IEMS 5705 Optical Communications

Part VI. Optical Networks

Professor Lian K. Chen

Department of Information Engineering
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
lkchen@ie.cuhk.edu.hk

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 1

 Part VI. Optical Networks
• Lightwave System Evolution
• Undersea Transmission Systems
• Optical Network Hierarchy and Topologies
• Subscriber Loop
• Passive Optical Networks
• CATV systems
• SONET/SDH
• Protection and Restoration in Network Management

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 2

 Lightwave Systems
• Traditional Optical Fiber Transmission System
Low-Rate Low-Rate
Data In Data Out
E
E
|
|
REG REG D
M XMTR RCVR
RPTR RPTR M
U
U
X
X
Traditional Regenerated Transmission Line

E-Mux: electronic multiplexer

DET AMP EQ DEC AMP LASER E-DMUX: elecrtonic demultiplexer
XMTR: transmitter
REG: regenerator
TMG RPTR: repeater
REC RCVR: receiver
DET: detector
Opto-Electronic Regenerative Repeater AMP: amplifier
EQ: equalizer
(O-E-O regenerator) TMG REC: timing recovery
DEC: decision circuit

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 3

 Traditional Optical Fiber Transmission
System
O-E-O type regenerator
• Single-channel operation
• Opto-Electronic TDM of synchronous data
• electronic regenerative repeaters
• 30-50km repeater spacing
• Distortion and noise do not accumulate
• Capacity upgrade requires higher-speed operation

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 4

 Optically Amplified Fiber Transmission
System
Optically Amplified Fiber Transmission System
• Multi-channel WDM operation
• Data-rate and modulation-format transparent
• One optical amplifier (per fiber) supports many wavelength channels
• 80-140 km amplifier spacing
• Distortion and noise accumulate
• Graceful growth (upgrade) of channels
• Capacity upgrade by adding wavelength-multiplexed channels
Data In Data Out
λ1 λ1
XMTR O O λ RCVR
λ2 | | 2
XMTR M D RCVR
OA OA OA
λN U M λ
N
XMTR X U RCVR
X
Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 5
 Various System Limitations
• Attenuation → system power budget
– Solutions: optical amplifiers; coherent detection

• Dispersion → pulse broadening → intersymbol interference

– Solutions: dispersion compensation - use dispersion-
compensating fibers, dispersion-shifted fibers, pre-chirping; soliton
(dispersion and nonlinear effect compensate each other)

• Polarization → polarization dependent gain/loss, polarization mode

dispersion (PMD), polarization sensitive → power penalty
– Solutions: polarization tracking+polarization controller to fix the
polarization into components, polarization scrambling, polarization
diversity, use polarization-maintaining fibers

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 6

 System Limitations
• Nonlinear effects → four-wave-mixing (FWM), stimulated Raman
scattering (SRS), stimulated Brilluoin scattering (SBS), self-phase
modulation (SPM), cross-phase modulation (XPM) → system
degradation
– Solutions: advanced modulation format, power control, phase
modulation; frequency assignment; use NZ-DSF fiber

• Noises → reflection noise, phase noise, back-scattering, modal noise,

mode partition noise, thermal noise, shot noise, amplifier beat noise,
RIN, etc. → power penalty
– Solutions: use isolator to reduce some types of noises

• All impairments can be remedied by using forward error

correction; electronic equalizer can also resolve
dispersion problems

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 7

 System Transmission Capacity

Bit Rate -Distance ( Gb/s z km)

107 Å WHAT’S NEXT ??
z
z Å
z WDM + Optical Amplifiers z
106 z
‹ Optical Amplifiers ‹z
105  Coherent Detection ‹
Œ 1.5μm Single-Frequency Laser ‹
104 „ 1.3μm SM Fiber ‹ Fourth
103 z 0.8μm MM Fiber Generation

Second Œ Œ Œ Œ 
Œ ‹
102 Œ 
Generation „
First „ 
101 Third
Generation
z„ Generation
z
1

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Year
Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 8
 System Transmission Capacity

