EC 8751 OPTICAL COMMUNICATION

UNIT-5
OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND NETWORKS
System design consideration Point – to –Point link design –Link power budget –rise
time budget, WDM –Passive DWDM Components-Elements of optical networks-
SONET/SDH-Optical Interfaces-SONET/SDH Rings and Networks-High speed light wave
Links-OADM configuration-Optical ETHERNET-Soliton.

SYSTEM DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS:

In optical system design major consideration involves
1. Transmission characteristics of fiber (attenuation & dispersion).
2. Information transfer capability of fiber.
3. Terminal equipment & technology.
4. Distance of transmission.

An optical communication system should have following basic required specifications

 Transmission type (Analog / digital).
 System fidelity (SNR / BER)
 Required transmission bandwidth
 Acceptable repeater spacing
 Cost of system
 Reliability
 Cost of maintenance

SYSTEM CONSIDERATION:
Before selecting suitable components, the operating wavelength for the system is decided.
The operating wavelength selection depends on the distance and attenuation. For shorter
distance, the 800-900 nm region is preferred but for longer distance 100 or 1550 nm region is
preferred due to lower attenuations and dispersion.
The next step is selection of photo detector. While selecting a photo detector following
factors are considered –
 Minimum optical power that must fall on photo detector to satisfy BER at specified
data rate.
 Complexity of circuit.
 Cost of design.
 Bias requirements.

Next step in system consideration is choosing a proper optical source;

Important factors to consider are –
 Signal dispersion.
 Data rate
 Transmission distance.
 Cost.
 Optical power coupling
 Circuit complexity.

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The last factor in system consideration is to selection of optical fiber between single mode
and Multimode fiber with step or graded index fiber. Fiber selection depends on type of
optical source and tolerable dispersion.
Some important factors for selection of fiber are:
 Numerical Aperture (NA), as NA increases, the fiber coupled power increases also the
Dispersion.
 Attenuation characteristics
 Environmental induced losses e.g. due to temperature variation, moisture and dust etc.

Operating wavelength selection:

First generation optical wavelength are in the range of 0.8μm to 0.9μm. Here the transmission
loss is maximum and dispersion is also maximum.
Today we choose the wavelength around 1.3μm to 1.55μm. Here the attenuation and
dispersion are very small in silica fibers are used for long distance transmission.

System performance:
System performance is decided by three major blocks (or) the optical fiber transmission.
They are transmitter, optical fiber links and receiver. The designer should choose proper light
source, proper optical fiber and proper photo detector to get high bit rate and high S/N ratio.
Regarding optical fiber, the single mode step index fiber is the proper choice. Even in that to
reduce dispersion proper choice of the refractive index profile is necessary. These single
mode step index fibers are preferable.
Regarding optical sources, single mode laser diodes are suitable for single mode step index
fibers. For multi-mode fibers, hetero junction LEDs chosen based economy is preferred.
Regarding optical receivers, the P-i-n photodiodes and avalanche photodiodes are preferable.
Here also they should be quantum noise limited.

The maximum transmission distance is limited by the net loss of fiber cable such that
L=10/α log10 (Pt/pr)
α=net loss (in dB/1cm)
Pt=average power from transmitter
Pr=average power detected at receiver= NphvB
Np=minimum no of photons/bit required
Hv=energy of photon
B=bit rate

COMPONENT CHOICE:
Fiber optic communications systems include components unfamiliar to most communications
system designers, but their design is based on principles that differ little from their
conventional counterparts. Link analysis is carried out in much the same way as for an
electrical cable system. The chief distinction results from the increased bandwidth capability
with fiber optic systems, which allows the design engineer to make different trade-offs in
determining the optimum transmission format as well as source, detector, and cable types.
The system designer has many choices when selecting components for an optical fiber
system.

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The major components choices are,
Optical Fiber Type and Parameters
Multimode or single mode, size, refractive index, attenuation, dispersion, mode coupling,
strength, joints etc.

Source Type
Laser or LED, optical power launched into the fiber, rise and fall time, stability etc.,

Transmitter Configuration
Design for digital or analog, input impedance, supply voltage, dynamic range, feedback etc.

Detector Type and Characteristics

PN, PIN or Avalanche photodiode, response time, active diameter, bias voltage, dark current
etc.

Receiver Configuration
Preamplifier design, BER, SNR, range etc.

Modulation and Coding

Source intensity modulation, pulse frequency modulation, PWM and PPM transmission.

Digital transmission or analog transmission

Such as biphase scheme and FM respectively. These decisions will be taken depending on the
system performance, ready availability of suitable components and cost.
The short comings of the components can be mentioned as follows,
• LED may appear ideally suitable for analog transmission most of the LED display some
degree of non-linearity in their output.
• The thermal behavior of LED and Lasers can limit their operation. Significant increase in
junction temperature may cause loss of lasing and reduction in optical output power. Finite
spectral width can cause pulse broadening due to material dispersion on an optical fiber
communication link.

System Design Considerations

• In optical system design major consideration involves
- Transmission characteristics of fiber (attenuation & dispersion).
- Information transfer capability of fiber.
- Terminal equipment & technology.
- Distance of transmission.
• In long-haul communication applications repeaters are inserted at regular intervals as shown
in Fig.

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• Repeater regenerates the original data before it is retransmitted as a digital optical signal.
The cost of system and complexity increases because of installation of repeaters.
• An optical communication system should have following basic required specifications –
a) Transmission type (Analog / digital).
b) System fidelity (SNR / BER)
c) Required transmission bandwidth
d) Acceptable repeater spacing
e) Cost of system
f) Reliability
g) Cost of maintenance.

Multiplexing
Multiplexing of several signals on a single fiber increases information transfer rate of
communication link. In Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) pulses from multiple channels
are interleaved and transmitted sequentially, it enhance the bandwidth utilization of a single
fiber link.
In Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) the optical channel bandwidth is divided into
various no overlapping frequency bands and each signal is assigned one of these bands of
frequencies. By suitable filtering the combined FDM signal can be retrieved.
When number of optical sources operating at different wavelengths is to be sent on single
fiber link Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is used. At receiver end, the separation
or extraction of optical signal is performed by optical filters (interference filters, diffraction
filters prism filters).
Another technique called Space Division Multiplexing (SDM) used separate fiber within
fiber bundle for each signal channel. SDM provides better optical isolation which eliminates
cross-coupling between channels. But this technique requires huge number of optical
components (fiber, connector, sources, detectors etc) therefore not widely used.

System Architecture
From architecture point of view fiber optic communication can be classified into three major
categories.
Point – to – point links
Distributed networks
Local area networks.

Point-to-Point Links
A point-to-point link comprises of one transmitter and a receiver system. This is the simplest
form of optical communication link and it sets the basis for examining complex optical
communication links.
For analyzing the performance of any link following important aspects are to be considered.
 Distance of transmission
 Channel data rate
 Bit-error rate

All above parameters of transmission link are associated with the characteristics of various
devices employed in the link. Important components and their characteristics are listed below.

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When the link length extends between 20 to 100 km, losses associated with fiber cable
increases. In order to compensate the losses optical amplifier and regenerators are used over
the span of fiber cable. A regenerator is a receiver and transmitter pair which detects
incoming optical signal, recovers the bit stream electrically and again convert back into
optical from by modulating an optical source. An optical amplifier amplifies the optical bit
stream without converting it into electrical form.
The spacing between two repeater or optical amplifier is called as repeater spacing (L). The
repeater spacing L depends on bit rate B. The bit rate-distance product (BL) is a measure of
system performance for point-to-point links.
i) Link power budget / Power budget
ii) Rise time budget / Bandwidth budget

Point to point fiber optic lines is the simplest transmission line. This type of link places the
least demand on optical fiber technology and thus sets the basis for examine more complex
system architecture.

