frequency (or wavelength) difference of each wavelength channel
and implement multiplexing transmission of multi-channel optical signals in a single
fiber.
Since some optical components (such as narrow-bandwidth optical filters and
coherence light source) are currently very immature, it is difficult to implement the
ultra-dense optical frequency division multiplexing (coherence optical communication
technology) of optical channels. However, alternate-optical-channel frequency division
multiplexing can be implemented based on the current component technical level.
Usually, multiplexing with a larger channel spacing (even in different windows of
optical fibers) is called optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), and DWDM in
the same window with smaller channel spacing is called dense wavelength division
multiplexing (DWDM). With the progresses of sciences & technologies, the
multiplexing of the nanometer level wavelength spacing can be implemented by using
modern technologies. Even the multiplexing of sub-nanometer level wavelength
spacing can be implemented, only need stricter component technical requirements .
5
Hence, multiplexing of 8, 16, 32 or more wavelengths with smaller wavelength spaces

is called DWDM.ITU-T G.692 suggests, the absolute reference frequency of DWDM
is 193.1THz (the corresponding wavelength is 1552.52nm), different wavelength
frequency spacing should be integral multiple of 100GHz (corresponding wavelength
spacing is about integral multiple of 0.8nm).
Diagram of DWDM system structure and spectrum is shown in figure 1-1.
OTU
OTU
OTU
OTU
M
U
U
X
Optical line
amplifier
Optical booster
amplifier
Single
channel
Optical
spectrum
Optical line
amplifier
Optical
spectrum
Optical pre-amplifier
Wavelength
Wavelength
Figure 1.1 Composition and spectrum illustration of the DWDM system
At the transmitting end, the optical transmitter sends out the optical signals whose
wavelengths are different but whose accuracy and stability satisfy certain
requirements, such signals are multiplexed together through the optical wavelength
multiplexer and sent to the EDFA (Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier) (the EDFA is used
mainly to compensate for the optical power loss caused by the multiplexer and
improve the transmitting power of the optical signal), then the amplified multi-channel
optical signals will be sent to the optical fiber for transmission, when they get to the
receiving end through or not through the optical line amplifier, where they will be
amplified by the preamplifier (used to improve the receiving sensitivity to extend the
transmission distance), then they will be sent to the optical wavelength demultiplexer
to split the channels of optical signals.
1.3 Transmission Methods of WDM Equipment

1.3.1 Unidirectional WDM
As shown in Figure 1-2, the unidirectional WDM system adopts two optical fibers.
One only implements the transmission of signals in one direction while the other
implements the transmission of the signals in the opposite direction.
Figure 1.1 Unidirectional transmission mode of WDM
This kind of WDM system can fully exploit the huge bandwidth resources of the
optical fiber and expand the transmission capacity of a single optical fiber to several
or tens of times. In long-haul networks, capacity can be expanded by adding
wavelengths gradually according to the demands of practical traffic, which is very
flexible. Under the prerequisite that the actual fiber dispersion is unknown, it is also a
means to use multiple 2.5Gbit/s systems to implement the ultra-large capacity
transmission to avoid adopting ultrahigh speed optical systems.
1.3.2 Bi-directional WDM

As shown in Figure 1-3, bi-directional wave WDM system utilizes only one optical
fiber. The single fiber transmits optical signals in both directions simultaneously, and
the signals in the different directions should be assigned on different wavelengths.
The single fiber bi-directional transmission mode allows a single fiber to carry full
duplex channels and, usually, saves a half of the fiber components of unidirectional
transmission. Since signals transmitted in both directions do not interact and create
FWM (Four-Wave Mixing) products, its total FWM effect are much less than that of
the two-fiber unidirectional transmission. However, the disadvantage of this system is
that it requires a special measure to deal with the light reflection (including discrete
reflection resulted by optical connectors and Rayleigh backward reflection of the fiber)
to avoid multi-path interference. When the optical signal needs to be amplified to
extend the transmission distance, components such as bi-directional optical fiber
amplifier and optical circulator must be adopted, but their noise coefficients are a bit
poor.
Figure 1.1 WDM bi-directional transmission mode
In the ITU-T recommendations G.692 document, no clear opinion is given on

adopting the single fiber bi-directional WDM transmission mode or double fiber
unidirectional WDM transmission mode. Most feasible WDM systems adopt the
double fiber unidirectional transmission mode.
1.4 Open and Integrated System

The DWDM is usually applied in two modes:
Open DWDM
Integrated DWDM
The feature of open DWDM system is that it has no special requirements for multiplex
terminal optical interfaces, the only requirement is that these interfaces meet the
optical interface standards defined in ITU-T.DWDM system adopts wavelength
conversion technology to convert the optical signal of the multiplex terminal into the
specific wavelength. Optical signals from different terminal equipment are converted
into different wavelengths meeting the ITU-T recommendation, which are then
multiplexed.
The integrated DWDM system does not adopt the wavelength conversion technology,
instead, it requires that the wavelength of the optical signals at the multiplex terminal
conforms to the specifications for the DWDM system, and that different multiplex
terminal equipment sends different ITU-T wavelengths complying with ITU-T
recommendation, so that the wavelengths can occupy different paths to enter the
coupler, thus they can be combined together.
Different application modes can be adopted according to the demands of engineering.
In practical applications, open DWDM and integrate DWDM can be mixed.
1.5 WDM System Compositions:

The overall structure of the WDM system of N-channel wavelength is composed of
transmission optical multiplexing terminal unit, receiving optical multiplexing terminal
(OMT) unit and optical relay line advanced (OLA) unit. If it is classified by composition
modes, there are:
Optical tansponder unit(OTU)

Wavelength division multiplexer: optical demultiplexer unit/optical multiplexer
(ODU/OMU)
Optical amplifier( BA/LA/PA)
Optical Supervisory Channel( OSC)
Optical wavelength transfer unit converts wavelength into standard wavelength

specified in ITU-T. System utilizes the conversion of optical/electricity/optical (O/E/O),
i.e. uses photodiode to convert optical signal received into the electrical signal, and
then electrical signal will converted into optical signal with specfic wavelength, so as
to get the new optical wavelength signal that meets the requirements.
Wavelength division multiplexer can be classified into transmitting optical multiplexer.
Optical multiplexer is used in the transmitting end of the transmission system. It is a
component with several input ports and one output port. Each of its input port inputs
optical signal of a preset wavelength. Input lightwaves of different wavelengths export
from the same output port. Optical demultiplexer is used in the receiving end of
transmission system. Opposite to optical multiplexer, it has an input port and several
output ports which classify different wavelength signals.
Optical amplifier not only can directly amplify the optical signal but also features the
all optical amplifier of real time, high gain, broadband, online, low noise. It is the
indispensable key component in the new fiber communication system. The fiber
amplifier currently used mainly has the EDFA (Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier), SOA
(Semiconductor Optical Amplifier), and FRA (Fiber Raman Amplifier) etc. Among
them, EDFA is widely used in fiber communication system of long distance, big
capacity and high rate and is used as preamplifier, line amplifier and power amplifier.
Optical supervisory channel is set for the supervision of WDM optical transmission
system.The 1510nm wavelength, capacity of 2Mbit/s should be preferentially
adopted. Receiving sensitivity ( better than 50dBm) of low rate can still work normally.
But it must go down optical path before EDFA and go up optical path after EDFA.
1.6 Advantages of WDM

The capacity of optical fiber is huge. However, traditional optical fiber communication
systems, with one optical signal transmitted in a single fiber, only exploited a little part
of the abundant bandwidth of optical fiber. To fully use the huge bandwidth resources
of optical fiber and increase its transmission capacity, a new generation optical fiber
communication technology based on the dense WDM (DWDM) has emerged.
The DWDM technology has the following features:
1. Super-large capacity
The transmittable bandwidth of the current widely used conventional fiber is very
wide, but the utilization ratio is still low. By using DWDM technology, the transmission
capacity of a single optical fiber is increased by several, tens of or even hundreds of
times when compared to the transmission capacity of single wavelength systems. The
current highest commercial transmission capacity is 1.6 T bit/s.
2. Data transparency transmission

DWDM systems conduct multiplexing and de-multiplexing in terms of optical
wavelength differences and are independent of signal rates and modulation modes,
which is transparent to the data. A WDM system service can carry service signal of
many formats, such as ATM, IP or signals that may appear in the future. WDM
implements the transparent transmission. For signal at the service layer, each
optical wavelength channel in the WDM system is like the virtual optical fiber.
3. Utmost protection of the existing investment during system upgrade

In expanding and developing the network, it is not necessary to make changes to the
optical cable lines, instead, you can just change the optical transmitter and receiver,
so this is an ideal expansion method and also a convenient way to introduce the
broadband services (such as CATV, HDTV and B-ISDN etc). With an additional
wavelength, you can add any new service or new capacity you want.
4. High networking flexibility, economy and reliability

When compared to the traditional networks using electrical TDM networks, new
communication networks based on the WDM technology are greatly simplified in
architecture and have clear network layers. Dispatching of various services can be
implemented simply by adjusting the corresponding wavelengths of the optical
signals. Because of the simple network architecture, clear layers and convenient
service grooming, the flexibility, economy and reliability of networking are obvious.
9
5. Compatible with all optical switching

