Optical Networking

Technologies

1
 Outline

• Introduction to Fiber Optics

• Passive Optical Network (PON) – point-
to-point fiber networks, typically to a
home or small business
• SONET/SDH
• DWDM (Long Haul)

2
 Optical Transmission
optical
electrical electrical
Optical signal Optical
signal signal
Fibre Fibre
Transmission Transmission
System System

Advantages of optical transmission:

1. Longer distance (noise resistance and less attenuation)
2. Higher data rate (more bandwidth)
3. Lower cost/bit

3
 Optical Networks
• Passive Optical Network (PON)
– Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH)
– Fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC)
– Fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP)
• Metro Networks (SONET)
– Metro access networks
– Metro core networks
• Transport Networks (DWDM)
– Long-haul networks

4
 Optical Network Architecture
DWDM Long Haul
Network

SONET
Metro Metro
Network Network
transport network
PON
Access Access Access Access
Network Network Network Network

CPE (customer premise)

5
 All-Optical Networks
• Most optical networks today are EOE
(electrical/optical/electrical)
• All optical means no electrical component
– To transport and switch packets photonically.
• Transport: no problem, been doing that for years
• Label Switch
– Use wavelength to establish an on-demand end-to-end
path
• Photonic switching: many patents, but how many
products?
6
 Optical 101
• Wavelength (λ): length of a wave and is measured in
nanometers, 10-9m (nm)
– 400nm (violet) to 700nm (red) is visible light
– Fiber optics primarily use 850, 1310, & 1550nm
• Frequency (f): measured in TeraHertz, 1012 (THz)
• Speed of light = 3×108 m/sec

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 Optical Spectrum
λ
UV IR 125 GHz/nm
Visible
850 nm 1310 nm 1550 nm

• Light
– Ultraviolet (UV) Bandwidth

– Visible 1550nm 193,548.4GHz

– Infrared (IR)
1551nm 193,424.6GHz
• Communication wavelengths
1nm 125 GHz
– 850, 1310, 1550 nm
– Low-loss wavelengths

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 Optical Fiber
Core Cladding
• An optical fiber is made of
three sections:
– The core carries the
light signals
– The cladding keeps the light
in the core
– The coating protects the glass Coating

9
 Optical Fiber (cont.)
• Single-mode fiber
– Carries light pulses by
laser along single path
• Multimode fiber
– Many pulses of light
generated by LED
travel at different
angles
SM: core=8.3 cladding=125 µm
MM: core=50 or 62.5 cladding=125 µm

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Bending of light ray

7.11
Figure 7.12 Propagation modes

7.12
Figure 7.13 Modes

7.13
Figure 7.14 Fiber construction

7.14
Figure 7.15 Fiber-optic cable connectors

7.15
Figure 7.16 Optical fiber performance

7.16 Note: loss is relatively flat

 Fiber Installation
Support cable every 3 feet for indoor cable (5 feet for
outdoor)

Don’t squeeze support straps too tight.

Pull cables by hand, no jerking, even hand pressure.

Avoid splices.

Make sure the fiber is dark when working with it.

Broken pieces of fiber VERY DANGEROUS!! Do not

ingest!
7.17
 Optical Transmission Effects
Attenuation
Dispersion & Nonlinearity

Distortion

Transmitted Data Waveform Waveform After 1000 Km

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 Optical Transmission Effects
Attenuation:
Loss of transmission power due to long distance

Dispersion and Nonlinearities:

Erodes clarity with distance and speed

Distortion due to signal detection and recovery

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 Transmission Degradation
Ingress Signal Egress Signal

Loss of Energy
Optical Amplifier

Shape Distortion
Dispersion Compensation Unit (DCU) Phase Variation

t t
Loss of Timing (Jitter)
Optical-Electrical-Optical (OEO) cross-connect

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 Passive Optical Network (PON)
• Standard: ITU-T G.983
• PON is used primarily in two markets: residential and
business for very high speed network access.
• Passive: no electricity to power or maintain the
transmission facility.
– PON is very active in sending and receiving optical signals
• The active parts are at both end points.
– Splitter could be used, but is passive

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Passive Optical Network (PON)
OLT: Optical Line Terminal
ONT: Optical Network Terminal

Splitter
(1:32)