Fig: Simple point to point link

The repeaters may be on to electronic (or) optical repeaters. In this system, the repeater
spacing is a major design factor spacing between repeater increases, it reduces the system
cost spacing between transmitters receiver increases, it will also increases system cost.(ie
transmission distance and increases)
If L increases then bit rate reduces because of dispersion thus, product of B(bit rate) and
transmission distance(L) is a measure of system performance and its depends on operating
wavelength
Operating wavelength BL product
0.854m -- 1Gb/s-Km
1.34μm -- 1 Tb/s-Km
1.55μm -- 100Tb/s-km
To analyse the point to point link, one should know the system requirements such as the
maximum transmission distance, required data rate and allowed bit error rate (BER).

To satisfy these requirements the system should be designed based on the components
available and their characteristics.

1. Multimode (or) single mode fiber (transmission media)

(a)Core radius
(b) Fiber reactive index profile
(c) Bandwidth (or) dispersion
(d) Fiber attenuation
(e) Numerical aperture

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2. Optical sources (LED or laser diode)
(a) Emission wavelength
(b) Output power
(c) Spectral line width
(d) Radiation pattern
(e) Radiating area
(f) no. of emitted modes
(g) Stability and life time.

3. Light detectors (PIN (or) APD)

(a) Responsively
(b) Efficiency wavelength
(c) Operating
(d) Speed
(e) Sensitivity
(f) Noise figure

LINK POWER BUDGET:

Two important analysis for deciding performance of fibre link are:
1) Link power budget.
2) Rise time budget
The optical power received at the photo detector depends on:
1) The amount of light coupled into the fibre,
2) The losses occurring in the fibre and
3) Losses at the connectors and splices.
Each of these loss elements is expressed in dB as

pout
Loss  10 log
pin

Where Pin and Pout are the optical powers emanating into and out of the loss
element , respectively.
For optimum link power budget an optical power loss model is to be studied as shown in Fig.
Let lc denotes the losses occur at connector.
lsp denotes the losses occur at splices.
αf denotes the losses occur in fiber.

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  All the losses from source to detector comprise the total loss (P T) in the system.
 Link power margin considers the losses due to component aging and temperature
fluctuations. Usually a link margin of 6-8 dB is considered while estimating link
power budget.
 Total optical loss (PT) = Connector loss + (Splicing loss + Fiber attenuation) + System
margin (Pm)
PT  2l C  f L  Systemm arg Pm 
where L is transmission distance

Example 1: Design as optical fiber link for transmitting 15 Mb/sec of data for a distance of 4
km with BER of 10 -9.
Solution:
Bandwidth x Length = 15 Mb/sec x 4 km = (60 Mb/sec) km
Selecting optical source: LED at 820 nm is suitable for short distances.
The LED generates – 10 dBm optical power.
Selecting optical detector: PIN optical detector is reliable and has – 50 dBm sensitivity.
Selection optical fiber: Step-index multimode fiber is selected. The fiber has bandwidth
length product of 100 (Mb/s) km.
Links power budget:
Assuming:
Splicing loss ls = 0.5 dB/slice
Connector loss lc = 1.5 dB
System link power margin (Pm)= – 8 dB
Fiber attenuation αf = 6 dB/km
Actual total loss (PT) = (2 x lc) + αf L + Pm
= (2 x 1.5) + (6 x 4) + 8
= 35 dB
Maximum allowable system loss:
Pmax = Optical source output power- optical receiver sensitivity
= -10 dBm – (-50 dBm)
= 40 dBm
Since actual losses in the system are less than the allowable loss, hence the system is
functional.

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Example 2: A transmitter has an output power of 0.1 mW. It is used with a fiber having NA
= 0.25, attenuation of 6 dB/km and length 0.5 km. The link contains two connectors of 2 dB
average loss. The receiver has a minimum acceptable power (sensitivity) of – 35 dBm. The
designer has allowed a 4 dB margin. Calculate the link power budget.
Solution:
Source power Ps = 0.1 mW Convert to dBm =10log(0.1E-3/1E-3)
Ps = -10dBm
Since NA = 0.25
Coupling loss = -10log (NA)2
= -10log (0.25)2
= 12 dB
Fiber loss (lf) = αf x L
= (6dB/km) (0.5km)
= 3 dB
Connector loss (lc) = 2 (2 dB)
= 4 dB
Design margin P m = 4 dB
Actual output power (Pout) = Source power – (Σ Losses)
Pout = 10dBm – [12 dB + 3 + 4 + 4]
Pout = -33 dBm
Since receiver sensitivity given is – 35 dBm.
i.e. Pmin = -35 dBm
As Pout > Pmin, the system will perform adequately over the system operating life.

Example 3: In a fiber link the laser diode output power is 5 dBm, source-fiber coupling loss
= 3 dB, connector loss of 2 dB and has 50 splices of 0.1 dB loss. Fiber attenuation loss for
100 km is 25 dB, compute the loss margin for i) APD receiver with sensitivity – 40 dBm ii)
Hybrid PINFET high impedance receiver with sensitivity -32 dBm.
Solution: Power budget calculations
Source output power 5 dBm
Source fiber coupling loss 3 dB
Connector loss 2 dB
splice loss 5 dB
Fiber attenuation 25 dB
Total loss 35 dB
Available power to receiver : (5 dBm – 35 dBm) = 30 dBm
i) APD receiver sensitivity – 40 dBm
Loss margin [- 40 – (- 30)] = 10dBm
ii) H-PIN FET high0impedance receiver -32 dBm
Loss margin [- 32 – (- 30)] = 2 dBm

RISE-TIME BUDGET:
Rise time budget analysis determines the dispersion limitation of an optical fibre link.
 Rise time gives important information for initial system design. Rise-time budget
analysis determines the dispersion limitation of an optical fiber link.

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  Total rise time of a fiber link is the root-sum-square of rise time of each contributor to
the pulse rise time degradation.
t sys  t12  t 22  t 32  ....
1
 N 2
t sys    t12 
 i 1 

 The link components must be switched fast enough and the fiber dispersion must be
low enough to meet the bandwidth requirements of the application adequate
bandwidth for a system can be assured by developing a rise time budget.

 As the light sources and detectors has a finite response time to inputs. The device does
not turn-on or turn-off instantaneously. Rise time and fall time determines the overall
response time and hence the resulting bandwidth.

 Connectors, couplers and splices do not affect system speed, they need not be
accounted in rise time budget but they appear in the link power budget.

Four basic elements that contributes to the rise-time are,

 Transmitter rise-time (ttx)

 Group Velocity Dispersion (GVD) rise time (t GVD)

 Modal dispersion rise time of fiber (t mod)

 Receiver rise time (t rx)

Rise time due to modal dispersion is given as

where,
BM is bandwidth (MHz)
L is length of fiber (km)
q is a parameter ranging between 0.5 and 1.
B0 is bandwidth of 1 km length fiber,

Rise time due to group velocity dispersion is

tGVD  D 2 2 L2
where,
D is dispersion [ns/(nm.km)]
σλ is half-power spectral width of source
L is length of fiber

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Receiver front end rise-time in nanoseconds is

where,
Brx is 3 dB – BW of receiver (MHz).
Equation (6.2.1) can be written as

All times are in nanoseconds.