Capacity Toward 25 Tbit/s

Closer Channel Wider Optical Higher Spectral

Higher Data Rate Efficiency
Spacing Bandwidth
OC-48 OC-768 100 GHz 10 nm 300 nm 0.05 Bits/s/Hz >1 Bits/s/Hz
12.5 GHz
• Chromatic • L-band EDFAs • Novel Modulation
Dispersion • Fiber Nonlinearity Format
• Raman Amplifiers
• Channel Xtalk • Polarization or
• Fiber Nonlinearity
bidirectional
• Available interleaving
• Polarization Mode
Dispersion Components

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 9

 Undersea Transmission Systems
• Design Considerations
– span distance
– data rate
– repeater/amplifier spacing
– fault tolerance, system monitoring/supervision, restoration, repair
– reliability in components: aging
– cost

• Leading supplier
– Tycom (formerly Tyco Submarine System)
– Alcatel Submarine Networks
– KDDI Submarine Cable Systems

http://www.telegeography.com/products/map_cable/index.php

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 10

 Undersea Transmission Systems

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 11

 Undersea Transmission Systems

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 12

 Undersea Transmission Systems

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 13

 Undersea Transmission Systems

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 14

 Undersea Transmission Systems

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 15

 Undersea Transmission Systems

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 16

 Submarine cable systems

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 17

 Optical Networks

Transmission
Aspects Network Management
• Dispersion
• Fault Management
• Power Budget
• Configuration Management
• Non-linearity
• Performance Management
• Polarization, etc.
Optical
Networks
Multi-Access Services/Applications
• Network Topology • Data/Voice
• Node Architecture • Video/Image
• Multiplexing Scheme • Interactive Multimedia
• Media Access Protocol • Internet/Web Access

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 18

 Optical Network Hierarchy

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 19

 Carrier Optical Networks in US

About 50,00 Route Miles Of Fiber Cable

Prof. Lian K Chen
 Backbone Fiber Routes in China
To Russia

Qiqihaer
To Europe
Harbin
Yining Baicheng Mudanjiang
Urumqi
Changchun
Korla Fuxin Yanji
Chengde Shenyang
Zhangjiakou
Hohhot Qinhuangdao
Dandong To North
Ruoqiang Beijing Korea
Yinchuan Dalian
Tianjin
Yulin Shijiazhuang
Golmud
Xining Lanzhou Taiyuan Hengshui To South
Zhengzhou Qingdao Korea
Luoyang Jinan
XiAn Kaifeng Lianyungang
To Japan
Nanjing
Xiangfan Xinyang Hefei Shanghai
Chengdu Chongqing Huzhou FLAG
Lhasa Wuhan Wuhu Hangzhou
Shashi
Jiujiang
Changsha
Huaihua
Guiyang Nanchang
Jianyang
Hengyang
Kunming Fuzhou
Guilin
Xingyi Guangzhou Taipei
The Existing Over-Head Fiber Optic Cables Gejiu Nanning Shenzhen Huizhou

Beihai Hongkong
Pingxiang
The Existing Buried Fiber Optic Cables
Zhanjiang
To Southeast Asia
Haikou

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 21

 Optical Networks
• Network Topologies

Tree
Bus
Ring

Star Mesh Multi-hop

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 22

 Network Types
• Network Types

Broadcast and Select Network

Space Switches
λ1,λ2,λ3 λ1,λ2'’,λ3’

λ1
λ1’,λ2',λ3’ λ1’,λ2,λ3’’

λ2
λ1’’,λ2'’,λ3’’ λ1’’,λ2’,λ3

λ3
Static Wavelength Routing Network Dynamic Wavelength Routing Network

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 23

 Broadcast and Select WDM Networks

Tunable receiver/
fixed transmitter

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 24

 Subscriber Loop
• Fiber-In-The-Loop (FITL) /Passive Optical Networks (PON)

RT
EU
DLC
O E

Traditional Fiber Feeder (Digital Loop Carrier)

ONU
RT EU
O E
CO
O E M E O
U
X

Fiber To The Curb (Active Star)

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 25
 Subscriber Loop (contd.)
RN ONU
1 EU

P O E
CO O
S
N

Fiber To The Curb (Passive Optical Network)

POS: Passive Optical Splitter ONU: Optical Network Unit

RT: Remote Terminal CO: Central Office
EU: End-User

No Active Element in Remote Node!