It is foreseeable that, in the all optical networks realizable in the future, processing of
telecommunication services adding/dropping and cross connections is implemented
by changing and adjusting the optical signal wavelengths. So WDM technology is one
of the key technologies to implement all optical networks. Moreover, WDM systems
can be compatible with future all optical networks. It is possible to implement
transparent and highly survivable all optical networks based on the existing WDM
system.
1.7 Brief Introduction to CWDM

DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) is undoubtedly the preferable
technology in the current fiber application area, but on the other hand it is very
expensive. Is it possible to enjoy the WDM technology at a low cost? To meet this
demand, CWDM (coarse wavelength division multiplexing) emerges.
Telling from the name, CWDM is the close relative of DWDM. They are different in two
aspects: (1) Carrier channel spacing of CWDM is wide, so a single optical fiber can
multiplex 2 to 16 optical wavelengths. That is why they are called coarse or dense;
(2) CWDM modulate laser adopts the uncooled laser, while DWDM adopts the cool
laser and needs the cooldown technology to stabilize the wavelength, which is very
hard to implement and costs too much. CWDM avoids this difficulty. The DFB laser
adopted by CWDM system does not need cooling, so it greatly reduces the cost. The
cost of whole CWDM system is only 30% of the cost of DWDM. As more and more
metropolitan area network operators begin to seek for more reasonable transmission
methods, CWDM is more and more widely used in the industry.
The spacing between different wavelengths in the same optical fiber is the main
parameter to separate DWDM from CWDM. The CWDM currently used generally
works from 1270nm band to 1610nm, the spacing is 20nm, and can multiplex 16
wavelength channels.
Compared with the DWDM system, the CWDM greatly reduces the system cost while
providing certain amount of wavelength and transmission distance within 100
kilometers. It is also very flexible. Hence the CWCM system is mainly applied to
metropolitan area network. With very low cost, CWDM provides very high access
bandwidth that is suitable for all kinds of popular network architecture such as point to
point, Ethernet, SONET ring etc. It is especially suitable for the communication
occasion of short distance, high bandwidth and dense access point such as network
communication inside a building or between buildings.
However CWDM is the compromise of cost and performance and inevitably has some
limitations on performance. The experts within the industry point out the following
Three disadvantages that currently exist in CWDM: (1) there are a few multiplexing
wavelengths supported by CWDM in the single fiber, which cause the high cost in the
future capacity expansion; (2) the cost of equipment such as multiplexer and
multiplexing modulator etc should be further reduced. These equipment should be
more than simple modification of the corresponding DWDM equipment; (3) No
standard has yet been formulated for CWDM.
To summarize, in the middle of 1990s, driven by the market demand and technology
development, WDM developed quickly both in China and abroad. DWDM is mainly
applied to the long distance transmission network and CWDM system that is applied
to metropolitan area network and Ethernet are widely used in commerce. At the same
time, development of system depends on the breakthrough of key technology and
relevant standard formulation, which is proved by the development of past years.
10
1.8 Questions
1)
2)
3)
4)
11
What are WDM, DWDM and CWDM?

Briefly introduce two transmission modes of WDM equipment.
What is the open and integrated system?
Briefly introduce the composition of the WDM system.
Chapter 2 WDM Transmission Media
Objectives:
To master basic structures and types of optical fibers.
To know basic characteristics of optical fibers.
2.1 Optical Fiber Structures

The kernel of optical fiber used in communication systems consists of a cylindrical
glass core and a glass cladding. The outermost layer is a plastic wear-resisting
coating. The whole fiber is cylindrical. The typical structure of optical fiber is shown in
Figure 2-1.
Coating
Cladding
n2
Core
n1
Figure 1.1 The typical structure of optical fiber
12
n2
n1
n2
n1
n2
n(r)
Figure 1.2 Three typical types of optical fibers
Thickness of the core and refractive indexes of the core material and cladding
material are critical to the properties of the fiber. Figure 2-2 shows three typical optical
fibers. As can be seen from this figure, there are two typical refractive index
distributions in the fiber core-cladding cross-section. One is that the refractive index
radial distributions of the core and the cladding are uniform, and the change of
refractive index at the core-cladding boundary is a step function. This fiber is called
step-index fiber. The other one is that the refractive index of the core is not a
constant. It gradually decreases as the radial coordinate of the core increases until it
equals to the index of the cladding. Hence this fiber is called graded-index fiber. The
common feature of this two fiber cross-section is that the refractive index of the core
n1 is larger than that of the cladding n2. This is also a necessary condition for the
optical signal to transmit in the fiber. For a step-index fiber, total internal reflection can
occur at the core-cladding boundary and the light wave can propagate along the core.
For a graded-index fiber, the continuous refraction occurs to the light wave in the
core, forming a light ray similar to the sine-wave through the fiber axis and guiding the
light wave to propagate along the core. The tracks of the two light rays are shown in
Figure 2-2. With the difference of the diameter size of the core of step-index and
graded-index fibers, the number of modes transmitted in the fiber is different. Hence,
step-index fiber or graded-index fiber can be classified into single mode fiber and
multimode fiber according to the number of transmission modes. This is also a
classification method of optical fiber. The core diameter of a single mode fiber is very
small and, generally, less than 10m, and the core diameter of a multimode fiber is
relatively large and often equal to 50m. However, there is little difference between
the profiles of these two types of fiber. The diameters of fibers with a plastic jacket are
less than 1mm.
2.2
Types of Optical Fiber

Since the single-mode optical fiber has advantages of low internal attenuation, large
bandwidth, easy upgrade and capacity expansion and low cost, it is internationally
agreed that DWDM systems will only utilize single mode fiber as transmission media.
At present, ITU-T has defined four types of single mode optical fiber with different
design in Recommendations G.652, G.653, G.654 and G.655.
13
G.652 fiber is currently a single mode fiber for extensive use, called 1310nm property
optimal single mode fiber and also called dispersion unshifted fiber. According to the
refractive index cross section of the core, it can also be divided into two categories:
matched cladding fiber and depressed cladding fiber. They have similar properties.
The former is simple in manufacturing but has relatively larger macrobend loss and
microbend loss while the later has larger connection loss.
G.653 fiber is called dispersion shifted fiber or 1550nm property optimal fiber. By
designing the refractive index cross section, the zero dispersion point of this kind of
fiber is shifted to the 1550nm window to match the minimum attenuation window. This
makes it possible to implement ultrahigh speed and ultra long distance optical
transmission.
G.654 fiber is cut-off wavelength shifted single mode fiber. This kind of fiber is mainly
designed to reduce the attenuation at 1550nm. Its zero dispersion point is still near
1310nm. The dispersion at 1550nm is relatively high, up to 18ps/(nm.km). So single
longitudinal mode laser must be used to eliminate the affect of the dispersion. G.654
fiber is mainly used for submarine optical fiber communication with very long
regenerator section distance.
G.655 fiber, a nonzero dispersion shifted single mode optical fiber, is similar to G.653
fiber and preserves certain dispersion near 1550nm to avoid four-wave mixing
phenomenon in DWDM transmission. It is suitable for DWDM system applications.
Except for the above-mentioned four types of standardized fiber, a large effective
area fiber suitable for higher capacity and longer distance has emerged. Its zero
dispersion point is near 1510m and its effective area is up to 72 square
mTherefore, it can effectively overcome the nonlinear affects and is especially
suitable for DWDM system applications based on 10Gbit/s.
Thought:
Which type of optical fiber is widely laid at present?
2.3
2.3.1
Basic Features of Optical Fiber