The system bandwidth is given by

Example 4: For a multimode fiber following parameters are recorded.

i) LED with drive circuit has rise time of 15 ns.
ii) LED spectral width = 40 nm
iii) Material dispersion related rise time degradation =21 ns over 6 km link.
iv) Receiver bandwidth = 25 MHz
v) Modal dispersion rise time = 3.9 nsec
Calculate system rise time.

Solution: ttx = 15 nsec

tmat = 21 nsec
tmod = 3.9 nsec
now,

Since,

= 29.6 nsec

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 Example 5: A fiber link has following data
Component BW Rise Time (tr)
Transmitter 200MHz 1.75ns
LED(850nm) 100MHz 3.50ns
Fiber cable 90MHz 3.89ns
PIN dectector 350MHz 1.00ns
Receiver 180MHz 1.94ns
Compute the system rise time and bandwidth.
Solution: System rise time is given by

System BW is given by,

Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM)

• Optical signals of different wavelength (1300-1600 nm) can propagate without interfering
with each other. The scheme of combining a number of wavelengths over a single fiber is
called wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
• Each input is generated by a separate optical source with a unique wavelength. An optical
multiplexer couples light from individual sources to the transmitting fiber. At the receiving
station, an optical demultiplexer is required to separate the different carriers before
photodetection of individual signals. Fig. shows simple SDM scheme.

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• To prevent spurious signals to enter into receiving channel, the demultiplexer must have
narrow spectral operation with sharp wavelength cut-offs. The acceptable limit of crosstalk is
– 30 dB.

Features of WDM
Important advantages or features of WDM are as mentioned below –
 Capacity upgrade : Since each wavelength supports independent data rate in Gbps.
Transparency : WDM can carry fast asynchronous, slow synchronous, synchronous
analog and digital data
 Wavelength routing : Link capacity and flexibility can be increased by using multiple
wavelength.
 Wavelength switching : WDM can add or drop multiplexers, cross connects and
wavelength converters.

Passive Components
For implementing WDM various passive and active components are required to combine,
distribute, isolate and to amplify optical power at different wavelength.
Passive components are mainly used to split or combine optical signals. These components
operates in optical domains. Passive components don’t need external control for their
operation. Passive components are fabricated by using optical fibers by planar optical
waveguides. Commonly required passive components are –
 N x N couplers
 Power splitters
 Power taps
 Star couplers.

Most passive components are derived from basic star couplers.

Star coupler can perform combining and splitting of optical power. Therefore, star coupler is
a multiple input and multiple output port device.

Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM)

DWDM:
DWDM (Dense wavelength – division multiplexing) is a data transmission technology
having very large capacity and efficiency.
Multiple data channels of optical signals are assigned different wavelengths, and are
multiplexed onto one fiber.
DWDM system consists of transmitters, multiplexers, optical amplifier and demultiplexer.
Fig. shows typical application of DWDM system.

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  DWDM used single mode fiber to carry multiple light waves of different frequencies
 DWDM system uses Erbium – Doped Fiber Amplifers (EDFA) for its long haul
applications, and to overcome the effects of dispersion and attenuation channel
spacing of 100 GHz is used.
 DWDW is short for dense wavelength division multiplexing. It is an optical
multiplexing technology used to increase bandwidth over existing fiber networks.
DWDM works by combining and transmitting multiple signals simultaneously at
different wavelengths on the same fiber. It has revolutionized the transmission of
information over long distances. DWDM can be divided into passive DWDM and
active DWDM.

Passive DWDM
Passive DWDM systems have no active components. The line functions only due to the
optical budget of transceivers used. No optical signal amplifiers and dispersion compensators
are used. Passive DWDM systems have a high channel capacity and potential for expansion,
but the transmission distance is limited to the optical budget of transceivers used. The main
application of passive DWDM system is metro networks and high speed communication lines
with a high channel capacity.

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Active DWDM
Active DWDM systems commonly refer to as a transponder-based system. They offer a way
to transport large amounts of data between sites in a data center interconnect setting. The
transponder takes the outputs of the SAN or IP switch format, usually in a short wave 850nm
or long wave 1310nm format, and converts them through an optical-electrical-optical (OEO)
DWDM conversion. When creating long-haul DWDM networks, several EDFA amplifiers
are installed sequentially in the line. The number of amplifiers in one section is limited and
depends on the optical cable type, channel count, data transmission rate of each channel, and
permissible OSNR value.

The possible length of lines when using active DWDM system is determined not only with
installed optical amplifiers and the OSNR value, but also with the influence of chromatic
dispersion—the distortion of transmitted signal impulses, on transmitted signals. At the
design stage of the DWDM network project, permissible values of chromatic dispersion for
the transceivers are taken into account, and, if necessary, chromatic dispersion compensation
modules (DCM) are included in the line. DCM introduces additional attenuation into the line,
which leads to a reduction of the amplified section length.

At this stage, a basic DWDM system contains several main components:

1. A DWDM terminal multiplexer. The terminal multiplexer contains a wavelength-
converting transponder for each data signal, an optical multiplexer and where necessary an
optical amplifier (EDFA). Each wavelength-converting transponder receives an optical data
signal from the client-layer, such as Synchronous optical networking [SONET /SDH] or
another type of data signal, converts this signal into the electrical domain and re-transmits the
signal at a specific wavelength using a 1,550 nm band laser. These data signals are then
combined together into a multi-wavelength optical signal using an optical multiplexer, for
transmission over a single fiber (e.g., SMF-28 fiber). The terminal multiplexer may or may
not also include a local transmit EDFA for power amplification of the multi-wavelength
optical signal. In the mid-1990s DWDM systems contained 4 or 8 wavelength-converting
transponders; by 2000 or so, commercial systems capable of carrying 128 signals were
available.

2. An intermediate line repeater is placed approximately every 80–100 km to compensate

for the loss of optical power as the signal travels along the fiber. The 'multi-wavelength
optical signal' is amplified by an EDFA, which usually consists of several amplifier stages.

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3. An intermediate optical terminal, or optical add-drop multiplexer. This is a remote
amplification site that amplifies the multi-wavelength signal that may have traversed up to
140 km or more before reaching the remote site. Optical diagnostics and telemetry are often
extracted or inserted at such a site, to allow for localization of any fiber breaks or signal
impairments. In more sophisticated systems (which are no longer point-to-point), several
signals out of the multi-wavelength optical signal may be removed and dropped locally.

4. A DWDM terminal demultiplexer. At the remote site, the terminal de-multiplexer

consisting of an optical de-multiplexer and one or more wavelength-converting transponders
separates the multi-wavelength optical signal back into individual data signals and outputs
them on separate fibers for client-layer systems (such as SONET/SDH). Originally, this de-
multiplexing was performed entirely passively, except for some telemetry, as most SONET
systems can receive 1,550 nm signals. However, in order to allow for transmission to remote
client-layer systems (and to allow for digital domain signal integrity determination) such de-
multiplexed signals are usually sent to O/E/O output transponders prior to being relayed to
their client-layer systems. Often, the functionality of output transponder has been integrated
into that of input transponder, so that most commercial systems have transponders that
support bi-directional interfaces on both their 1,550 nm (i.e., internal) side, and external (i.e.,
client-facing) side. Transponders in some systems supporting 40 GHz nominal operation may
also perform forward error correction (FEC) via digital wrapper technology, as described in
the ITU-T G.709 standard.

5. Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC). This is data channel which uses an additional
wavelength usually outside the EDFA amplification band (at 1,510 nm, 1,620 nm, 1,310 nm
or another proprietary wavelength). The OSC carries information about the multi-wavelength
optical signal as well as remote conditions at the optical terminal or EDFA site. It is also
normally used for remote software upgrades and user (i.e., network operator) Network
Management information. It is the multi-wavelength analogue to SONET's DCC (or
supervisory channel). ITU standards suggest that the OSC should utilize an OC-3 signal
structure, though some vendors have opted to use 100 megabit Ethernet or another signal
format. Unlike the 1550 nm multi-wavelength signal containing client data, the OSC is
always terminated at intermediate amplifier sites, where it receives local information before
re-transmission.

OPTICAL NETWORK
An Optical Network is basically a communication network used for the exchange of
information through an optical fiber cable between one end to another. It is one of the
quickest networks used for data communication.
As we already know that data signal through an optical fiber is transmitted in the form of
light pulses. So, optical networks are used in order to have optical signal transmission.
Now, the question arises that what is the need for the optical network when we have other
communicating networks.
So, the answer to this question basically relies on the ease of transmitting the signal in the
form of light pulses. Today’s internet era is based on fiber cable and only the optical signals
can be transmitted through these cables. Thus, the need for optical network emerges.As we
know that transmission through fiber cable is an easier task due to the low production cost of
the cable. Along with that, a fiber cable permits large data carrying capacity and longer
distance transmission than other cables. Thus, we use fiber cables and hence, the optical
network is an important aspect of the communication system.

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Elements of optical network
An optical network is basically composed of the following elements:
Stations: Stations in an optical network serves as the source and destination of the
information being transmitted and received. Stations are basically those devices that are used
by the users of the network. For example, a computer or any other telecommunication device.
Trunk: A trunk is basically a transmission line i.e., optical fiber cable in order to transmit the
optical signal. A network is composed of one or multiple trunks for signal transmission over
large distance.
Node: Node is nothing but acts as a hub for multiple transmission lines inside the network. In
case of a single transmission line, an optical network does not require nodes, as in this case
stations at both the ends can be directly connected to the fiber cables.

Topology: When multiple fiber cables are employed in an optical network, then these are
connected through nodes. But the way in which the multiple nodes are connected together
denotes the topology of the network.
Router: A router is basically placed inside an optical network that provides a suitable path
for signal transmission.

Optical Network Topologies

The topology is the arrangement of multiple optical fiber transmission lines in an optical
network.

Types Of Topology
Bus Topology: In a bus topology, the various nodes are connected through a single trunk line
with the help of optical couplers. This allows a convenient as well as a cost-effective method
to transmit the signal. However, in a bus topology, it is difficult to determine the faulted node
as well as it also takes time to restore the transmitted signal from that particular node.

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Ring Topology: In a ring topology, one single node is joined to its neighbouring node
thereby forming a closed path. So, the transmitted information in the form of light is sent
from one node to another. Also, optical couplers are installed within the network in order to
the couple the transmitted optical signal from one node to another.

Star Topology: In star connection, the various nodes of the network are connected together
with a single central hub. This central hub can be active or passive network. This central hub
then controls and directs the transmitted optical signal inside the optical network.

Mesh Topology: In a mesh topology, an arbitrary connection is formed between the nodes in
the network. This point to point connection can be changed according to the application. This
shows the flexible nature of star topology as in case of failure of one node, others can be used

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for signal transmission. Basically, in mesh connection, failure of any link or node is
generated then firstly that particular failure is detected and then the signal traffic is diverted
from failed node to another link inside the connection.

Categories of Optical Network

The categories of optical network are based on the area that connects the user of the network.
These are classified as:

Local Area Network (LAN): Basically a LAN connection provides the interconnection of
users that are present in localized areas like a building, a department or an office etc.
The example of networking topology of LAN is Ethernet. As in LAN, users are permitted to
share the resources together like servers etc. These are personally owned by an organization.
It is quite inexpensive.

Campus network: This network category is formed by the interconnection of multiple

LAN’s. This is basically extended to a large level but is still confined within a localized area.
It is also governed by a single organization.
The examples of campus network are university campus, a government organization, or a
medical centre etc.

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN): It is also known as a metro network and covers a
greater area than a campus network. It permits the interconnection of several buildings that
are present in different cities.
Due to its large operating area, MAN is controlled by several communication organizations.

Wide Area Network (WAN): Unlike MAN, a WAN provides interconnection of users from
neighbouring cities as well as cross-country regions. It is employed to establish
communication over a large geographical distance and is controlled and maintained by some
private organizations or telecommunication service providers.

Advantages of Optical Network

Using an optical networking system is highly advantageous. The advantages are as follows:
• An optical transmission system supports high bandwidth.
• The transmitted signal can be transmitted to longer distances.
• This networking system is more flexible than other transmission systems.

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SONET/SDH
Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)
SONET stands for Synchronous Optical Network. SONET is a communication protocol,
developed by Bellcore – that is used to transmit a large amount of data over relatively large
distances using optical fibre. With SONET, multiple digital data streams are transfered at the
same time over the optical fibre.
Key Points:
Developed by Bellcore
Used in North America
Standardized by ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
Similar to SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) which is used in Europe and Japan.

A single clock (Primary Reference Clock, PRC) handles the timing of transmission of signals
& equipments across the entire network.

SONET Network Elements:

STS Multiplexer:
Performs multiplexing of signals
Converts electrical signal to optical signal

STS Demultiplexer:
• Performs demultiplexing of signals
• Converts optical signal to electrical signal

Regenerator:
It is a repeater, that takes an optical signal and regenerates (increases the strength) it.

Add/Drop Multiplexer:
It allows adding signals coming from different sources into a given path or removing a signal.

SONET is used to convert electrical signal into optical signal so that it can travel longer
distances. SONET Connections:

• Section: Portion of network connecting two neighbouring devices.

• Line: Portion of network connecting two neighbouring multiplexers.
• Path: End-to-end portion of the network.

19
SONET LAYERS:
The Four functional layers of SONET are
 Photonic layer.
 Section layer.
 Line layer.
 Path layer.
PHOTONIC LAYER
 Photonic Layer corresponds to the physical layer of the OSI model.
Functions:
 Electrical STS signal is converted into an optical signal(OC-n).
 Photons are passed into the fibre to the next network element.

SECTION LAYER
Functions:
 This layer is responsible for framing and scrambling of traffic.
 It adds its own overhead to the traffic it has received and passes to the photonic layer.
 Used for frame detection , section monitoring and section maintenance.
 Network elements in this layer are called STE(Section Terminating Equipment).
LINE LAYER
Functions:
 To support traffic flow between two adjacent SONET multiplexers.
 Used for error checking , performance monitoring , line maintenance and protected
switching.
 The multiplexer that terminates a line is called LTE(Line Terminating Equipment).