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 PON – many flavors
• ATM-based PON (APON) – The first Passive optical network
standard, primarily for business applications
• Broadband PON (BPON) – the original PON standard (1995). It
used ATM as the bearer protocol, and operated at 155Mbps. It
was later enhanced to 622Mbps.
– ITU-T G.983
• Ethernet PON (EPON) – standard from IEEE Ethernet for the
First Mile (EFM) group. It focuses on standardizing a 1.25 Gb/s
symmetrical system for Ethernet transport only
– IEEE 802.3ah (1.25G)
– IEEE 802.3av (10G EPON)
• Gigabit PON (GPON) – offer high bit rate while enabling
transport of multiple services, specifically data (IP/Ethernet)
and voice (TDM) in their native formats, at an extremely high
efficiency
– ITU-T G.984

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 xPON Comparison
BPON EPON GPON
Standard ITU-T G.983 IEEE 803.2ah ITU-T G.984

Bandwidth Down: 622M Symmetric: Down: 2.5G

Up: 155M 1.25G Up: 2.5G
Downstream λ 1490 &1550 1550 1490 & 1550

Upstream λ 1310 1310 1310

Transmission ATM Ethernet ATM, TDM,

Ethernet

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 PON Case Study (BPON)
Optical Network Terminal (ONT)
Optical Line Terminal (OLT) (customer premise)
(Central Office)
Two Ethernet ports
One T1/E1 port
Optical transport: 622M bps

T1/E1 802.3

Packet Core CES RFC2684

(IPoATM)
AAL1 AAL5 SAR/CS
ATM
TDM Core PON (G.983)
(PSTN)

25
GPON

26
EPON Evolution

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28
29
30
EPON Downstream

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EPON Upstream

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 SONET in Metro Network
Long Haul
Core Router
(DWDM)
ADM
Network
ADM

Metro SONET Ring

ADM
Voice Switch ADM
ADM

Access Ring Access Ring

T1 ADM Access Ring ADM
T1

PBX
33
 IP Over SONET
SONET is designed for TDM traffic, and today’s need is packet (IP)
traffic. Is there a better way to carry packet traffic over SONET?

T1 DS3 OC-3
IP
802.3
IP
RFC2684 IP IP
???? AAL5 PPP 802.3
ATM RFC1619 GFP
SONET SONET SONET SONET SONET

TDM Traffic GFP: Generic Frame Procedure

RFC 2684: Encapsulate IP packet over ATM

RFC 1619: Encapsulate PPP over SONET 34
 ATM over SONET (STS-3c)
Cell 1 Cell 2 Cell 3

260 columns (octets)

Cell 1 Cell 2 Cell 3

OH
9 rows

STS-3c Envelope

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 PPP over SONET
• RFC 1619 (1994)
• The basic rate for PPP over SONET is STS-3c at
155.520 Mbps.
• The available information bandwidth is
149.760 Mbps, which is the STS-3c envelope
with section, line and path overhead
removed.
• Lower signal rates use the Virtual Tributary
(VT) mechanism of SONET.

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 PPP over SONET (STS-3c)
PPP Frame 1 (HDLC) PPP Frame 2 (HDLC) PPP Frame 3 (HDLC)

260 columns (octets)

PPP Frame 1a
PPP Frame 1b PPP Frame 2a

PPP Frame 2b
POH
PPP Frame 2c

2d PPP Frame 3 9 rows

Path overhead
STS-3c Envelope

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Dense Wave Division
Multiplexing (DWDM)

Ref: Cisco DWDM Primer

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Continue Demands for More Bandwidth
Same bit rate, more fibers
More Fibers Slow Time to Market
Expensive Engineering
Limited Rights of Way
Duct Exhaust

Same fiber & bit rate, more λs

W Fiber Compatibility
D Fiber Capacity Release
Fast Time to Market
M Lower Cost of Ownership
Utilizes existing TDM Equipment

Faster Electronics Higher bit rate, same fiber

(TDM) Electronics more expensive

39
 TDM vs. WDM
• Time division multiplexing
–Single wavelength per fiber
–Multiple channels per fiber Channel 1 Single
Fiber (One
–4 OC-3 channels in OC-12 Wavelength)
–4 OC-12 channels in OC-48 Channel n
–16 OC-3 channels in OC-48
• Wave division multiplexing
–Multiple wavelengths per fiber l1
l2 Single Fiber
–4, 16, 32, 64 wavelengths per fiber (Multiple
–Multiple channels per wavelength Wavelengths)
ln

40
 TDM vs. WDM
• TDM (SONET/SDH)
DS-1
–Take sync and async signals
DS-3
and multiplex them to a single OC-1
higher optical bit rate OC-3 SONET Fiber
OC-12 ADM
–E/O or O/E/O conversion
OC-48