Physical Dimension (Mode Field Diameter)
The fiber core diameter of a single mode fiber is 8~9m in the same magnitude as the
operating wavelength 1.3~1.6m. Because of the optical diffraction effect, it is not
easy to measure the exact value of the fiber cord diameter. In addition, since the field
intensity distribution of the fundamental mode LP01 isn't confined within the fiber
core, the concept of single mode fiber core diameter is physically meaningless and
should be replaced with the concept of mode field diameter. Mode field diameter
measures the concentrate level of the fundamental mode field spatial intensity
distribution within the fiber.
The nominal mode filed diameter of G.652 fiber at 1310nm wavelength area should
be 8.6~9.5m with a deviation of less than 10%, and the nominal mode filed diameter
of G.655 fiber at 1550nm wavelength area should be 8~11m with a deviation of less
than 10%.
14
The cladding diameter of both types of above-mentioned single mode optical fibers is
125m.
2.3.2
Attenuation Constant
Attenuation in optical fiber is mainly determined by three types of loss: absorption
loss, scattering loss and bend loss. Bend loss, as described above, has no great
effect on the attenuation constant in fiber. So, it is absorption loss and scattering loss
that mainly determine the attenuation constant in fiber.
Absorption loss is caused by the fiber material where excessive metal impurity and
OH- ion absorb the light to result in loss.
Scattering loss is often caused in the case that a part of optical power is scattered
outside the fiber when uneven refractive index distribution local area emerges within
the fiber and causes light scattering because of the micro-change in fiber material
density and uneven density of compositions such as SiO 2, GeO2 and P2O5. Or,
scattering loss can be aroused if some defect occurs or some bubbles and gas scabs
are remained at the core-cladding boundary. The physical dimension of these
structural defects is much larger than the lightwave, causing wavelength independent
scattering loss and upward shifting the whole curve of fiber loss spectrum. However,
this kind of scattering loss is much less than the former one.
Combining the above losses, the attenuation constant of single mode fiber at 1310nm
and 1550nm wavelength areas is 0.3~0.4dB/km (1310nm) and 0.17~0.25dB/km
(1550nm), respectively. As defined in ITU-T Recommendation G.652, the attenuation
constant at 1310nm and 1550nm should be less than 0.5dB/km and 0.4dB/km,
respectively.
2.3.3
Dispersion Coefficient
Dispersion in optical fiber refers to a physical phenomenon of signal distortion caused
when various modes carrying signal energy or different frequencies of the signal have
different group velocity and disperse from each other during propagation. Generally,
three kinds of dispersion exist in optical fiber.
1) Modal dispersion: This is caused when the fiber carries multiple modes of the
same frequency signal energy and different mode has different time delay during
transmission.
2) Material dispersion: Because the refractive index of the fiber core material is a
function of the frequency, signal components of different frequency propagate at
different velocities along the fiber. This causes dispersion.
3) Waveguide dispersion: In the fiber, for a signal carrying different frequencies in the
same mode, dispersion is caused because of different group velocities during
propagation.
These three types of dispersion are called chromatic dispersion. ITU-T G.652 defines
a zero dispersion wavelength range of 1300nm~1324nm and a maximum dispersion
slope of 0.093ps/(nm2.km). In the wavelength range of 1525~1575nm, the dispersion
coefficient is approximately 20ps/(nm.km). ITU-T G.653 defines a zero dispersion
wavelength 1550nm and a dispersion slope of 0.085ps/(nm2.km) in the wavelength
range of 1525~1575nm where the maximum dispersion coefficient is 3.5ps/(nm.km).
The absolute value of the dispersion coefficient of G.655 fiber should be within
0.1~6.0 ps/(nm2.km) in the range of 1530~1565nm.
15
Technical details:
The following figure shows the dispersion characteristics of several types of fiber.
G.655 fiber with positive
dispersion coefficient
Dispersion coefficient
(ps/nm
km)
17
G.653 fiber
G.652 fiber
G.655 fiber with negative
dispersion coefficient
1310
1550
Wavelength
(nm)
2.4 Questions
1)
2)
What are the basic structures and types of optical fibers?

What kinds of dispersion are there in the optical fiber?
16

Objective:
To understand the requirements and solutions of DWDM light sources
To understand the DWDM optical amplification technology.
To understand the DWDM Multiplex/Demultiplex technology
To understand the DWDM Optical Supervisory Channel
3.1 Light source

The function of light sources is to generate laser or fluorescent light, and light sources
are important devices to constitute the optical fiber communication system. The
semiconductor laser LD (Laser Diode) and semiconductor LED (Light Emitting Diode)
used as light sources for optical fiber communication are both semiconductor devices.
Their common features are small in dimension, light in weight and low in power
consumption.
The major difference between LD and LED is that LD generates laser and LED
generates fluorescent light. So, LED has a wider spectrum bandwidth with low
modulation efficiency and low coupling efficiency with optical fiber; but its output
characteristics curve is of better linearity, and it has a long service life and low cost,
thus it is suitable for short-distance and small-capacity communication systems. And
LD is typically applicable to long-distance and large-capacity communication systems,
and is widely used in high-speed PDH and SDH equipment.
The light sources used in high-speed optical fiber communication systems are
classified into two categories: MLM lasers and SLM lasers. The major difference
between the two types of semiconductor lasers in terms of their performance lies in
their emitting spectrum. The emitting spectrum bandwidth of MLM laser is
comparatively wider and of the nm order, and multiple harmonic peaks can be
observed. The emitting spectrum bandwidth of SLM laser is of 0.1 nm order, and only
single harmonic peak can be observed. The monochromatism of SLM laser is better
than that of MLM laser.
The operating wavelengths of DWDM systems are relatively dense. Generally, the
wavelength spacing is from several nanometers to sub-nanometers. Hence, the laser
diode is required to operate at a standard wavelength and possess good stability. On
the other hand, the non-electrical regeneration relay distance of DWDM systems is
increased from 50~60km transmitted by a single SDH system to 500~600km. The
light sources of the DWDM system are required to use lasers more advanced in
technology and more excellent in performance in order to elongate the dispersion
limited distance of the transmission system and to overcome the nonlinear effects of
the fiber {such as stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), stimulated Raman scattering
(SRS), self-phase modulation (SPM), cross-phase modulation (XPM), modulation
instability and four-wavelength mixing (FWM)}.
To sum up, the light source of the DWDM system has two outstanding features:
1)
2)
17
Larger dispersion tolerance value;

Standard and stable wavelength.
3.1.1 Modulation Mode Of A Laser

At present, the optical fiber communication systems in wide use employ intensity
modulation direct detection system. There are two types of intensity modulation for
light sources, i.e. direct modulation and indirect modulation.
1. Direct modulation
Direct modulation is also called internal modulation, i.e. to modulate the light source
directly and change the output light wave intensity by controlling the injection current
into the semiconductor laser. LED or LD sources used in traditional PDH and SDH
systems under the rate of 2.5Gbit/s employ this modulation mode.
One characteristic of direct modulation is that the output power is in proportion to the
modulation current. It has the advantages of simple structure, low loss and low cost.
However, changes of the modulation current will result in the changes of the length of
the laser resonant cavity, which will cause a linear variation of the emitting laser
wavelength corresponding to the current. This variation, called modulation chirp, is
actually a kind of wavelength (frequency) jitter inevitable for direct modulation of the
sources. The chirp broadens the bandwidth of the emitting spectrum of the laser,
deteriorates its spectrum characteristics and limits the transmission rate and distance
of the system. Generally, for conventional G.652 optical fiber, the transmission
distance is 100km and the transmission rate 2.5Gbit/s.
For DWDM systems without optical line amplifiers, direct modulation of the lasers can
be considered to save the cost.
2. Indirect modulation
Indirect modulation:This modulation method is also called external modulation, i.e. not
to modulate the laser directly but to add an external modulator in the laser output path
to modulate the light wave. In fact, this modulator works as a switch. Its structure is
shown in Figure 3-1.
The constant light source is a highly stable source which continuously emits a fixed
wavelength and power. It is not affected by the electric modulation signal during light
emision, so no modulating frequency chirp occurs and the bandwidth of its optical
spectrum keeps at minimum. According to the electric modulation signal, the optical
modulator processes the highly stable laser light from the constant light source in an
enabled or disabled manner. During the modulation process, the spectrum
characteristics of the light wave will not be affected, ensuring .the quality of the
spectrum.
Lasers adopting indirect modulation are relatively complex with big loss and high cost,
but its modulating frequency chirp is very low. It can be used in systems with the
transmission rate 2.5Gbit/s and transmission distance longer than 300km. Hence, in
DWDM systems with optical line amplifiers, the lasers for transmission are generally
indirectly modulated.
18
Figure 2.1 Structure of the external modulated laser
External modulators frequently used are electro-optic modulators, acoustic-optical

modulators and waveguide modulators.
The basic operating principle of the photoelectric modulator is the crystal linear
electric-optical effect. The electric-optical effect refers to the phenomenon that the
electric field causes the variation of the refractive index of a crystal. A crystal that is
able to generate the electric-optical effect is called electric-optical crystal.
The acoustic-optical modulator is made by utilizing the acoustic-optical effect of the
medium. Acoustic-optical effect refers to the phenomenon that the medium changes
under the pressure of an acoustic wave when it propagates through the medium. This
change causes the variation of the refractive index of the medium, thus affecting the
transmission characteristics of the light wave.
The waveguide modulator is manufactured by diffusing titanium (Ti) into LiNbO 2
substrate material, then making the specific waveguide dimensions by the
photolithography process. It has many advantages such as small in size, light in
weight and easy for optical integration.
According to the integration or separation conditions of the light source and the
external modulator, external modulated lasers can be classified into two categories:
integrated external modulated laser and separated external modulated laser.
As a maturing technology, integrated external modulation becomes the development
trend of DWDM light sources. The commonly used modulators are electro-absorption
modulators which, small and compact and integrated with the light source, meet most
application requirements in their performances.
Electro-absorption modulator, a kind of loss modulator, operates at the boundary
wavelength of the material absorption region. When the modulator isn't biased, the
wavelength from the laser is out of the absorption range of the modulator material.
Thus the launched power of this wavelength is maximum and the modulator is turned
on. When the modulator is biased, the boundary wavelength of the material
absorption region shifts and the wavelength from the laser is within this region. Thus
the launched power is minimum and the modulator is turned off, as illustrated in
Figure 3-2.
19
Figure 2.2 Variation of the absorption wavelength of the electro-absorption modulator
The electro-absorption modulator can be manufactured with the same technological

process as for the semiconductor laser. Therefore, it is easy to integrate the laser and
the modulator, suitable for batch production. So its development is fast. For example,
An InGaAsP photoelectric integrated circuit is to integrate a laser and an electroabsorption modulator on a single chip, which is then put on a thermoelectric cooler
(TEC). This typical photoelectric integrated circuit is called electro-absorption
modulated laser (EML). It can support the signal transmission of 2.5Gbit/s over
600km, far beyond the transmission distance of directly modulated lasers. Its
reliability is similar to that of standard OFB lasers with an average service life of 20
years.
The separated external modulated laser generally uses the constant output laser (CW
+ LiNbO3} Mach-Zehnder external modulator, as illustrated in Figure 3-3.
LD
Figure 2.3 M-Z external modulator
This modulator separates the light input into two equal signals which enter the two
optical branches of the modulator respectively. These two optical branches employ an
electro-optical material whose refractive index changes with the magnitude of the
external electrical signal applied to it. Changes of the refractive index of the optical
branches will result in the change variation of the signal phases. Hence, when the
signals from the two branches recombine at the output end, the combined optical
signal is an interference signal with varying intensity. With this method, the
information of the electrical signal is transferred onto the optical signal and optical
intensity modulation is implemented. The frequency chirp of the separated external
modulated laser can be equal to zero. Moreover, its cost is relatively low compared to
the electro-absorption modulated external laser.
3.1.2 Wavelength Stability of the Laser

