CH-IV

Optical Network System Components and Optical Networks

4.1 Couplers, isolators, circulators, multiplexers, filters, fiber gratings, Fabry Perot
filters, arrayed waveguide grating, switches and wavelength converters
4.2 SONET and SDH standards, architecture of optical transport networks (OTNs),
network topologies, protection schemes in SONET/SDH, and wavelength routed
architectures
4.3 Operational principle of WDM, WDM network elements and Architectures,
Introduction to DWDM, Solitons

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 1

 What are optical network?

• Telecomm Networks build using various communication media

- Twisted pair copper wire
- Coaxial cable
- Wireless (Radio, microwave, satellite, infrared)
- Optical fiber
Optical fiber uses - carrier frequency of the order of 1015 Hz. - Bandwidth generally a smaller
fraction of carrier frequency Large BW is available (of the order of 40 THz) Optical fiber has low
loss in 1.3 mm and 1.55 mm bands
Advantages of fiber - Large Bandwidth-distance product. - immunity to noise and interference - very
low cost per unit bandwidth - easy upgradability using WDM technology - Tapping of signal from
fiber without being detected – difficult.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 2

• Due to all these advantages - Optical fiber Networks have high capacity - Can be used for
providing the high bandwidth services - Even in wireless, infrared means high bandwidth
connectivity.
• All the networks using optical fiber as transmission medium - optical networks When - transmitted
signal remains in optical form till its arrival at destination - All-optical network

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 3

 Communication Systems

• Basic Blocks Coverage and Topology

Coverage (public network)
• Three basic components LAN
• Source and Transmitter MAN
• Destinations and WAN
Receiver Topology
• Communication Bus
channel (medium) Ring
Mesh
• Communication channel
Star
• Wired
• Wireless
• Glass
• Water and or materials

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 4

 Changing Service Landscape
• Network characteristics
• Full redundancy
• Fast restoration
• High availability (99.999 %)
• Low latency
• High bandwidth
• Dynamic allocation and high bandwidth efficiency
• Support various services
• More providers and equipment builders (due to Deregulation of the telecom industry)
• Providers are expected to provide more services at higher capacity at lower prices!
• A positive feedback business model!
• Need for high capacity network
• More users

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 5

• Optical Links
• Light Sources, Detectors and Receivers
• Optical Fiber Channel
• Optical Amplifiers
• Digital Optical Communications
• Time and Wavelength Multiplexing
• Optical Cross-Connects (OXC)
• Optical Networks
• First Generation Optical Networks and SONET
• Second Generation Optical Networks
• Multi Protocol Lambda Switching
• DWDM optoelectrical metro network
• Signal Quantization / Coding: from analog to digital signal and vice versa
• Digital Modulation: Amplitude, Phase, and Frequency Modulation
• Multiplexing to increase the bandwidth of an optical channel
• Time Division Multiplexing
• Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM)
• WDM vs. DWDM
DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 6
 All-Optical Switching
• Optical Cross-Connects (OXC)
• Wavelength Routing Switches (WRS)
• route a channel from any I/P port to any O/P port
• Natively switch s while they are still multiplexed
• Eliminate redundant optical-electronic-optical conversions

DWDM DWDM
Demux Mux
DWDM DWDM
Fibers Fibers
in All-optical out
OXC
DWDM DWDM
Demux Mux

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 7

 Wavelength () Converters (WC)

improve utilization of available wavelengths on links

needed at boundaries of different networks
all-optical WCs being developed
greatly reduce blocking probabilities
3
2
3
2
WC

1
New request
1 1 3
New request
1 3

With Wavelength converters

No Wavelength converters

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 8

 Optical Networks

• 1 st Generation: optical fibers substitute copper as physical layer

• Submarine Systems
• SONET (synchronous optical) in TDM
• FDDI for LAN, Gbit Ethernet etc.
• 2 nd Generation: optical switching and multiplexing/ WDM
• broadcast-and-select networks
• WDM rings
• wavelength routing networks
• 3 th Generation: optical packet switching???

