Optical Access/Metropolitan Area Network Using WDM

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses several wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) technologies and typical WDM networks, including system configurations and field trials for access and metropolitan area networks (MANs). One of the most important factors in relation to access and MANs is cost effectiveness because the cost per user and per service (as well as cost per channel) is important in these networks compared with core networks, where the only advantage is the bitrate—namely, capacity. There are several WDM technologies for access and MANs, including dense WDM (DWDM), coarse WDM (CWDM), wide-passband WDM, and wide-WDM (1.3/1.5 μm WDM). One of techniques for transmitting packets over WDM techniques for access and metropolitan areas is the hybrid optoelectronic ring network (HORNET), which is a future MAN optimized for data traffic to provide efficient bandwidth sharing among a large number of access points (APs) in a metropolitan area. HORNET eliminates the cost and complexity of synchronous optical networking (SONET) and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) equipment by transmitting IP/ATM packets directly over the WDM layer.