In the DWDM system, wavelength stability of the laser is a critical problem. According
to the requirement of recommendation, the deviation of the central wavelength should
not be greater than one fifth of the optical channel interval.
Because the optical channel interval is very small (possibly as low as 0.8nm), the
DWDM system has strict requirements to the wavelength stability of the lasers. For
20
example, a 0.5nm variation of the wavelength can

one. In practical systems, the variation should
specific requirement is determined according to
smaller the interval, the higher the requirement.
wavelength stabilization technology.
shift an optical channel to another

be controlled within 0.2nm. The
the wavelength spacing, i.e. the
So the lasers should adopt strict
Fine tuning of the wavelength of the integrated electro-absorption modulated laser is

mainly implemented by adjusting the temperature. The temperature sensitivity of the
wavelength is 0.008nm/C. The normal operating temperature is 25C. By adjusting
the chip temperature in the range of 15C to 35C, the EML can be adjusted to a
specific wavelength with an adjustable range of 1.6nm. The chip temperature is
adjusted by changing the drive current of the cooler and then stabilized at a basically
constant value by using a thermal resistance as feedback.
According to the corresponding characteristics of the wavelength and chip
temperature, the distributed feedback laser (DFB) controls its wavelength by
controlling the temperature of the laser chip to achieve wavelength stability. For the
1.5m DFB laser, the wavelength-temperature coefficient is about 0.02nm/C and its
central wavelength meets the requirement within the range of 15C-35C. This
temperature feedback control method completely depends on the chip temperature of
the DFB laser. At present, MWQ-DFB laser technology can guarantee that the
wavelength deviation meets the requirements of the DWDM system during the
service life (20 years) of the laser.
In addition to the temperature, the drive current of the laser can also affect the
wavelength. The sensitivity is 0.008nm/mA, smaller than the effect of the temperature
in one order. In some cases, this effect can be ignored. Additionally, encapsulation
temperature may also affect the device wavelength (e.g. temperature conduction by
connection wires from the encapsulation to the laser platform and inward radiation
from the encapsulation package will also affect the device wavelength). In welldesigned encapsulation, its effect can be controlled to minimum.
The above methods can effectively solve the problem of short-term wavelength
stability. However, they are incapable of dealing with long-term wavelength variations
caused by factors such as laser aging. It is ideal to directly utilize a wavelength
sensitive component for wavelength feedback control of the light source. The principle
diagram is shown in Figure 3-4. Standard wavelength control and reference
frequency disturbance wavelength control in this type of control solutions are under
development and quite promising.
Figure 1.1 Wavelength control principle
? Think It Over:
Why does the DWDM system set strict requirements to the wavelength stability?
21
3.2 Photoelectric Detector

The function of photoelectric detector is to convert the received optical signal to
corresponding electric signal. Generally, the optical signal sent from the optical fiber is
rather weak, so very high requirements are put forward to the photoelectric detector.
1)
2)
3)
4)
Its responsivity in operating wavelength range should be high enough.

The additional noise caused by the photoelectric conversion process should be
as low as possible.
It should work at a high response speed, with good linear properties and wide
frequency range, the signal distortion should be as less as possible.
It should work stably and reliably, and has comparatively satisfactory stability and
long service life.
Small in size and convenient in use
5)
There are two types of semiconductor photoelectric detectors that can satisfy the
above requirements: positive intrinsic negative (PIN) photodiode and avalanche
photodiode.
3.2.1 Positive Intrinsic Negative Photodiode (PIN)

PIN photodiode is a semiconductor device, it is composed of an intrinsic (light doped)
area between the P type and the n type, When this device is inversely biased, an
almost infinite internal resistance appears (just like open circuit), and the output
current is in proportion to the input optical power.
PIN photodiode has the advantages of low cost and easy use, but its response speed
is slow.
3.2.2 Avalanche Photo Diode (APD)

In long-distance optical fiber communication systems, optical power of only several
milliwatts is emitted from lasers and through long-distance fiber transmission to reach
the receiving end. The optical signal received at the receiving end is very weak,
generally only about several nanowatts. If a PIN photodiode is used for detection, the
output current will be of only several nanowatts. The output current must go through
multistage amplification in order to make the judgment circuit of the photoreceiver
work normally. In the signal amplification process, various types of circuit noise will
be inevitably introduced thus decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio of the photoreceiver
and degrades its sensitivity. Another kind of photodiode with the internal current
amplification function is adopted in optical fiber communication systems in order to
overcome the above shortcomings of PIN photodiode, that is APD. APD multiplies the
optical current utilizing the avalanche multiplication effect of photo-generated carriers
in the depletion region. The avalanche multiplication effect means that a strong
electric field will be formed in the depletion region when a high reverse bias voltage is
applied to the P-N junction. When photons are absorbed in the depletion region,
photo-generated carriers are excited and accelerated by the strong electric field, and
collide with the crystal lattice in the depletion region at a very high speed. Thus new
photo-generated carriers are generated, forming a chain reaction. Therefore, the
optical current is multiplied in the photodiode.
The gain and response speed of the avalanche photodiode is better than those of the
PIN photodiode, but the noise characteristic of the avalanche photodiode is not so
satisfactory.
22
3.3 Optical Amplifier

We know that there is attenuation of the optical fiber, optical signals will attenuate
during transmission along the optical fiber, and the transmission distance is thus
limited by attenuation. So, we have to amplify optical signals in order to transmit them
through a longer distance. A traditional way to amplify optical signals is to use
regenerators. But there are several disadvantages with this method. First, a
regenerator can only work under a determined signal-bit rate in a determined signal
format, different bit rates and signal formats require different regenerators. Second,
every channel needs a regenerator, which results in high network cost. So, people
wish to find a way to amplify optical signals without regenerators, that is the optical
amplification technology.
3.3.1 Optical Amplifier Overview

Optical amplifiers amplify optical signals in a simply way, as illustrated in Figure 3-5:
Figure 1.1 OA
Optical amplifiers do not need to convert optical signals into electric signals and then
convert them back into optical signals. Compared to regenerators, optical amplifiers
have two major advantages thanks to the above feature. First, optical amplifiers
simply amplify any signal they receive, so they support any bit rate and signal format.
This property is often described as that optical amplifiers are transparent to any bit
rate and signal format. Second, optical amplifiers support not only the amplification of
single signal wavelength like a regenerator, but also the amplification of optical
signals in a certain wavelength rage. And only optical amplifiers support the timedivision multiplexing and wavelength division multiplexing networks with various bit
rates, various modulation formats and different wavelengths. In fact, WDM technology
did not play an important role in optical fiber communication until optical amplifiers,
especially EDFA, appeared. EDFA is the most popular optical amplifier, its
appearance has turned the wavelength-division multiplexing and all-optical network
theory into reality.
At present, there are two major types of optical amplifier in use: semiconductor optical
amplifier (SOA) and fiber optical amplifier (FOA). SOA is actually the active medium
of the semiconductor laser. In another word, a semiconductor amplifier is a laser
diode without or with little optical feedback.
FOA is different from SOA, the active medium (or gain medium) of FOA is a segment
of special optical fiber or transmission optical fiber which is connected to the pumping
laser. An optical signal will be amplified when it goes through this fiber segment. FOA
can be classified into Rare Earth Ion Doped Fiber Amplifier and Non-linear Fiber
Amplifier. Just like SOA, the operation theory of the rare earth ion doped fiber
amplifier is also the stimulated radiation. And the non-linear fiber amplifier utilizes the
non-linear effect of the fiber to amplify the optical signal. EDFA and Raman fiber
amplifier are fiber amplifiers in practical application.
As a key component of new generation optical communication systems, EDFA
(Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier) has many advantages such as high gain, large output
23
power, wide operating optical bandwidth, polarization independence, low noise figure
and the amplifying characteristic independent of the system bit rate and data format.
It is an indispensable key component in large capacity DWDM systems.
According to its location in the DWDM optical transmission network, an EDFA can be
a booster amplifier (BA), a line amplifier (LA) or a preamplifier (PA).
The gain wavelength of Raman Fiber Amplifier is determined by the pump light
wavelength. Theoretically, signal amplification of any wavelength can be achieved
only if the pump source wavelength is proper. Its gain medium is the transmission
fiber itself, and its noise figure is low. When it is used together with conventional
EDFA, it will greatly decrease the system noise figure and increase the transmission
span.
3.3.2 Erbium Doped Fiber (EDF)