20
PATH LAYER
Functions:
 Serves as a logical connection between the point where the signal enters the SONET
network and the point where it is delivered to destination.
 Used for error checking , connection verification in case of a failure.
SONET FRAME FORMAT:
 SONET frame is transmitted at 8000 frames per second or 1 frame for every125
microseconds (1/8000 = 125µs)
 Each layer contains its own header and it will be added in the frame structure.
 STS-1 frame is 810 bytes with a bit rate of 51.84 Mbps which is shown below.
 It is divided into 9 rows by 90 columns i.e.,9*90=810 bytes.
 Therefore 810 bytes in a frame *8 bits in a byte*8000 frames per second=51.84Mbps.
 The data rate for STS-3 is 51.84*3 = 155.52 and so on till STS-N.
 SDH frame format contains 9 rows * 270 columns = 2430 bytes.
 The data rate for STM-1 is 8000*2430*8 = 155.52Mbps which is 3 times of STS-1
 SONET frame is classified into Transport Overhead(TOH) which is 27 bytes and
Synchronous Payload Envelope(SPE) which is783 bytes.
 TOH is classified into Section overhead(9bytes) and Line overhead(18 bytes).
 SPE is in turn classified as Virtual Tributary Groups(VTGs).

 The rest of the frame is SPE(783 BYTES ).

 SPE has its own overhead and is subdivided into VTGs.
 One STS-1 can contain seven VTGs.
 Each VTG CAN carry one of the following


 +

ARCHITECTURE OF SONET/SDH:
 SONET architecture is classified into Unidirectional Path Switched Ring-two fiber
(UPSR) and Bidirectional Line Switched Ring-two or four fiber (BLSR).
UPSR: [ Unidirectional Path Switched Ring]
 In this type ,the normal working traffic travels clockwise around the ring on the
primary path.

21
  The same signal travels counter clockwise on the protection path which is an
alternative route in case of a node failure.

 Consider connection from node1 to node 3 which uses links 1 and 2and from node 3
to node 1 which uses links 3 and 4 shown in the diagram.
 The entire perimeter of the ring is used by two nodes.
 The same signal is fed to the protection path.
 Primary path-Links 1,2,3,4-in clockwise direction.
 Protection path-Links 5,6,7,8-in counter clockwise direction.
 Both signals reach the destination node 3 from opposite directions with different
delays.
 Receiver normally selects the signal from the primary path.
 If any path breaks, then protection path is used to receive signals.
ADVANTAGES:
 Self-healing.
DISADVANTAGES:
 If both primary and protection path fails, then the signal is totally lost.
 Uses the entire ring, so that channel bandwidth is wasted.
BLSR: [Bi-directional Line Switched Ring]
 Here two primary fibre loops are used for normal bidirectional communication.
 Two secondary fibre loops are used for protection.

22
  In the above diagram
 Links 1p to 4p – primary path – clockwise.
 Links 5p to 8p – primary path – counter clockwise.
 Links 1s to 4s – protection or secondary path – clockwise.
 Links 5s to 8s – protection or secondary path – anticlockwise.
 Let node 1 be the source node and node 3 be the destination node.
 Traffic from node 1 to node 3 uses links 1p and 2p in clockwise direction.
 Traffic from node 3 to node 1 (return path) uses links 7p and 8p in counter-clockwise
direction.
 Entire primary channel is not used.
 Channel bandwidth is half that of UPSR.
 Let the primary path or a circuit card in node 3 or node 4 fail, then in this case both
the primary fibres switch to the secondary protection pair as shown in the figure.
 The protection segment between nodes 3 and 4 now becomes part of the primary
bidirectional loop.
 The other links remain unaffected.
 If an entire node fails ,the nodes on either side of the failed node switch the primary
path connections from their receivers and transmitters to the protection fibers.
 This process forms a closed ring.
ADVANTAGES:
 Only half the perimeter of the ring is used.
 Increased capacity since it uses twice as much fibre cabling.

HIGH SPEED LIGHTWAVE LINKS

1. Links operating at 10 Gb/s
2. Links operating at 40 Gb/s
3. Links operating at 160 Gb/s
A challenge to creating efficient and reliable optical networks for ever growing demand of
bandwidth is the: Development of high speed optical fiber transceivers
Small form factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver can be used for DWDM. Such devices have
hot-pluggable capability. such transceivers operating at 2.5 Gb/s for DWDM applications
with 100 GHz wavelength spacing are in wide use.
Laser diodes can be modulated dirrectly up to 2.5 Gb/s (in some cases up to 10 Gb/s), but
usually need an external modulator beyond that point.
Therefore new challenges emerge for transceivers operating at higher rates, such as 10, 40,
and 160 Gb/s
Links Operating at 10 Gb/s
10-Gb/s Optical fiber transmission system installed worldwide are:
1. Fibre channel connections for storage area network.

23
 2. 10- gigabit Ethernet lines for local area and metro networks.
3. SONET/SDH OC192/STM64 terrestrial and undersea long haul lines .
Wide selection of industry standardized transceiver packages are available for these
applications. Several multimode fibers with different bandwidth grades exists for 10 Gb/s.
Multimode fiber classification and their use with 1 and 10 Gb/s Ehernet

For short-reach 10-Gb/s network:

All segment of the network should use the same grade of multimode fiber. But in some
cases segment can contain spliced OM2 and OM3 fibers.
For OM2 and OM3 fibers spliced together: then bandwidths of the fibers will determine the
resulting effective maximum link length.
Lmax =LOM2 (BW OM3/ BW OM2) + LOM3
Max link length calculated by this equation must be less than the achievable link length if
only OM3 fiber is used.
For a acces network application ranging from 7 to 20 km:
The 10-GbE specificaton calls Long Reach (LR).
 The link needs to use InGaAsP bassed distributed feedback (DFB) lasers.
 These links operate near the 1310 nm dispersion minimum of G.652 single mode
fibers and the light sources can be modulated directly.
For metro network application ranging from 40 to 80 km
The 10-GbE specification calls extended reach (ER).
 The link needs to use externally modulated distributed feedback (DFB) lasers
operating at 1550 nm over single mode fibers.
Links Operating at 40 Gb/s
New Challenges at 40 Gb/s data rate, in terms of:
1. Transceiver response characteristics
2. Chromatic dispersion control
3. Polarization mode dispersion compensation

24
Compared to 10-Gb/s system, Link operating at 40 Gb/s and using conventional OOK
modulation format, is:
1. sixteen times more sensitive to chromatic dispersion.
2. Four times more sensitive to polarization mode dispersion
3. Optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) which is at least 6 dB higer is required to reach
an equivalent bit error rate (BER)
Therefore alternate modulation scheme are considered. One method is Binary differential
phase shift keying or simply DPSK.
The most widely accept format has been RZ-DPSK for which transceiver modules that can
interface to SONET-678/SDH -256 equipment are available.
OTDM Links Operating at 160 Gb/s
160 Gb/s over a single wavelength using G.652 single mode fiber are tested.
These test link used the concept of OPTICAL TIME DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (OTDM)
to form 160 Gb/s data stream, since electronic devices that are needed for carrying out signal
processing at these rates were not available.
One option is to use bit-interleaved OTDM.
Time multiplexed media rate can be up to 160 Gb/s
Several field trials have demonstrated the feasibility of long haul 160 Gb/s transmission
systems.
Interesting point to note about these 160 Gb/s experiments is that good performance was
obtained using installed standard G.652 single mode fiber.

Example of an ultra-fast point to point transmission system using optical TDM.