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 26

 Fiber-In-The-Loop (FITL)

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks

Okada, FSAN, 1988. 27
 Passive Optical Networks (PON)

Optical
Network
Optical Line Terminal Terminal

feeder
fiber distribution fiber

Remote
Node

Optical
Network
Unit Network
Terminals
Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 28
 PON Architecture
• At central office (CO):
– Optical Line Terminal (OLT) generates downstream traffic on its own or
takes the Sonet signal from a co-located Sonet XC.
– OLT aggregates traffic from multiple customers sites using TDM to ensure
no interference.
• At Outside plant:
– Passive optical splitters are used to split signal 2 to 32 branches using
various topologies (typically is tree topology)
• At Customer premises:
– PON terminates in Optical network unit (ONU), or Optical network
terminations (ONT)
– The ONU converts optical signal to specific types of bandwidth (e.g.
10/100 Mb/s Ethernet, ATM, or T1 voice and data) and passes it on to
routers, PBX, switches. ONU also uses laser to send upstream traffic to
CO.

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 29

 TDM-PON

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 30

 Upstream: Burst-Mode Transmission

ONU

OLT ONU

ONU

• Each ONU has different propagation distance from the OLT

• At the OLT, the receiver will see packets from ONUs with varying
amplitudes and phases, also varying inter-packet time-gaps
• For each packet:
• Require fast clock recovery to get the clock
• Require fast peak detector to get the best threshold level

Î Burst-Mode Receivers needed

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 31
 Ethernet PON

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 32

 Evolution of Passive Optical Networks

APON BPON
(155Mb/s-622Mb/s) (155Mb/s-1.25Gb/s)

Downstream:
1550nm
EPON
Upstream:
(1.25Gb/s)
1310nm WDM PON
(1.25Gb/s-10Gb/s)

GPON
(1.25Gb/s-2.5Gb/s)
TDM-PON
Downstream:
1550nm for video, 1490nm for data
Upstream:
1310nm

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 33

 Major TDM-PON Technologies Summary

Characteristics BPON EPON GPON

Standard ITU-T G.983 IEEE 802.3ah ITU-T G.984

Protocol ATM Ethernet ATM and Ethernet

D/S: 622/1244 D/S: 1244 D/S: 1244/2488

Speed (Mbps)
U/S: 155/622 U/S: 1244 U/S: 155/2488

Span 20km 10km 20km

16 nominal, 32
Number of split 32 64
allowed

10-Gb/s version: 10GE-PON XG-PON

Ref: G Keiser, FTTX concept and application

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 34
 WDM-PON

Q: What are the pros and cons for WDM-PON, compared to TDM-PON?

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 35

 WDM-PON

• WDM-PON: Wavelength Division Multiplexed Passive Optical Network

• use multiple wavelengths; each serves a certain group of users
• higher capacity, future-proof

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 36

 Hybrid Fiber-Coax (HFC) System for CATV
• To provide new interactive service, cable TV (a.k.a. Community
Antenna TV: CATV) systems are upgraded to HFC architecture.
• Cable modem is used to provide internet access (IEE802.14).
• Telephone service can be provided through VoIP.
Triple-play service: voice, video, and data

Fiber 200-1000
Central Node Homes
Office Fiber Coax
Amplifier

Down-link: 50-750MHz, @1.55μm

Up-link: 5-40MHz, @1.3μm

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 37

 CATV (Community Antenna TeleVision)
Trunk
amplifier
Headend Hub Hub

subscriber

Drop
line
subscriber

• Headend : distribution source; include programs received from

satellite, local TV station, together with in-house production programs.
• Super-trunk : no fan-out, connection from headend to the hub.
• HUB : distribution node; requires high carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR)
~52-56 dB.
• Subscriber : home users, required CNR ~ 35 dB

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 38

 Modulation format of CATV system
(1) AM-VSB (vestigial side-band) :
• simple modulation scheme
• compatible to existing modulation format
• requires high CNR Æ limited power budget, unless high-power
diode-pump solid state laser (>20 dBm) with external modulation
is used.
• NTSC : 6MHz spacing, 4.2MHz VSB bandwidth

(2) FM :
• easier to achieve since the required CNR ~16.5 dB.
• requires more bandwidth (40MHz spacing, 30MHz bandwidth)
• typically used in satellite broadcasting and by some CATV
operators.