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 9

 Data
SONET
Center
SONET

DWDM
DWDM

SONET
SONET

Metro Long Haul Metro

Access
Access
DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 10
 SONET
• Encode bit streams into optical signals propagated over optical fiber
• Uses Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) for carrying many signals of different capacities
• A bit-way implementation providing end-to-end transport of bit streams
• All clocks in the network are locked to a common master clock
• Multiplexing done by byte interleaving

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 11

Practical SONET Architecture

ADM – Add-Drop Multiplexer

DCS – Digital Cross connect

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 12

 Protection Technique Classification
• Restoration techniques can protect network against:
• Link failures
• Fiber-cables cuts and line devices failures
• Equipment failures
• OXCs, ADMs, electro-optical interface.
• Protection can be implemented
• In the optical channel sublayer (path protection)
• In the optical multiplex sublayer (line protection)
• Different protection techniques are used for
• Ring networks
• Mesh networks

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 13

 Protection in Ring Network

(Unidirectional Path (Bidirectional Line

Switched Ring) Switched Ring)
1:1 Line
1:1 Span and Line
Protection
1+1 Path
Protection Protection Used for interoffice
rings
Used in access rings Used in metropolitan or
for traffic aggregation long- haul rings
into central office
DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 14
 Protection in Mesh Networks
• Network planning and survivability design
• Disjoint path idea: service working route and its backup route are topologically diverse.
• Lightpaths of a logical topology can withstand physical link failures

Working Path

Backup Path

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 15

 Trend: IP over DWDM

IP is good for routing, traffic aggregation, resiliency

ATM for multi-service integration, QoS/signaling
SONET for traffic grooming, monitoring, protection
DWDM for capacity

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 16

 IP over DWDM: Why?
• IP and DWDM => Winning combination
• IP for route calculation, traffic aggregation, protection
• DWDM => Cheap bandwidth
• Avoid the cost of SONET/ATM equipmnt
• IP routers at OC-192 (10 Gbps)
=> Don't need SONET multiplexing
• Optical layer for route provisioning, protection, restoration
• Coordinated restoration at optical/IP level
• Coordinated path determination at optical/IP level

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 17

 MPS
• MPS = Multi-Protocol Lambda Switching
• MPLS + OXC
• Combining MPLS traffic eng control with OXC
• All packets with one label are sent on one wavelength
• Next Hop Forwarding Label Entry (NHFLE)
• <Input port,  > to <output port,  > mapping

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 18

 The Current Home Service System The Optoelectrical Multip-Service System

Copper pair
telephone line To telephone
Telepnone
company backbone Copper pair
Satellite dish Satellite dish
telephone line

Internet Router To the Internet

for modem
connections Copper pair
Satellite Satellite telephone line
dish dish

Coxial cable
(50/75 O)

To telephone
Internet RouterTo the Internet backbone
for cable
modems
Coxial cable Sigle mode
(75 O) Fiber cable
Multip-Service
Cable TV Company
company
To cable TV
network

To the Internet
To cable TV
network

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 19

DWDM Summary
• DWDM => Switching Bottleneck => O/O/O switches
• High speed routers => IP directly over DWDM
• Data and control plane separation => IP Control Plane
• Data will be circuit switched in the core
• IP needs to be extended to provide addressing, signaling, routing, and protection for lightpaths
• High-speed point-to-point Ethernet => LAN-WAN convergence

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 20

 Service Types
• Two basic service types (switching technologies)
• Connection-oriented
• Connectionless
• Connection-oriented
• Based on circuit switching (setup, connect, tear-down)
• Example: Public Switching Telephone Network (PSTN)
• Originally only supported voice
• Not good for bursty traffic
• Connectionless
• Based on sending datagrams
• Examples: Packet, massage, burst switching
• Improves bandwidth and network utilization