Application
GERMANY:
Researchers achieved repeaterless error free transmission.
1 x 170 Gb/s signals over 185 Km

25
8 x 170 Gb/s signals (eight WDM signals) over 140 Km
On Single mode fiber using RZ-DPSK modulation.
170 Gb/s signal was created by time interleaving four channels operation at 42.7 Gb/s
JAPAN:
To cope with transmission impairments from CD and PMD.
Researchers investigated the use of 2-bit/symbol encoding techniques such as differential
quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK) and simultaneous amplitude shift keying (ASK) and
DPSK.
160 Gb/s signal was composed of eight 20 Gb/s channels
Relatively stable BER charactersitics were obtained after transmission over 200 Km of
installed G.652 single mode fiber.
UNITED KINGDOM:
160 Gb/s experiment carried out by the researchers.
The impact of chromatic and polarization mode dispersion were examined on 275 and 550
km links of installed SSMF.
The 160 Gb/s signal was created by time interleaving sixteen channels operating at 10 Gb/s
each.
Experiments showed excellent operation of clock recovery, BER, and functions of dropping
and adding wavelength channels.

OPTICAL ADD-DROP MULTIPLEXER (OADM)

Introduction
There exist several different channel routing technologies in the field of optical
communications. However, the evolution of single wavelength point-to-point transmission
lines to wavelength division multiplexed optical networks has introduced a demand for
wavelength selective optical add-drop multiplexers (OADM) to separate or route different
wavelength channels.
Optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM) is a device used in wavelength-division multiplexing
(WDM) systems. “Add” and “drop” is a capability device to add one or more new wavelength
channels to an existing multi-wavelength WDM signal or to drop, which means to remove one
or more channels, passing those signals to another network path. OADM can be used at
different points along the optical link to insert, remove or route selected channels thus to
increase the network flexibility. OADM is particularly important in metropolitan WDM light
wave services where offices or sited can be connected by different add-drop channels.
A traditional OADM consists of three stages: an optical demultiplexer, an optical multiplexer,
and between them a method of re-configuring the paths between the demultiplexer, the
multiplexer and a set of ports for adding and dropping signals. The demultiplexer separates
wavelengths in an input fiber onto ports. The reconfiguration can be achieved by a fiber patch
panel or by optical switches which direct the wavelengths to the multiplexer or to drop ports.
The multiplexer multiplexes the wavelength channels that are to continue on from
demultiplexer ports with those from the add ports, onto a single output fiber.

26
The Functions of OADM
As we have mentioned above, the main function of an optical multiplexer is to couple two or
more wavelengths into the same fiber. If place a demultiplexer and properly aligned it back to
back with a multiplexer, there would exist two individual wavelength in the area between
them. Then, this offers a chance for an enhanced function that individual wavelengths could be
removed and inserted as well. The function would be called an optical wavelength drop and
add demultiplexer/multiplexer — to make it briefly, optical add-drop multiplexer.

The model of an OADM is clearly shown in the picture below, where F1 signifies a filter
selecting wavelength λ1 while passing through all other wavelength, and M1 signifies a
multiplexer that multiplexes all wavelengths.

An even better view of OADM function is shown in the following picture. This function is
often employed in WDM ring systems as well as in long-haul with drop-add features.

27
Types of OADM
There are two main types of OADM that can be used in WDM optical networks: fixed
OADMs that are used to drop or add data signals on dedicated WDM channels, and re-
configurable OADMs that have the ability to electronically alter the selected channel routing
through the optical network.
The fixed optical add-drop multiplexer (FOADM) is a traditional wavelength arrangement
scheme that can only input or output a single wavelength via the fixed port. FOADMs have
pre-assigned channels at static nodes and allowed adding and dropping of individual or
multiple wavelength channels from a DWDM.
The re-configurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM), on the other hand, is a dynamic
wavelength arrangement scheme, allows for dynamic wavelength arrangement scheme using a
wavelength selective switch (WSS). The 8-dimensional cross-connect provided by the WSS
enables quick service start-up, remote cross-connect and WDM mesh networking. The
ROADM scheme can also achieve inputting/outputting a single wavelength or wavelength
group via the fixed port. ROADM can add, block, pass or redirect modulated infrared (IR) and
visible light beams of various wavelengths in a fiber optic network.

Features of ROADM:
By providing flexibility in rerouting optical streams, bypassing faulty connections, allowing
minimal service disruption and the ability to adapt or upgrade the optical network to different
WDM technologies.

Applications
OADM plays a vital role in improving and optimizing the network performance and
reliability. And it is fully compatible with both local area network (LAN) as well as long haul
networks. Moreover, OADM also serves as an essential device to meet the requirement of the
rapidly developed network.

Gigabit Fiber Ethernets (Optical Ethernet)

The Gigabit Ethernet technologies (1 Gb and 10 Gb Ethernet) referred to as “Optical

Ethernet.” Optical Ethernet technology may produce profound changes in network
architectures and underlying network technologies, and it has the potential to make
significant inroads into the MAN/WAN environments.
Figure shows the Ethernet protocol stack and its relation to the OSI Model. In OSI terms,
Ethernet provides layer 2 (Data Link) and layer 1 (Physical) functionality. The parts of the
protocol stack that are specific to Ethernet are shaded (the MAC, Physical Signaling, and
Media). The Logical Link Control (LLC) sub-layer defined in IEEE 802.2 and MAC Bridging
defined in IEEE802.1 are independent of any specific LAN technology and sit on top of the
Ethernet specific stack

28
 Logical Link Control
802.2
(LLC)
Layer 7 Application
802.1D
Presentation MAC Bridging 802.1Q
Layer 6
802.1p
Layer 5 Session Media Access Control
(MAC) Ethernet-Specific
Layer 4 Transport

Layer 3 Network Physical Signaling 802.3

Layer 2 Data Link

Media
Layer 1 Physical

OSI Model Major IEEE Sublayers

1518 Bytes  Length  64 Bytes

64 bits 48 bits 48 bits 16 bits 46 to 1500 Bytes 32 bits

Destination Source Frame

Length/
Preamble MAC MAC Data/LLC Check
Type
Address Address Sequence

Ethernet Frame Structure

.
The LLC performs error control, broadcasting, multiplexing, and flow control functions.
The IEEE 802.1D protocol is an important protocol we discuss. This standard defines the
MAC Bridging capability. Important supplements to 802.1D are also discussed like 802.1Q
and 802.1p, which cover VLANs and priority capability for 802 LANs.
The other protocol specification we discuss is the Ethernet standard IEEE 802.3. The current
version (2000 edition) includes all of the major supplements relevant to GbE (e.g., 802.3z).
The supplement for 10GbE, 802.3ae, is in the final stages of the approval process and should
be approved in the July 2002 timeframe.
At the bottom of Figure 1 is shown the Ethernet frame structure, which has been
maintained through all of the Ethernet enhancements (802.1Q adds some additional fields).
The maximum length frame is 1518 bytes, and the Data/LLC payload is required to be in the
range of 46 to 1500 bytes. The minimum 46 bytes is required for the CSMA/CD capabilities,
which is not relevant for Optical Ethernet networks because simplex GbE links have never
and will never be implemented (although the standard allows it), and the 10 GbE standard
does not include CSMA/CD. As speeds have increased there have been pressures to increase
the maximum frame size, but to date this has not happened and it is not likely to happen.