EDF is the kernel of the optical fiber amplifier. It is a kind of optical fiber doped with a
certain concentration of Er3+. To illustrate its amplification principle, we need to begin
with the energy level diagram of Er ions. The outer electrons of Er ions have a
structure of 3 energy levels (E1, E2 and E3 in Figure 3-6), where E1 is the basic state
energy level, E2 is the metastable state energy level and E3 is the high energy level,
as shown in Figure 3-6.
Figure 1.1 EDFA energy level diagram
When high-energy pump lasers are used to excite the EDF, lots of bound electrons of
the erbium ions are excited from the basic state to the high energy level E3. However,
the high energy level is not stable and erbium ions are soon dropped to the
metastable state E2 via a non-radiation decay process (i.e. no photon is released). E2
level is a metastable energy band on which particles' survival span is relatively long.
Particles excited by the pump light continuously gather on this level in the form of
nonradiative transition. Thus, inverse distribution of the particle number is achieved.
When an optical signal with the wavelength of 1550nm passes through this erbiumdoped fiber, particles in the metastable state are transited to the basic state via
stimulated radiation and generate photons identical to those in the incident signal
light. This greatly increases the quantity of photons in the signal light, i.e.
implementing the function of continuous amplifying the signal light transmitted in the
EDF.
3.3.3 EDFA Flat Gain Control

In DWDM systems, there are more and more optical channels to be multiplexed, and
there are more and more optical amplifiers needed to be in serial connection. This
requires that a single amplifier occupy a wider and wider bandwidth.
24
However, EDFA based on ordinary pure silicon optical fiber has a very narrow flat
gain region only between 1549 and 1561nm, a range of approximately 12nm. And the
gain fluctuation between 1530 and 1542nm is very large, up to about 8dB. When the
channel arrangement of the DWDM system exceeds the flat gain region, channels
near 1540nm will suffer severe signal-to-noise deteriaration and normal signal output
can't be guaranteed.
To solve the above-mentioned problem and adapt to the development of DWDM
systems, a gain flattened EDFA based on aluminum-doped silicon optical fiber is
developed. It greatly improves the operating wavelength bandwidth of the EDFA and
suppresses gain fluctuation. With the currently mature technology 1dB gain flattened
range can be achieved which almost expands to the whole erbium pass-band
(1525nm~1560nm), basically solving the problem of gain unflatness of ordinary
EDFA. Figure 2-7 compares the gain curves of non-aluminum-doped EDFA and
aluminum-doped EDFA.
Technically, the range of 1525nm~1540nm in EDFA gain curve is called blue band
area and the range of 1540nm ~1565nm is called red band area. Generally, the red
band area is preferred when the transmission capacity is less than 40Gbit/s.
1525nm-1565nm
non-aluminum-doped EDFA
Gain
1525nm-1565nm
aluminum-doped EDFA
Gain
Wavelength
Wavelength
Figure 1.1 Improvement of EDFA gain curve flatness
Technical details:
Performance comparison between EDFA gain unflatness and flatness is given in Figure 3-8.
Cascading amplification of amplifier gain unflatness
Cascading amplification of amplifier gain flatness

Figure 1.2 Diagram of EDFA gain flatness
25
3.3.4 EDFA Gain-Lock

EDFA gain-locking is an important issue because the WDM system is a multiwavelength working system. When signals of certain wavelengths are lost , their
energy will be transferred to those unlost signals due to gain competition, thus the
power of other wavelengths increases. At the receiving end, abrupt increase of the
electrical level may result in error codes. In limiting case, if seven out of the eight
wavelengths are lost, all the energy will concentrate to the one wavelength left and its
power may be up to about 17dBm. This will result in strong nonlinear effects or
receiving power overload of the receiver, and this will also cause lots of error codes.
There are many gain-locking technologies for EDFA. One typical method is to control
the gain of the pump light source. The internal monitoring electric circuit of the EDFA
controls the output of the pump source by monitoring the input-output power ratio.
When some signals of the input wavelengths are lost, the input power will decrease
and the output-input power ratio will increase. Via the feedback circuit, the output
power of the pump source will be reduced in order to keep the gain (output/input) of
the EDFA unchanged. Hence, the total output power of the EDFA is reduced and the
output signal power is kept stable, as illustrated in Figure 3-9.
OUTPUT
INPUT
TAP
PUMP
PIN
TAP
PIN
Non-linear
control
Figure 1.1 Gain-locking technology of controlling the pump light source
Furthermore, there is a saturation wavelength method. At the transmit end, in addition

to the eight operating wavelengths, the system sends another wavelength as the
saturation wavelength. In normal cases, the output power of this wavelength is very
small. When some line signals are lost, the output power of the saturation wavelength
will automatically increase in order to compensate the energy of the lost wavelengths
and maintain the output power and gain of the EDFA to be constant. When the multiwavelength line signals are restored, the output power of the saturation wavelength
will correspondingly decrease. This method directly controls the output of the
saturation wavelength laser, so its speed is faster than controlling the pump source.
Technical details:
Performance comparison between gain-locking EDFA and non-gain-locking EDFA
falling
wavelength
>1dB
adding
wavelength
>1dB
Figure 1.2 Gain variation diagram of no-gain-locking EDFA dropping and adding wavelengths
26
<0.5dB
Falling
wavelength
adding
wavelength
<0.5dB
Figure 1.3 Gain variation diagram of gain-locking EDFA dropping and adding wavelengths
3.3.5 Advantages and Disadvantages of EDFA

1. Major advantages of EDFA:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Its working wavelength is consistent with the minimum attenuation window of the
single mode optical fiber.
High coupling efficiency. As a fiber amplifier, it can be easily coupled with the
transmission fiber.
High energy conversion efficiency. The core of EDF is smaller than that of
transmission fiber, signal light and pumping light are transmitted in EDF at the
same time, highly centralizing the light energy. This results in a thorough
interaction between the light and the gain medium Er ion, and higher light energy
conversion efficiency if added with EDF of appropriate length.
High gain, low noise figure, large output power and minimum cross-talk.
Stable gain characteristics: EDFA is insensitive to temperature and polarization
independence
Gain characteristic independent to system bit rate and data format.
6)
EDFA is an indispensable key component in high capacity DWDM systems.
2. Major disadvantages of EDFA:
1)
2)
3)
The gain wavelength range is fixed: the energy level difference between the
energy levels of Er ion confines the working wavelength range of EDFA to a fixed
1550nm window. This is also the limitation of rare mental doped fiber amplifiers.
For instance, Praseodymium doped fibers can only work on 1310nm window.
Gain bandwidth unflatness: EDFA has a wide gain bandwidth, but its gain
spectrum is not flat. Special measures must be adopted in WDM system
applications in order to flatten the gain of EDFA.
Optical surge problem: EDFA can enlarge the input optical power rapidly.
However, since its dynamic gain changes slowly, optical surge will occur at the
moment when the input signal power jumps, i.e. a peak occurs to the output
optical power. The optical surge phenomenon is especially obvious in the case of
EDFA cascading. The peak power can be up to a few watts and is possible to
damage the O/E converter and the end surface of the optical connector.
3.3.6 Raman Fiber Amplifier

In normal fiber system, the optical power is not high, and the fiber is characteristic of
linear transmission. When very high optical power is injected into optical fiber---nonlinear optical medium, the pumping light of high energy (shorter wavelength) scatters
27
and shifts a small portion of incident power to the lowering light of another frequency.
The frequency lowering scale is determined by the vibration mode of the medium.
Quantum mechanics describes the phenomenon as that a photon of incident light is
scattered by a molecule into another photon of lower frequency and the molecule
implements its transition between vibration states. The incident photons are called
pumping light, and the frequency-shifting photons of lower frequency are called
stokes wave. Normal Raman scattering needs very high laser power. However, in
fiber communication, the diameter of the core of monomode optical fiber as a nonlinear medium is very small (generally under 10m). As a result, the monomode
optical fiber can limit the interaction between high-intensity laser field and medium in
a quite small section and thus increases the optical power intensity of incident optical
field. In low attenuation fiber, the interaction between the optical field and the medium
can keep for a long distance, allowing for adequate energy coupling in the meantime,
and for the use of stimulated Raman scattering in fiber.
Experiments prove that quartz fiber has wide SRS gain spectrum and a wide gain
peak around a frequency 13THz lower than that of the pumping light. If a weak signal
and a strong pumping light wave are transmitted through the fiber at the same time,
and the wavelength of the weak signal is set within the Raman gain bandwidth of the
strong pumping light, the weak signal can be amplified. Such SRS-based OA is call
Raman optical amplifier. Raman optical amplifiers gain is the switch gain, that is, the
difference between the output power when the amplifier is on and that when the
amplifier is off.
Raman optical amplifier has three outstanding features:
1)
Its gain wavelength is determined by the pumping light wavelength. Theoretically,

it can produce signal amplification of any wavelength if the pump source
wavelength is proper, as illustrated in Figure 3-12, in which the dotted lines are
the gain spectrum of the three pump sources. This feature enables Raman fiber
amplifiers to amplify in the wavelength range beyond EDFA. The usage of
multiple pump sources can also get much wider gain bandwidth than that of
EDFA (Being limited by energy level transition mechanism, EDFA has a gain
bandwidth of 80nm only.) Therefore, it is irreplaceable in the development in the
whole low attenuation region (1270nm 1670nm) of the fiber.
GAIN
PUMP1 PUMP2 PUMP3
30nm
70~100nm
Figure 1.1 Raman gain spectrum of multiple pumps
2)
The gain medium is the transmission fiber itself. This enables Raman fiber
amplifiers to amplify optical signals online and constitute distributed amplification,
and thus implement long-distance trunk-free transmission and remote pumping.
It is especially suitable for cases disallowing repeaters, e.g. sea fiber-optic cable
communication. As the amplification is distributed along the fiber instead of
centralized in a section, the signal light power is comparatively low along the
fiber, thus reducing the interference from non-linear effect, especially FWM
effect.
28
3)
Low noise fact. When it is used together with ordinary EDFA, it will largely
decrease the system noise figure and increase the transmission span.
3.3.7 Related Technical Features
The maximum optical power electrical level of single channel or multiple channel
fiber is +17dBm or +20dBm. The optical joint and optical connector should be
kept clean.
There must be obvious safety warning signs on OA to ensure personal safety.
When the fiber is disconnected, the pump source should automatically shut down
or decrease the EDFA output power down to firm power.
The service life of the optical component (pump source) of OA should be at least
300,000 h.
3.4 Optical Multiplexer and Optical Demultiplexer