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 39

 Modulation format of CATV system (contd.)

(3) Digital :
• baseband
• FSK and PSK - spectral efficiency not as good as baseband (0.5-
1.0 bit/s/Hz), but easier channel tuning
• QPSK - spectral efficiency (2.0 bit/s/Hz)
• required large bit-rate (>100Mbit/s) if uncompressed
• compression schemes - JPEG(ISO), MPEG(ISO), H.261(CCITT),
…

There are many video channels in the system. The channel multiplexing
scheme used in CATV is : SCM (subcarrier multiplexing)

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 40

 Distortion in CATV
• Sources of noise or distortion :
– transmitter - relative intensity noise (RIN), clipping noise,
intermodulation. (RIN is very sensitive to reflection)
– receiver noise - shot noise, thermal noise, circuit noise, APD
noise.

• Performance index :

CNR (carrier-to-noise ratio) per channel ~ 52 dB

CSO (composite-second-order distortion) ~ -65 dBc
CTB (composite-triple-beat distortion) ~ -65 dBc

dBc: dB respect to carrier

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 41

 CNR calculation for Analog CATV channel

1
(m ⋅ I dc ) 2
CNR = 2
2 ⋅ e ⋅ I dc ⋅ BW + 4 ⋅ k ⋅ T ⋅ BW ⋅ Ft / Req + RIN ⋅ I dc2 ⋅ BW

where m : modulation index per channel I dc : d.c. photo current

BW : receiver bandwidth Ft: electronic preamp noise figure
R eq: receiver equivalent resistance RIN: laser relative intensity noise

The last term (laser intensity contribution) in the denominator is

introduced since that noise becomes non-negligible when I dc is large.

Note that the above CNR is the CNR per channel.

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 42

 CNR for analog modulation
Ex: Assume a laser with
Pdc= 2mW, m= 0.01, RIN = - 150 dB/Hz, BW = 4MHz,
Ft= 3, R eq= 75Ω, Ro= 1.0 mA/mW

Baseline (without distribution loss, fan-out, ….) CNR is

1
(0.01 ⋅1.0 ⋅ 2 ×10−3 ) 2
CNR = 2
−150
−3
2 ⋅ e ⋅ (1.0 ⋅ 2 × 10 ) ⋅ 4 ×10 + 4 ⋅ k ⋅ T ⋅ 4 ×10 ⋅ 3 / 75 + 10
6 6 10
⋅ (1.0 ⋅ 2 ×10−3 ) 2 ⋅ 4 ×106

Q : How to determine the modulation index?

Q : When will shot noise/thermal noise/RIN noise dominate?
Q : What are the effects when we change the value of m, loss, BW, RL,
or RIN?

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 43

 Broadband Local Access
Several approaches
• xDSL (digital subscriber line) by Telco (telephone company).
(http://www.adsl.com)
dedicated bandwidth (<50Mb/s)
• Cable modem by CATV industry (http://www.cablemodem.com)
40Mb/s share bandwidth; low cost; reliability and security issues; need
• FTTx (Fiber-to-the-x)
bring fiber close to residential building
• Wirelss - LMDS (local multipoint distribution service) (+ WiFi, WiMax,
LTE)
At 28 GHz with 1.3GHz bandwidth by FCC; fast deployment; inexpensive;
limits by rain-fade;
• Powerline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_line_communication)
• Satellite
wide-coverage; down link traffic only

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 44

 Internet Users Projection

Optical Fiber Telecommunications V.B

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 45
 SONET and SDH
• Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) ANSI T1.105.06
• Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) ITU-T G.957