• WDM
–Take multiple optical
OC-12c
signals and multiplex them OC-48c DWDM
Fiber
onto a single fiber OADM
OC-192c
–No signal format conversion

41
 FDM vs. WDM vs. DWDM
• Is WDM also a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) which has been
widely available for many years?
• Short Answer: Yes. There is no difference between Wavelength Division
and Frequency Division. In general, FDM is used in the context of Radio
Frequency (MHz – GHz) while WDM is used in the context of light ( THz)
• WDM: The original standard requires 100 GHz spacing to prevent signals
interference.
• Dense WDM (DWDM): support multiplexing of up to 160 wavelengths of
10G/wavelength with 25GHz spacing
– The use of sub 100GHz for spacing is called Dense WDM.
– Some vendors even propose to use 12.5GHz spacing, and it would multiplex
up to 320 wavelengths

Spectrum A spacing Spectrum B

42
 DWDM Economy
Conventional TDM Transmission—10 Gbps
40km 40km 40km 40km 40km 40km 40km 40km 40km

TERM 1310 1310 1310 1310 1310 1310 1310 1310 TERM
TERM RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 TERM
TERM RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 TERM
TERM RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 RPTR
1310 TERM
RPTR RPTR RPTR RPTR RPTR RPTR RPTR RPTR

DWDM Transmission—10 Gbps

OC-48 OC-48
OC-48 OC-48
OC-48
OC-48
OC-48 120 km 120 km 120 km OC-48
OA OA OA OA

4 Fiber Pairs 1 Fiber Pair

32 Regenerators 4 Optical Amplifiers

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Optical Transmission Bands

Band Wavelength (nm)

“New Band” 1360 – 1460

S-Band 1460 – 1530
C-Band 1530 – 1565
L-Band 1565 – 1625
U-Band 1625 – 1675

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 DWDM: How does it work?
TDM: multiple services onto a single
wavelength

TDM

DWDM
TDM

TDM Single pair of fiber strand

Multiple wave lengths

45
DWDM Network

MUX DEMUX

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 DWDM Network Components
λ1
850/1310 15xx λ1...n
λ2

λ3
Transponder
Optical λ => DWDM λ Optical Multiplexer
Usually do O-E-O

λ1

λ2 λ1...n
ADM
λ3

Optical De-multiplexer
Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer
(OADM)

47
 Optical Amplifier (OA)
Pin Pout
gain

 EDFA (Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier) amplifier

 Separate amplifiers for C-band and L-band

48
 Optical ADM (OADM)
• OADM is similar in many respects to SONET ADM, except that
only optical wavelengths are added and dropped, and there is
no conversion of the signal from optical to electrical.

Q: there is no framing of DWDM, so how do we add/drop/pass light?

A: λ It is based on λ and λ only.
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Cisco ONS 15800
• TO build a long haul network
• Up to 64 channels (i.e., wavelengths)
• OC-12, OC-48, OC-192
• up to 500 km

LEM: Line Extension Module

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/si/on15800s/prodlit/ossri_ds.pdf

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DWDM Network
(point-to-point)

OLA: Optical Line Amplifier

51
 DWDM Network
Add-and-Drop
Note: this is a linear topology, and not a ring topology.

Chicago Pittsburg New York

λ1: to Pittsburg λ1: drop
λ2: to New York λ2: pass

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 SONET and DWDM
DWDM Long Hall DWDM
terminal terminal
SONET SONET
DWDM DWDM
ADM ADM

ADM SONET SONET ADM

Chicago New York
OC-3 OC-3

IP IP
PPP PPP
SONET SONET

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 IP over DWDM ???

IP IP IP

DWDM ??? DWDM

terminal terminal
DWDM

Note: There is no protocol called “IP over DWDM” or “PPP

over DWDM”. However, there are many publications on “IP
over DWDM” and they all require a layer-2 protocol which
provides the framing to encapsulate IP packets. (see the
previous slide)

54
 Summary
• Optical Fiber Network – the market needs
• Access Network
– Passive Optical Network (PON)
• Metro Network
– SONET/SDH
• Transport Network (Long-Haul)
– DWDM
• DWDM can be applied to metro and access networks as well, but unlikely for its high cost.
• Optical network is a layer-1 technology, and IP is a layer-3 protocol. There
must be a layer-2 protocol to encapsulate IP packets to layer-2 framing before
it goes to the optical layer
– ATM (via RFC2684)
– SONET (via PPP)
– Ethernet (via GFP)

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