Wavelength division multiplexing components, that is, optical multiplexer and optical
demultiplexer, are the core parts in wavelength division multiplexing systems. All of
which are actually optical filters, and their performance determines that of the whole
system to a great extent,. as illustrated in Figure 3-13. Optical multiplexer is mainly
used to combine multi-signals into a single fiber for transmission; optical
demultiplexer is mainly used to separate multiple wavelength signals transmitted in a
single fiber. The performance of WDM systems depends on the WDM components.
The requirements of which are enough channels, little insertion loss, large crosstalk
attenuation and wide pass band range.
Theoretically, optical multiplexer and optical demultiplexer are the same, only
differentiated by the directions of input and output.
Figure 1.1 DWDM components
The performance of wavelength division multiplexing components used in WDM

systems meets the requirements of ITU-T G.671 and the relevant recommendations.
There are many kinds of optical wavelength division multiplexers, approximately
including four types: interferometric optical filter, fiber coupler, fiber grating and
arrayed waveguide grating (AWG).
29
3.4.1 Optical Grating Type Wavelength Division Multiplexer

Optical grating type wavelength division multiplexer, a kind of angular dispersion type
component, employs the angular dispersion component to separate and combine
optical signals of different wavelengths. The most prevalent diffraction grating is made
by depositing epoxy resin on a glass substrate and then making grating lines on the
epoxy resin, forming the reflective-type blazed diffraction grating. When the incident
light reaches the optical grating, the optical signals with different wavelengths are
reflected in different angles due to the angular dispersion function of the grating. Then
these signals are converged to different output optical fibers via lenses in order to
implement wavelength selection function. The inverse process is also correct, as
shown in Figure 3-14. The advantage of the blazed optical grating is high-resolution
wavelength selection function, which can separate most energy of specific
wavelength from other wavelengths and focus it in centralized directions.
The blazed grating type filter has excellent wavelength selectivity and can reduce the
wavelength spacing to about 0.5nm. Moreover, the grating type component works in
parallel and its insertion loss doesn't increase with the number of wavelengths
multiplexed, hence acquiring large number of multiplexing channels. At present, 131
0.5nm-spacing wavelengths can be multiplexed at good isolation. For a wavelength
spacing of 1nm, the isolation is up to 55dB. The disadvantage of blazed grating is
relatively large insertion loss, generally as high as 3~8dB. Moreover, it is very
sensitive to polarization and its optical channel bandwidth-to-spacing ratio is not
satisfactory. Therefore the optical spectrum utilization is low and the wavelength faulttolerance requirement for the light source and the wavelength division mutiplexer
component is relatively high. Additionally, its temperature drift varies with the thermal
expansion coefficient and refractive index of the material. Typically, the component
temperature shift is approximately as high as 0.012nm/C. If temperature control
measures are adopted, the temperature shift can be reduced to 0.0004nm/C, making
it necessary and feasible to adopt temperature control measures.

1
2
3 4

5
n output (in)
Diffraction
grating

1
2

n input (out)
Figure 1.1 Principle of blazed optical grating wavelength division mutiplexer
This optical grating requires high manufacturing accuracy and is not suitable for mass
production. Hence, it is generally applied in experimental scientific research.
Except for the above traditional optical fiber component, the manufacturing
technology for optical fiber Bragg grating filter is getting more sophisticated. It is
manufactured employing the interference of high power ultraviolet light beams to form
periodic variation of refractive index at the optical fiber core. The accuracy can be up
to 10000 lines per centimeter, as shown in the following figure. Fiber Bragg grating
can be feasibly designed and manufactured at low cost. It has very low insertion loss
and stable temperature characteristic. Its filtering characteristic is flat inband and very
steep out-of-band (rolling slope is better than 150dB/nm and out-of-band suppress
ratio is up to 50dB). This component can be directly melted with the optical fiber of the
system. So it can be fabricated into band-pass or band-stop filter with small channel
spacing. At present, it is extensively applied in DWDM system.
30

Ultraviole light interference
1 2 3
Periodic variation of the refractive index (grating)
Figure 1.2 Optical fiber Bragg grating filter
However this kind of optical fiber grating has relatively narrow wavelength range,
confining it to single wavelength. The benefit it brings forth is that the filters can be
added or removed according to the number of wavelength used, allowing flexible
applications.
3.4.2 Dielectric Film Wavelength Division Multiplexer

Dielectric film filter type wavelength division multiplexer is a kind of core interactive
wavelength division multiplexer consisting of dielectric film (DTF). DTF interference
filter is composed of tens of dielectric films of different materials, different refractive
indexes and different thickness combined according to design requirements. Each
film layer is 1/4 wavelength in thickness. Layers of high refractive index and low
refractive index are alternatively overlapped. When the light incidents on the high
refractive layer, the reflected light has no phase shift. However, when the light
incidents on the low refractive layer, the reflected light undergoes a 180 0 phase shift.
Since the layer thickness is 1/4 wavelength (90 0), the light reflected by the low
refractive layer undergoes a 360 0 phase shift and in-phase superposes with the light
reflected by the high refractive layer. Thus, reflected lights of the layers superpose
near the central wavelengths and form intensive reflected light at the front-end
surface of the filter. In the highly backward reflecting area, the reflected light suddenly
decreases and most light becomes transmitted light. Accordingly, the film interference
type filter can be made to band pass certain wavelength range and band stop the
other wavelength range, forming the required filter characteristics. The structural
principle of the film interference type filter is shown in the following figure.
The main features of dielectric film filter wavelength division multiplexer are as
follows: miniaturization and structural stability of the component can be implemented
via design, the signal pass-band is flat and polarization-independent, and its insertion
loss is low and channel isolation is good. The disadvantage is that the limited number
of channels. The specific characteristics are related to its structure. For instance, if
the film filter type wavelength division multiplexer is made of soft materials, its
wavelength may be changed under the environmental influence because the filter can
easily absorb moisture. When employing hard dielectric film material, the temperature
stability is better than 0.0005nm/C. Additionally, this component has relatively long
design and manufacturing process and low output of production. And if epoxy resin is
used along the light path, it is hard to achieve high isolation and narrow bandwidth.
In wavelength division multiplexing systems, when only 4 to 16 wavelengths are
involved, this type of wavelength division multiplexing component is relatively ideal.
31
1-4
1 filter
Self-focusing lens
1
3 filter
3
4
Glass
Figure 1.1 Principle of film interference filter type de-multiplexer
3.4.3 Fused Conical Type Wavelength Division Multiplexer

There are two types of optical fiber coupler. The extensively used one of which is
fused biconical tapered coupler, i.e. drawing multiple fibers under hot-melt condition
to form a cone and slightly twisting and fusing them together. Because the cores of
different fibers are extremely close to each other, the required coupling power can be
obtained via evanescent wave coupling on the conical region. The second type of
coupler removes part of cladding of the optical fiber by grinding and polishing, leaving
only a thin cladding layer. Then two optical fibers processed via the same method are
butt jointed and coated with a layer of index matched solution between them. Thus
the two fibers can couple via the evanescent wave in the cladding and obtain the
expected coupling power. Fused conical type wavelength division multiplexing
component is simple to manufacture and is extensively applied.
3.4.4 Integrated Optical Waveguide Type Wavelength Division Multiplexer

Integrated optical waveguide type wavelength division multiplexer is a plane
waveguide component based on optical integration technology. The typical
manufacturing process is to deposit a thin layer of silica glass on the silicon substrate,
and form the expected pattern by utilizing photetch and etch. This component
supports integration manufacture and has great application prospective in future
access networks. Moreover, except for wavelength division multiplexer, it can be
fabricated into matrix structure to add/drop optical signal channels (OADM). Therefore
it will become a preferred option for implementing optical switching in future optical
transport networks.
A typical component which uses integrated optical waveguide wavelength division
multiplexer is Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) optical multiplexer/de-multiplexer
manufactured by NTT Company, Japan. It has many advantages, including small
wavelength spacing, large number of channels and flat pass-band, making it
especially suitable for ultrahigh-speed and large capacity wavelength division
multiplexing systems. Its structure is sketched in Figure 3-17.
32
Waveguide
grating
Free space
Fan-like
waveguide
Fan-like
waveguide
Figure 1.1 Principle of AWG wavelength division multiplexer
3.4.5 Performances of Wavelength Division Multiplexing Components