• SONET: North America standards, SDH: standards in Europe and Japan

• robust for transporting all types of voice, video and data services

SONET/SDH Signal Rates

Rate (in MHz) SONET Frame SDH Frame Physical Signal Capacity
51.84 STS-1 - OC-1 28 DS1
155.52 STS-3 STM-1 OC-3 84 DS1
622.08 STS-12 STM-4 OC-12 336 DS1
2,488.32 STS-48 STM-16 OC-48 1344 DS1
9,953.28 STS-192 STM-64 OC-192 5376 DS1
39,813.12 STS-768 STM-256 OC-768
159,252.48 STS-3072 STM-1024 OC-3072
STS: Synchronous Transport Signal Level (for SONET)
STM: Synchronous Transport Module Level (for SDH)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_optical_networking
Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 46
 SONET and SDH (contd.)
• Direct Synchronous Multiplexing:
individual tributary signals may be multiplexed, using Add-Drop
Multiplexer (ADM) and Digital Cross-Connect, directly into a higher
rate SONET signal without intermediate stages of multiplexing
→ cost-effective, flexible telecommunications networking

• Provides flexible signal transportation capabilities, capable of

transporting all existing and future signals
→ can overlay to existing networks

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 47

 SONET network spans
Path: end-to-end; (path)
Line: between transport nodes; (multiplex section)
Section: between line regenerators (regenerator section)

LINE LINE
SECTION SECTION SECTION
TRIBUTARY TRIBUTARY
SIGNALS SIGNALS

SONET SONET
TERMINAL TERMINAL
MULTIPLEXER MULTIPLEXER

SONET SONET SONET

DIGTIAL CROSS_CONNECT REGENERATOR REGENERATOR

PATH

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 48

 SONET STS-1 Frame Format
STS-1 Synchronous Payload Envelope (SPE)
(87 columns)

3 rows

Section
overhead
6rows

Line
overhead

3 columns Path Overhead (1 column)

• Frame rate: 8000 frames per second; 125μs per frame

• Line rate of STS-1
STS-1=(90 bytes/row)(9 rows/frame)(8 bits/byte)/(125 μ s/frame)
=51.84 Mb/s
Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 49
 SONET ring architecture
• SONET ring architecture

Integrated Timing System Clock

Central
Exchange Digital Cross
Connect

ADM ADM

Dual Ring

Protection Ring
DS1, E1, etc. Terminal ADM
Multiplexer

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 50

 Key features of WDM Network
• Simple Capacity upgrade
System capacity can be increased easily by adding more channels operating
on different wavelength sufficient apart from the existing ones.
• Transparency
Different modulation formats (analog AM, FM, PCM, … or digital ASK, FSK,
PSK, QAM, …) on different channels.
• Wavelength routing
Wavelength is used as the intermediate or final address for routing
datagram. Wavelength selective devices such as WGR (wavelength
grating router) or AWG (array waveguide grating) can be used as the
router.
• Wavelength switching
Wavelength-switched networks provide re-configurable network architecture
on optical layer. Key components for implementing these networks
include optical cross-connect, wavelength converter, wavelength router,
and optical add-drop.

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 51

 Wavelength Routing Networks
• Broadcast-and-select networks are difficult to scale to wide-area
networks
– no. of wavelength channel required
– passive star couplers exhibit high insertion loss as the no. of ports
increases.
• Wavelength routing networks overcome the problems by wavelength
reuse, wavelength conversion, and optical switching.

Station 1 Station 2

λ1
λ1
Wavelength reuse

λ2
Station 3 Station 4 Station 5

Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 52

 Network Protection
• In a network, each link carry data from different sources to different
destination.
• Two ways to protect the traffic
(1) path switching - restoration is handled by the source and destination
nodes of each individual stream
(2) line switch - restoration is handled by the nodes at both ends of the failed
link
Line switching can be implemented by span protection and line protection
reroute path

(a) normal (b) path switching

connection
x

(c) line switching- (c) line switching -

span protection x line protection x
Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 53
 Different Protection Techniques for Point-
to-point Links
• 1+1
• 1:1 (only one fiber is on) switch switch
Working fiber
• 1:N

switch switch
Working fiber
•
splitter switch •
•

(a) 1+1 switch switch

Working fiber

switch

switch
Working fiber
switch switch
Low priority data
Protection fiber
Protection fiber
(c) 1:N
(b) 1:1
Prof. Lian K Chen Part 6 - Optical Netwoks 54