29
Figure 2 illustrates the evolution of Ethernet from half-duplex, shared media operation, to full

Figure 2 – Evolution of Ethernet Architecture

duplex Ethernet bridge/switch architectures, which are collision free. The original Ethernet
(1985) is shown on the top, which is a bus topology and a shared coaxial cable medium. The
coaxial bus is a collision domain that needs CSMA/CD to resolve collisions. The speed of the
first Ethernet was 10 Mbps and used thick coaxial cable; this system is designated type
10BASE5 (10 refers to the speed 10 Mbps, BASE refers to baseband medium and 5 refers to
a 500 meter maximum segment length). A thin coaxial cable was used later, and that system
is designated type 10BASE2.
The next step in topology evolution (1990) was to use a hub (star) topology using Ethernet
repeaters at the hub. Along with this development came the use of Unshielded Twisted Pair
(UTP) cable for the medium, and the system is designated type 10BASE-T (it was still 10
Mbps baseband and T refers to twisted pair). This configuration had the advantage that UTP
is widely used in office buildings, and a fault in any cable would not take the whole LAN
down like a coax cable cut would in the bus topology. The repeater is a layer 1 device that
would simply take bits off the incoming port and pipeline them to all outgoing ports except
the port the bits were coming from. Thus, even if the UTP pairs were set up so there was a
pair for each direction of transmission (duplex), the repeater would itself continue to be a
collision domain. Thus CSMA/CD was still required.
The next step was to run full-duplex UTP links between the host and the hub, and at the hub
is a LAN bridge. The bridge is a frame store-and-forward device, so it would buffer incoming
frames and wait until the outgoing ports were free to transmit them. Thus, with this
development it was possible to avoid collisions and CSMA/CD would not be required. This
was first implemented at 10 Mbps (1992) and a year later 100 Mbps Ethernet (100BASE-T)
was available. Note that an Ethernet switch is an Ethernet bridge with more than two ports.

30
It is this full-duplex switched/bridged Ethernet topology that is the critical development that
makes Ethernet capable of evolving from a LAN technology to an enterprise and carrier
networking technology. First of all, with the elimination of the collision domain in the hub
node (i.e., the switch/bridge), the speed of the switch-to-switch trunks become
independent of the NIC speeds on the LAN hosts. Secondly, the use of full-duplex trunks
between switches allows efficient bandwidth usage and eliminates CSMA/CD length
limitations on trunks between Ethernet bridge/switches. The standard for GbE allows for
half-duplex links, but they have never been implemented. 10GbE does not allow half-duplex
links. Therefore, for all practical aspects, GbE and 10GbE networks can be considered as
collision-free topologies that are based on Ethernet bridging and switching. There is no
CSMA/CD in these networks. There may be LANs terminating on an Ethernet switch that is a
collision domain, and CSMA/CD would be used on those switch ports to interact with the
LAN. But switch-to-switch GbE links are full duplex, and there is no CSMA/CD in the switch-
to-switch trunking part of the network.
Optical Ethernet Capabilities
In this section we summarize the key capabilities that Optical Ethernet technologies have that
give them the capability to be seriously considered for application beyond the LAN and
enterprise domains. The key capabilities are:
 Full duplex point-to-point links with long reach to 40 –70 km (~ 110 km with extenders)
 Significant port cost advantage over SONET and ATM (~ 8:1)
 Layer 2/3 Switching
 ‘Plug-and-Play’
 VLAN capability (802.1Q)
 Spanning tree routing (802.1D)
 Aggregate link capability (802.3ad)
 Priority capability (aggregate flow QoS) provided by 802.1p
 Policy-based QoS and traffic policing/shaping
Long Reach Links – The GbE standard sets the minimum distance requirement for long
reach links at 5 km. In fact, proprietary implementations of GbE optics have achieved
reaches in the range of 40 to 70 km, and with extenders the reach can be as high as 110 km.
With these distance achievements GbE has the capability to connect most, if not all, offices
in a metropolitan area without requiring intermediate repeaters or amplification. The
standard for 10 GbE calls for a minimum distance of 40 km for the long reach optics, and
that distance will almost surely be exceeded by proprietary implementations. Again, this
puts the distance capabilities of this technology within the domain of metropolitan
networking. For long haul (WAN) applications, Optical Ethernet will most likely be put on
SONET/WDM or Digital Wrapper (G.709) over WDM. The 10 GbE standard has defined a
WAN Physical Layer (WAN PHY) that has a payload that matches the OC-192/STM-64
payload (~ 9.6 Gbps) and provides the same overhead bytes with a stripped down
implementation to reduce costs. As a result, this 10 Gb PHY is directly compatible with
SONET/SDH long-haul transmission.
Cost Advantage – Various studies have been done related to the comparison between
Ethernet to SONET port costs. (e.g., Dell’Oro Group 2000 report, RHK 2002 report), and

31
they consistently show that there is a significant advantage to Ethernet costs. The comparison
using the cost per gigabit of bandwidth for comparable line rates shows about an 8 to one
advantage for Ethernet technology. This number changes some from study to study, but it
always comes out a significant integer multiple. Studies of the costs Ethernet carriers charge
for services compared with traditional TDM private line costs show Ethernet services costing
about 30 -40% of the equivalent SONET $/bps. It is clear that Ethernet (10/100/1000 Mbps)
currently has a cost advantage that stems in large part from the volumes in production
brought about by the use of this technology in the enterprise market. 10 GbE costs are not
showing a significant cost advantage as yet, but this technology is very new and it has not
taken off in the enterprise market (that may take 2-3 years to get significant volumes).
Layer 2/3 Switching – The Ethernet switching technology being developed has advanced
well beyond simple layer 2 Ethernet bridging functions. The switching capabilities provide
both layer 2 and layer 3 (i.e., IP routing) capabilities. In addition, most Ethernet switches also
support MPLS capability. These systems do not have the layer 3 and MPLS routing capacity
that a core IP router has, but they have sufficient capability to provide the needed
functionality in a metro network environment. It is important to have layer 3 and MPLS
capability, because as is well known layer 2 networks do not scale. Routing was invented
because layer 2 networks do not scale. As a result, when switched Gigabit Ethernet
networking is discussed, it should be considered to be a layer 2/3 switched network and not a
flat layer 2 network. An important aspect of switched Gigabit Ethernet network design is
where to use layer 2 switching and where to layer 3 routing. It should also be noted that these
layer 2/3 switches have non-blocking switching fabrics and provide the same types of QoS
related queuing, scheduling, etc. that IP routers employ.
‘Plug-and-Play’ – Ethernet has been designed with the intent to make it as much as possible
‘plug-and-play.’ Each Ethernet frame has both a source and destination MAC address. The
source address is used by the Ethernet Bridges/Switches to identify what hosts are
connected to which ports. This means that when hosts are moved from one LAN to another,
there is no provisioning required to reconfigure the network. Also, MAC addresses are burnt
into the Ethernet line cards, so there is no provisioning necessary there either. The ‘plug-
and-play’ capabilities of Ethernet provide some important operations benefits, and this
makes these networks simpler to operate in some respects. There are some scalability
issues with managing Ethernet networks that we discuss in the next section; so ‘plug-and-
play’ does not solve everything, but it is an important capability
VLAN Capability – The virtual LAN (VLAN) capability provided by 802.1Q is an important
capability for enterprise networks, and thus it is an important capability for MAN carriers to
support in providing transparent LAN services. The VLAN capability is implemented with the
VLAN tag, shown below, which provides a 12 bit VLAN ID as well as a 3 bit User Priority field.
VLANs are important to enterprise networks because it allows them to segment their layer 2
network into subgroups, which makes the networks more scalable (limits broadcast
domains). VLANs also are useful in segregating traffic in the network and thus allowing more
efficient load distribution. With VLANS it is possible to make non-physical groupings of

