Optical Network Design and Implementation

Summary

This chapter discussed WDM, CWDM, DWDM, the ITU grid, WDM systems, WDM characteristics, and impairments to transmission and to dispersion and compensation in WDM systems. One of the original drivers for the development of WDM technology was the need for sheer bandwidth. This requirement translated into a tangible need to pull additional terrestrial fiber-optic cable. WDM provides additional bandwidth, without having to lay new fiber. WDM is the process of multiplexing signals of different wavelengths onto a single fiber. This operation creates many virtual fibers, each capable of carrying a different signal. WDM uses wavelengths to transmit data parallel-by-bit or serial-by-character, which increases the capacity of the fiber by assigning ...