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 21

 Multiplexing
• Transmitting several signals over a single communications channel
• Multiplexing technologies
• Frequency Division Multiplexing (modulating data into different carrier frequencies)
• Wavelength Division Multiplexing
• Time division Multiplexing (dividing available time among various signals)
• Statistical Multiplexing (dynamic allocation of time spaces depending on the traffic
pattern)
• Statistical Multiplexing
• Requires buffering resulting in variable delay
• Many packets will have to be buffered
• Packets will have to be delayed
• Some packets may be lost
• Guarantee of Service (QoS)

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 22

 Multiplexing

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 23

Evolution of Optical Networks –
First Generation

• Started in 1980
• Limited to fiber optic transmission systems – the rest of the system was electrical
• Thus, the electronic was the major bottleneck!
• The received optical data had to be dropped and then transmitted – this was a point-to-point
system
• Example: Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
(SDH), Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Fiber Channel
• These systems where based on Optical TDM (10Gb/s and 40Gb/s)
• Higher capacity systems were build using WDM technology (1 Tb/s) – remember a single
phone line is only 60 Kb/s!)

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 24

 WADM
Evolution of Optical Networks –
Second Generation

Incoming optical signals could be switched in optical

domain (optical switching)
No longer limited to point-to-point
Underlying technologies included
Optical Add-Drop Multiplexers (OADM)
Optical crossconnets (OXC)
Optical line terminals (OLT)
Wavelength Add/Drop Multiplexer (WADM)
Dense WDM (DWDM) OXC
Examples
FTTH, FTTC, ROADM

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 25

Evolution of Optical Networks –
Third Generation
• All optical packet switching
• All packets are processed in optical domain
• Transparent to the service
• Handle any arbitrary bit rate
• Underlying technologies
• Optical buffering!
• Fast switching

“So far, no optical networks have been available”

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 26

Comparing Different Optical Nodes

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 27

 Layering Model

Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Seven-Layer Reference Model

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 28

 Protocol Suites and Layering Models

• Physical Layer (Layer 1)

• specify details about the underlying transmission medium and hardware
• all specifications related to electrical properties, radio frequencies, and signals belong in layer 1
• Network Interface (or Data Link) Layer (Layer 2)
• Network (physical) addresses
• maximum packet size that a network can support
• protocols used to access the underlying medium
• Internet Layer (Layer 3)
• protocols specifying communication across the Internet & routing specifications (spanning
multiple interconnected networks)
• Logical addressing and path determination
• Transport Layer (Layer 4)
• Includes specifications on
• controlling the maximum rate a receiver can accept data (flow control)
• mechanisms to avoid network congestion
• techniques to insure that all data is received in the correct order.
Note: Each layer contains its own specifications & protocols!
DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 29
Protocol Suites and Layering Models- Conti..
• Application Layer (Layer 5)
• specify how a pair of applications interact when they communicate
• specify details about
• the meaning of messages that applications can exchange
• the procedures to be followed to execute the application
• Some examples of network applications in layer 5
• email exchange
• file transfer
• web browsing
• telephone services
• and video teleconferencing

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 30

How Data Passes Through Layers

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 31

IP over ATM over SONET

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 32

IP over SONET

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 33

 IP over WDM

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 34

Different parts of a public network.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 35

• The components used in modern optical networks include couplers, lasers, photo detectors, optical
amplifiers, optical switches, and filters and multiplexers.
• Couplers are simple components used to combine or split optical signals.
• filters and multiplexers, which are used to multiplex and demultiplex signals at different
wavelengths in WDM systems