Table 1.1 Comparison of various wavelength division multiplexing components
Component
type
Mechanism
Mass
production
Number
of
channels
131
Noise(dB)
Insertion
loss (dB)
Main
disadvantages
Common
Channel
spacing
(nm)
0.5~10
Diffractive
grating type
Dielectric
film type
Fusible
cone type
Integrated
optical
waveguide
type
Angular
dispersion
Interference/
absorption
Wavelength
dependent
Plane
waveguide
-30
3~6
Common
1~100
2~32
-25
2~6
Relatively
easy
Easy
10~100
2~6
-(10~45)
0.2~1.5
1~5
4~32
-25
6~11
Temperature
sensitive
Small number
of channels
Small number
of channels
Large insertion
loss
3.4.6 Basic Requirements to Optical Multiplexing Components

Wavelength division multiplexing components are important in wavelength division
multiplexing systems. In order to insure the performance of the wavelength division
multiplexing systems, the following basic requirements to optical multiplexing
components are needed: low insertion loss, large isolation, flat in band, steep
insertion loss variation out band, good temperature stability, large number of
multiplexing channels and small size.
1. Optical multiplexer (OMU)

The optical multiplexer of WDM system can be implemented via various technologies.
At present, there are two commonly used types of 16-channel and 32-channel optical
multiplexer, integrated optical waveguide type and dielectric film filter type. Their
relevant parameters should meet optical multiplexer parameters requirements in
Table 3-2.
Table 1.1 Requirements of the optical multiplexer parameters
Item
33
Unit
16-channel index
32-channel index

Insertion loss
Reflection coefficient
Operating Wavelength
Range
Polarization
dependence loss
Adjacent channel
isolation
Non-adjacent channel
isolation
Maximum difference of
each channel insertion
loss

DB
DB
nm
<10
>40
1548-1561
<12
>40
1530-1561
DB
<0.5
<0.5
DB
>22
>22
DB
>25
>25
DB
<2
<3
2. Optical demultiplexer (ODU)

The optical demultiplexer of WDM system can be implemented via various
technologies. At present, there are three commonly used types of 16-channel and
WDM system optical demultiplexer, optical fiber Bragg grating type, dielectric film filter
type, and integrated optical waveguide type. Their relevant parameters should meet
the requirements in Table 3-3.
Table 1.1 Requirements of the optical demultiplexer parameters
Item
Channel spacing
Insertion loss
Reflection coefficient
Adjacent channel
isolation
Non-adjacent channel
isolation
Polarization
dependence loss
Maximum difference of
each channel insertion
loss
Temperature
characteristics
-1dB bandwidth
-20dB bandwidth
Unit
GHz
DB
nm
DB
16-channel index
100
<8
40
>25
32-channel index
100
<10
40
>25
DB
>25
>25
DB
0.5
0.5
DB
<2
<3
nm/
nm
nm
>0.2
*
>0.2
*
3.5 Optical Supervisory Channel

In SDH system, the network administrator can manage and monitor network
equipment via the overhead bytes in SDH frame structure (such as E1, E2, D1-D12),
no matter TM, ADM or REG. Differed from SDH system, line amplifier equipment in
DWDM system only performs optical amplifying to service signals. As service signals
have only a light-to-light process instead of add/drop of service signals, a signal must
be added to monitor the OA running status. Next, if wavelength bears overhead bytes
in SDH, it is still a problem which SDH signal is to be used. Moreover, what if the
service bearing in DWDM channel is otherwise service and not SDH signals? And
management and monitoring information cannot depend upon services. That is why a
separate channel must be used to manage DWDM equipment. A special wavelength
channel can be added to DWDM system for system management, which is called the
Optical Supervising Channel (OSC). For the optical line amplifiers adopting Erbium
doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) technology, the gain area of EDFA is 1530 nm -1565 nm,
the OSC must lie outside the available gain bandwidth of EDFA (out band OSC),
being 1510 nm. Coded Mark Inversion (CMI) for supervisory channel is used as the
line code type.
34
3.5.1 Requirements on Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC)

The requirements on DWDM to optical supervisory channel are as follows:
The optical supervisory channel doesn't limit the pump wavelength of the optical
amplifier;
The optical supervisory channel doesn't limit the distance between two line
amplifiers;
The optical supervisory channel doesn't restrict the traffic in the 1310nm
wavelength;
The optical supervisory channel is still available when the line amplifier fails.
According to the above requirements:
1)
2)
3)
4)
The wavelength of the optical supervisory channel should not be 980nm and
1480nm, for Erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) uses the laser with these
wavelengths as the pump source and Raman optical amplifier uses the laser with
the wavelength around 1480nm as the pump source at the same time.
The wavelength of the optical supervisory channel should not be 1310nm, for
which will occupy bandwidth resources of 1310 window, hindering the traffic in
1310nm window.
The receiving sensitivity for the optical supervisory channel can be set very high,
so that the distance between stations will not be confined due to the power of
OSC, and such distance may be the distance between optical amplifiers. Hence
the optical supervisory channel needs to use low rate optical signals to insure
high receiving sensitivity.
The wavelength of the optical supervisory channel is located beyond the gain
area bandwidth of the optical amplifier, so that the optical supervisory channel
will not be affected when the optical amplifier fails. For optical line amplifiers
adopting erbium-doped optical fiber amplifier (EDFA) technology, the gain
spectrum area is 1528-1610nm. Therefore, the wavelength of the optical
supervisory channel must be located beyond the gain bandwidth of EDFA.
Usually, the wavelength of the optical supervisory channel is 1510nm or 1625nm.
According to the recommendations of ITU-T, the optical supervisory channel of

DWDM system should be completely independent of the main channel, while such
independence between the two channels is embodied fully in signal flow directions. In
the OTM site, the supervisory channel is combined and amplified in the sending
direction before put into the main channel; while in receiving direction, the supervisory
channel is separated before the main channel is pre-amplified and demultiplexed by
the system. Likewise, in the OLA site, the supervisory channel is combined in the end
in the sending direction; while in receiving direction, the supervisory channel is
separated in the first place. As seen from the above, the supervisory channel does
not take part in amplifying in the whole transmission, but it is terminated and
regenerated in every site This is contrary to the main channel, as it does take part in
the amplifying of the optical power in the whole process, and is not terminated and
regenerated in the whole line. The wavelength division equipment only provides it
with transparent optical channels.
3.5.2
Interface parameters for supervisory channel

The interface parameters for supervisory channel are shown in Table 3-4.
Table 1.1 Interface parameters for supervisory channel
35
Supervisory wavelength
1510nm
Supervisory ratio
2Mbit/s
Signal code pattern
CMI
Signal transmitting power
(0~-7dBm)
Source type
MLM LD
Spectral characteristics
Minimum receiving sensitivity
-48 dBm
3.5.3 Frame Structure of Supervisory Channel

2Mbit/s system physical interface of the supervisory channel should conform to G.703
requirements, with the frame structure and bit rate compliant to G.704 specification,
as shown in Figure 3-18.
0
........
16
17
.......
29
30
31
Figure 1.1 The frame structure of supervisory channel
Time slot 0: frame synchronization byte.

There are at least 2 time slots used as the orderwire channels in a frame structure.
One of which acts as the optical regenerator section service contact and can be
combined in the optical amplifier repeater site, while the other acts as an orderwire
between optical multiplexing bands and can be combined in the end of WDM system.
In a frame structure, there is only 1 time slot provided for users (usually the network
provider), which can be combined in the optical line amplifier repeater site.
In a frame structure, there must be 4 bytes used as the DCC channel of the optical
repeating band and 8 bytes as the DCC channel of the optical multiplexing band. Both
are used to transmit network management information of the related WDM system.
Terminal Equipment has two interfaces, for orderwire and user channel respectively.
At least it must be free bytes made available for future expansion.
Questions
1)
2)
3)
4)
What are electro-absorption laser modulation scheme and M-Z modulation

scheme?
How many types are there for the wavelength division multiplexer? What are
their individual characteristics?
Which are the kinds of optical amplifiers? Describe gain flat control and gain lock
of EDFA.
What are optical supervisory channel wavelength and supervisory rate of
DWDM?
36
Chapter 4 Technology Specifications for

DWDM Optical Transmission System
Objective:
Learn the recommendations and relevant specifications of ITUT on WDM system.
4.1 ITU-T Recommendations on WDM

International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T) has made significant contributions
for WDM, mostly shown in the following recommendations:
ITU-T Recommendation G.652(1993)
Characteristics of single-mode fiber cable
ITU-T Recommendation G0.653(1993)

mode fiber cable
Characteristics of dispersion shifted single-

shifted single-mode optical fiber cable
Characteristics of a non-zero dispersion

Definition and test methods for the relevant
generic parameters of optical fiber amplifiers
equipment and sub-systems
Main characteristics of optical amplifier
ITU-T Recommendation G.663(1996) Optical amplifier related transmission problems

Requirements for passive optical components
ITU-T Recommendation G.681(1997) Functional characteristics of interoffice and

long-haul line systems using optical amplifiers, including optical multiplexing
ITU-T Recommendation G.691(1997) Optical interface for single channel systems
with optical amplifier SDH and STM-64 systems.
with optical amplifier
Optical interface for multi-channel systems
4.2 Definition of Transmission Channel Reference Points