64 bits 48 bits 48 bits 16 bits 16 bits 16 bits 46 to 1500 Bytes 32 bits

Destination Source Frame

Length/
Preamble MAC MAC TPID TCI Data/LLC Check
Type
Address Address Sequence

32
User Priority (3) CFI(1) VLAN ID (12)
nodes that share the same resources (e.g., work groups geographically dispersed), and as
people move around it is painless to keep their membership in the same VLAN. Carriers also
can utilize VLANs to help distribute traffic more efficiently on their layer 2 networks, but
they need to do so using a different VLAN address space than that used by the enterprise.
Currently this is done by proprietary means, like stacking VLAN tags.
Spanning Tree Routing – Spanning tree routing is specified in 802.1D. Spanning tree routing
does for layer 2 networks what Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP) like OSPF do for IP
networks. Specifically, the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) provides the capability for layer 2
switches to communicate with one another using control messages so they can negotiate
among them selves to establish a spanning tree (which defines how the layer 2 routing is
done), and when there is a link or node failure the nodes again communicate with one
another to reconfigure the network to a new spanning tree (as long as the network is not
disconnected a complete new spanning tree will be generated).
Aggregate Link Capability – Link aggregation is an important capability in 802.3. It provides
the ability to have a pool of links between two switches that appear to the spanning tree
algorithm as one logical link. Link aggregation also allows redundant, diverse link capacity to
be provided and a fast failover (< 1 second) to occur when a link fails. With this capability,
GbE networks can achieve relatively fast failover for fiber cuts. Various load-sharing
techniques are used with priorities for different Class of Service (CoS) being indicated by the
3-bit user priority field in the VLAN tag. If insufficient capacity is provided to handle all of the
traffic under failure conditions, the CoS indication can be used to allocate the available
bandwidth by CoS.
CoS Priority Indication – As mentioned above, the VLAN tag has a 3-bit user priority field
that is used to identify class of service. Thus queuing disciplines for allocating bandwidth and
giving priority service can be done for traffic aggregates using the CoS priority indication.
This capability is consistent with the IP Differentiated Services (DiffServ) Model, which also
uses a 3-bit priority field. Thus, as packets go from layer 2 to layer 3, and vice versa, a
consistent layer 2/3 priority handling of the packets can be accomplished. It should be noted
that all of the queuing and scheduling techniques that are used at layer 3 (e.g., various forms
of weighted fair queuing) have also been implemented in the layer 2/3 Gigabit Ethernet
switches.
Policy-Based QoS and Traffic Policing/Shaping – Proprietary capabilities have been
developed in vendor products that allow a carrier to allocate and enforce a customers desired
average bandwidth usage on a point-to-point basis. This allows a customer to dynamically
change their bandwidth allocations, and thus only pay for the bandwidth they need. In
addition, the carrier can mark frame in different CoS based on policies the customer wants to
use. Thus traffic is classified into different aggregate service classes based on policy. As
mentioned above, the Ethernet switches are capable of allocating bandwidth and enforcing
priorities based on the CoS indications.

33
SOLITONS:
 Solitons are very narrow optical pulses with high peak powers that retain their shapes
as they propagate along the fibre.
 The term soliton refers to special kind of waves that can propagate undistorted over
long distances and remain unaffected after collision with each other.
 Due to GVD[Group Velocity Dispersion] , the pulse propagating through the fibre
gets broadened.
 This is compensated by the compression of pulse resulting from SPM[Self-Phase
Modulation].
 Pulses that do not undergo any change in shape are called fundamental solitons and
pulses that undergo periodic changes are known as higher order solitons.

PROPERTIES OF SOLITONS:
1. No shape change on propagation.
2. (Soliton) < (I=0).
3. It has flat (plane wave) phase front.
4. Non-linear phase shift is not obvious.
SOLITON PULSES:
 Non-linear Schrodinger (NLS) equation for the evolution of soliton pulse shape is
u 1  2 u  
2 u u  j
2
j  +N u  1
z 2 t 2  2 
Where u(z, t)=Pulse envelope function,
Z=propagation distance.
N=Integer designating order of soliton.
α=coefficient of energy gain per unit length.
 The first term represents GVD effects of the fibre.
 The second term shows that the non-linear effect of pulse broadening depends on light
intensity.
 The third term represents the effect of energy loss or gain.
 The solution for equation (1) is

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  jz 
u  z , t   sec ht  exp 
 z 
DISPERSION LENGTH:

2C T0
2

L DISP 
2 D
TS
Where T0  1
2 cosh 2

 1  2c Ts
2 2

Ldisp  
 1.7627   D
2

Where To=normalized time unit.

Ts=soliton pulse width.
SOLITON PEAK POWER:

 1.7627  Aeff  D
2 3

Ppeak   
 2  n2 cTS
2

Where
c=speed of light.
 =wavelength of light.
Effective area of fibre wire.

n2=non-linear refractive index coefficient.

PART – A

1. What is a Soliton?(Nov-Dec 2014, Nov-Dec 2018) (R)

2. What is WDM ( Wavelength Division Multiplexing)? (Nov-Dec 2014) (R)
3. What is optical Ethernet? (Nov-Dec 2015) (R)
4. Distinguish SONET and SDH. (Nov-Dec 2015) (AZ)
5. Name two popular architectures of SONET/SDH network.(Nov-Dec 2016) (R)
6. Obtain the transmission bit rate of the basic SONET frame in Mbps.(Nov-Dec 2013) (E)
7 .Illustrate inter-channel cross talk that occurs in a WDM system.(Nov- Dec 2013) (A)
8. What is a broadcast and select network?(May-June 2013) (R)
9. What is SONET?(Apr-May 2015) (R)
10. Enumerate the various SONET/SDH layers. ?(Nov-Dec 2012) (R)
11. Draw the basic structure of STS-1 SONET frame. (Nov-Dec 2017) (R)

Part – B

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1. Draw the generic configuration of SONET and explain the functions of add drop
multiplexer in SONET.(Nov-Dec 2016)(U)
2. Discuss in detail about the effect of noise on system performance.(Nov-Dec 2016) (U)
3. Explain SONET layers and frame structure with diagram.(Nov-Dec 2015, Nov-Dec
2018) (U)
4. Discuss the performance improvement of WDM.(Nov-Dec 2015,Apr-May 2015,
Nov-Dec 2014) (U)
5. Explain Optical Ethernet.(Nov-Dec 2012)(U)
6. Discuss about Ultra High Capacity Networks. (Apr-May 2015,Nov-Dec 2014) (U)
7. Explain broadcast and select network in detail. (Nov-Dec 2013) (U)
8. What is a ‘four-fiber BLSR’ ring in a SONET? Explain the reconfiguration of the
same during node or fiber failure. (Nov-Dec 2013) (U)
9. Explain the following requirements for the design of an optically amplified WDM
link. (Nov-Dec 2013) (U)
1.Link Band width 2. Optical power requirements for a Specific BER.
10. Explain SONET / SDH Networks. . (Nov-Dec 2017) (U)
11. Discuss in detail about DWDM and its passive components.
12. Explain Optical Add/ Drop multiplexer.
13. Discuss about High speed lightwave link.

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