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 36

 Couplers
• A directional coupler is used to combine and split signals in an optical network.
• A 2 × 2 coupler consists of two input ports and two output ports. The most commonly used
couplers are made by fusing two fibers together in the middle—these are called fused fiber
couplers. Couplers can also be fabricated using waveguides in integrated optics.
• A 2 × 2 coupler takes a fraction α of the power from input 1 and places it on output 1 and the
remaining fraction 1 − α on output 2. Similarly, a fraction 1 − α of the power from input 2 is
distributed to output 1 and the remaining power to output 2. We call α the coupling ratio.
• The coupler can be designed to be either wavelength selective or wavelength independent
(sometimes called wavelength flat) over a usefully wide range. In a wavelength-independent
device, α is independent of the wavelength; in a wavelength selective device, α depends on the
wavelength.
• A coupler is a versatile device and has many applications in an optical network.
• The simplest application is to combine or split signals in the network.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 37

 A directional coupler.
• The coupler is typically built by fusing two fibers together. It can also be built using waveguides in
integrated optics.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 38

A star coupler with eight inputs
and eight outputs made by
combining 3 dB couplers. The
power from each input is split
equally among all the outputs.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 39

 For example, a coupler can be used to distribute an input signal equally among two output ports
if the coupling length, l is adjusted such that half the power from each input appears at each output.
Such a coupler is called a 3 dB coupler.
An n × n star coupler is a natural generalization of the 3 dB 2×2 coupler. It is an n-input, n-
output device with the property that the power from each input is divided equally among all the outputs.
An n×n star coupler can be constructed by suitably interconnecting a number of 3 dB couplers, A star
coupler is useful when multiple signals need to be combined and broadcast to many outputs. However,
other constructions of an n×n coupler in integrated optics are also possible.
Couplers are also used to tap off a small portion of the power from a light stream for monitoring
purposes or other reasons. Such couplers are also called taps and are designed with values of α close to
1, typically 0.90–0.95.
Couplers are the building blocks for several other optical devices.
For example we will explore the use of directional couplers in modulators and switches . Couplers are
also the principal components used to construct Mach-Zehnder interferometers, which can be used as
optical filters, multiplexers/demultiplexers, or as building blocks for optical modulators, switches, and
wavelength converters.
•
DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 40
• A coupler can be made wavelength selective, meaning that its coupling coefficient will then
depend
on the wavelength of the signal. Such couplers are widely used to combine signals at 1310 nm and
1550 nm into a single fiber without loss. In this case, the 1310 nm signal on input 1 is passed
through to output 1, whereas the 1550 nm signal on input 2 is passed through also to output 1. The
same coupler can also be used to separate the two signals coming in on a common fiber.
• Wavelength-dependent couplers are also used to combine 980 nm or 1480 nm pump signals along
with a 1550 nm signal into an erbium-doped fiber amplifier

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 41

 Isolators and Circulators

Couplers and most other passive optical devices are reciprocal devices in that the devices
work exactly the same way if their inputs and outputs are reversed. However, in many systems there
is a need for a passive nonreciprocal device. An isolator is an example of such a device. Its main
function is to allow transmission in one direction through it but block all transmission in the other
direction.
Isolators are used in systems at the output of optical amplifiers and lasers primarily to
prevent reflections from entering these devices, which would otherwise degrade their performance.
The two key parameters of an isolator are its insertion loss, which is the loss in the forward direction
and which should be as small as possible, and its isolation, which is the loss in the reverse direction
and which should be as large as possible. The typical insertion loss is around 1 dB, and the isolation
is around 40–50 dB.
A circulator is similar to an isolator, except that it has multiple ports, typically three or four,
In a three-port circulator, an input signal on port 1 is sent out on port 2, an input signal on port 2 is
sent out on port 3, and an input signal on port 3 is sent out on port 1. Circulators are useful to
construct optical add/drop elements, Circulators operate on the same principles as isolators;

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 42

Functional representation of
circulators: (a) three-port and
(b) four-port.
The arrows represent the direction of
signal flow.