In order to normalize optical interface parameters, ITU-T G.692 document defines all
the reference points for WDM optical transmission systems, as shown in the following
figure. Tx 1, Tx 2, and TxN usually refer to terminal transmitters of a system.
Wavelength division multiplexer (optical multiplexer) is used in the transmitting end to
merge different wavelength signal optical carriers and send them to a single fiber for
transmission. In the receiving end, another wavelength division multiplexer (optical
demultiplexer) is used to separate these optical carriers in which different
wavelengths carry different signals.
37
Figure 1.1 WDM optical interface reference points
The WDM system in the above figure has the following reference points:
S1Sn: The reference points on the fiber at transmitter optical output connector in
channels 1n;
RM1 RMn: The reference points on the fiber at OM/OA optical input connector in
channels 1n;
MPI-S: A reference point on the optical fiber just behind the OM/OA optical output
connector;
S': A reference point on the optical fiber behind the optical output connector of the
optical line amplifier;
R': A reference point on the optical fiber in front of the optical input connector of the
optical line amplifier;
MPI-R: A reference point on the optical fiber in front of the OA/OD input optical
connector;
SD1SDn: The reference points at the OA/OD optical output connector;
R1Rn: The reference points at receiver optical transmitter input connector.
4.3 Distribution of Optical Wavelength Areas
A fiber has two long wavelength and low loss windows, 1310nm window and
1550nm window. Both of which can be used to transmit optical signals, but the
commonly used working wavelength range for the erbium-doped optical amplifier
is 192.1-196.1THz.Therefore the working wavelength area for wavelength
division multiplexing system is 192.1-196.1THz.
Nominal central frequency refers to the central wavelength corresponding to
each channel in optical wavelength division multiplexing systems. Channel
frequency allowed in G.692 is based on frequency and spacing series of
reference frequency 193.1THz and minimum spacing 100GHz or 50GHZ.
The standard wavelength of WDM channel has two configurations: equal spaced
and unequal spaced. The unequal spaced wavelength is used to avoid the fourwave mixing effect. As no obvious four-wave mixing effect has been observed in
WDM systems using G.652 and G.655 fibers, G.692 document recommends the
following standard wavelengths in Table 3-1 for WDM systems using these fibers.
38

Table 1.1 Standard central frequency
Standard central frequency

(THz)
50 GHz Spacing
196.10
196.05
196.00
195.95
195.90
195.85
195.80
195.75
195.70
195.65
195.60
195.55
195.50
195.45
195.40
195.35
195.30
195.25
195.20
195.15
195.10
195.05
195.00
194.95
194.90
194.85
194.80
194.75
194.70
194.65
194.60
194.55
194.50
194.45
194.40
194.35
194.30
194.25
194.20
194.15
194.10
194.05
194.00
193.95
193.90
193.85
193.80
193.75
193.70
193.65
193.60
193.55
193.50
193.45
193.40
193.35
39
Standard central frequency (THz)

100 GHz Spacing
196.10
196.00
195.90
195.80
195.70
195.60
195.50
195.40
195.30
195.20
195.10
195.00
194.90
194.80
194.70
194.60
194.50
194.40
194.30
194.20
194.10
194.00
193.90
193.80
193.70
193.60
193.50
193.40
Standard central
wavelength
(nm)
1528.77
1529.16
1529.55
1529.94
1530.33
1530.72
1531.12
1531.51
1531.90
1532.29
1532.68
1533.07
1533.47
1533.86
1534.25
1534.64
1535.04
1535.43
1535.82
1536.22
1536.61
1537.00
1537.40
1537.79
1538.19
1538.58
1538.98
1539.37
1539.77
1540.16
1540.56
1540.95
1541.35
1541.75
1542.14
1542.54
1542.94
1543.33
1543.73
1544.13
1544.53
1544.92
1545.32
1545.72
1546.12
1546.52
1546.92
1547.32
1547.72
1548.11
1548.51
1548.91
1549.32
1549.72
1550.12
1550.52

Standard central frequency
(THz)
50 GHz Spacing
193.30
193.25
193.20
193.15
193.10
193.05
193.00
192.95
192.90
192.85
192.80
192.75
192.70
192.65
192.60
192.55
192.50
192.45
192.40
192.35
192.30
192.25
192.20
192.15
192.10

Standard central frequency (THz)
100 GHz Spacing
193.30
193.20
193.10
193.00
192.90
192.80
192.70
192.60
192.50
192.40
192.30
192.20
192.10
Standard central
wavelength
(nm)
1550.92
1551.32
1551.72
1552.12
1552.52
1552.93
1553.33
1553.73
1554.13
1554.54
1554.94
1555.34
1555.75
1556.15
1556.55
1556.96
1557.36
1557.77
1558.17
1558.58
1558.98
1559.39
1559.79
1560.20
1560.61
Questions
1)
2)
Which are the ITU-T recommendations involved for WDM part?

What is the absolute reference frequency for optical wavelength division
multiplexing systems? What is their channel spacing?
40
Terms and Abbreviations

Abbreviations
Add and Drop Multiplexer

Automatic Gain Control
Automatic Level Control
Automatic Laser Shutdown
Avalanche Photo Diode
Automatic Power Reduction
Amplified Spontaneous Emission
AWG
BA
BER
CLNS
Arrayed Waveguide Grating

Booster Amplifier
Bit Error Ratio
Connectionless Network Layer Service
CMI
CRC
CSES
Coded Mark Inversion

Cyclical Redundancy Check
Continuous Severely Errored Second
CWDM
Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplex
DCC
DCF
DCM
DCN
DDN
DFB
DSP
DWDM
ECC
EDFA
ETSI
FEC
FIFO
GE
GUI
IEEE
Data Communication Channel

Dispersion Compensation Fibre
Dispersion Compensation Module
Data Communication Network
Digital Data Network
Distributed Feedback
Digital Signal Processing
Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing
Embedded Control Channel
Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier
European Telecommunication Standards Institute
Forward Error Correction
First In First Out
Gigabit Ethernet
Graphic User Interface
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
ITU-T
Telecommunication Sector
LA
LAN
LCN
LCT
LD
MCF
Line Amplifier
Local Area Network
Local Communication Network
Local Craft Terminal
Laser Diode
Message Communication Function
MD
MPI-R
Mediation Device
Main Path Interface at the Receiver
MPI-S
Main Path Interface at the Transmitter
NE
41
Explanation
ADM
AGC
ALC
ALS
APD
APR
ASE
Network Element
Descriptions
Add/Drop Multiplexer
Auto Gain Control
Auto Power Control
Automatic laser shutdown
APD
Automatic Power Reduction
Amplified Spontaneous
Emission
Arrayed Waveguide Grating
Booster Amplifier
Bit Error Ratio
Connectionless Layer Network
Service
Coded Mark Inversion
Cyclic Redundancy Check
Consecutive Severely Errored
Second (CSES)
Coarse Wavelength Division
Multiplexing
Data Communication Channel
Dispersion Compensation Fiber
Dispersion compensation
module
Data Communication Network
Digital Data Network
Distributed Feedback
Digital Signal Processing
DWDM
Embedded Control Channel
Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier
ETSI
Forward Error Correction
First-In First-Out
Gigabit Ethernet
Graphic User Interface
International Institute for
Electrical and Electronic
Engineers
International Telecommunication
Union-Telecommunication
Sector
Line Amplifier
Local Area Network
LCN
LMT
Laser Diode
Message Communication
Function
Medium Device
Main Path Interface at the
Receiver
Main Path Interface at the
Transmitter
Network Element
Abbreviations
NF
NRZ
OA
OADM
OD
ODF
Overhead
Processor Unit
OLA
OM
OS
OSC
OSI
OSNR
OTM
Explanation
Noise Figure
Non Return to Zero
Optical Amplifier
Optical Add and Drop Multiplexer
Optical Demultiplexing
Optical Distribution Frame
Overhead Processing
Optical Line Amplifier
Optical Multiplexing
Operations System
Optical Supervisory Channel
Open Systems Interconnection
Optical Signal/Noise Ratio
Optical Terminal Multiplexer
OTU
PA
PDH
Optical Transponder Unit

Pre-amplifier
Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy
PIN
PON
SCC
Positive Intrinsic Negative

Passive Optical Network
System Control & Communication
SDH
SNCP
Synchronous Digital Hierarchy

Subnetwork Connection Protection
STM
TCP/IP
Synchronous Transport Module

Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
TMN
Telecommunication Management Network
TTL
WDM
WS
Transistor-Transistor Logic
Wavelength Division Multiplexing
Work Station
Descriptions
Noise Figure
Non Return to Zero
OA
Optical Add and Drop
Multiplexer
Optical Demultiplexing
Optical Distribution Frame
Overhead processing
Optical Line Amplifier equipment
Optical Multiplexing
Operation system
Optical Supervisory Channel
Open Systems Interconnection
Optical signal-to-noise ratio
Optical Terminal Multiplexing
Equipment
Optical Transponder Unit
Preamplifier
Plesynchronous Digital
Hierarchy
Positive Intrinsic Negative
Passive Optical Network
System control and
communications
Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
SNCP (Subnetwork Connection
Protection)
Synchronous Transport Module
Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol
Telecom Management
Network(TMN)
Transistor-Transistor Logic
WDM
Workstation
42

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