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Principle of operation of an isolator that works
only for a particular state
of polarization of the input signal.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 44

 In order to understand the operation of an isolator, we need to understand the notion
of polarization that the state of polarization (SOP) of light propagating in a single-mode fiber refers
to the orientation of its electric field vector on a plane that is orthogonal to its direction of
propagation. At any time, the electric field vector can be expressed as a linear combination of the
two orthogonal linear polarizations supported by the fiber. We will call these two polarization modes
the horizontal and vertical modes.
The principle of operation of an isolator, assume that the input light signal has the vertical
SOP shown in the figure. It is passed through a polarizer, which passes only light energy in the
vertical SOP and blocks light energy in the horizontal SOP. Such polarizers can be realized using
crystals, called dichroics which have the property of selectively absorbing light with one SOP.
The polarizer is followed by a Faraday rotator. A Faraday rotator is a nonreciprocal device,
made of a crystal that rotates the SOP, say, clockwise, by 45◦, regardless of the direction of
propagation. The Faraday rotator is followed by another polarizer that passes only SOPs with this
45◦ orientation. Thus the light signal from left to right is passed through the device without any loss.
On the other hand, light entering the device from the right due to a reflection, with the same 45◦ SOP
orientation, is rotated another 45◦ by the Faraday rotator, and thus blocked by the first polarizer.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 45

A polarization-independent isolator.
The isolator is constructed along the same lines as a
polarization-dependent isolator but uses spatial walk-
off polarizers at the
inputs and outputs.
(a) Propagation from left to right.
(b) Propagation from right to left.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 46

Different applications for optical filters in optical
networks.
(a) A simple
filter, which selects one wavelength and either
blocks the remaining wavelengths or makes
them available on a third port.
(b) A multiplexer, which combines multiple
wavelengths into a single fiber. In the reverse
direction, the same device acts as a demultiplexer to
separate the different wavelengths.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 47

A static wavelength crossconnect.
The device routes signals from an
input port to an output port based on
the wavelength.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 48

Characterization of some important
spectral-shape parameters of optical
filters.
λ0 is the center wavelength of the
filter, and λ denotes the wavelength of
the light signal.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 49

(a) A transmission grating and
(b) a reflection grating. θi is the angle of
incidence of the light signal.
The angle at which the signal is diffracted
depends on the wavelength (θd1 for
wavelength λ1 and θd2 for λ2).

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 50

Principle of operation of a transmission grating.
The reflection grating works in an analogous
manner.
The path length difference between rays
diffracted at angle θd from adjacent slits is
AB − CD = a[sin(θi ) − sin(θd )].

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 51

Optical add/drop elements based on
fiber Bragg gratings.
(a) A drop element.
(b) A combined add/drop element.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 52

• Introduction
• First Generation Optical Networks
• Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
• Synchronous Optical Network/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SONET/SDH)
• Second Generation Optical Networks
• Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM)
• Optical Networking Components
• Wavelength Routing Networks

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 53

• Advantages of Optical Transmission
• Large bandwidth permits high data transmission, which also supports the aggregation of
voice, video, and data
• Technological improvements are occurring rapidly, often permitting increased capacity
over existing optical fiber
• Immunity to electromagnetic interference reduces bit error rate and eliminates the need
for shielding within or outside a building
• Glass fiber has low attenuation, which permits extended cable transmission distance
• Light as a transmission medium provides the ability for the use of optical fiber in
dangerous environments
• Optical fiber is difficult to tap, thus providing a higher degree of security than possible
with copper wire
• Light weight and small diameter of fiber permit high capacity through existing conduits

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 54

• Disadvantages of Optical Transmission
• Cable splicing:
• Welding or fusing: you must clean each fiber end, then align and carefully fuse the ends
using an electric arc.
• Time consuming
• Least amount of signal loss between joined elements.
• Gluing
• Bonding material that matches the refractive index of the core of the fiber.
• Time consuming
• Higher loss of signal power than fusing.
• mechanical connectors
• Considerably facilitate the joining of fibers,
• More signal loss than do the other two methods
• Can reduce the span of the fiber to a smaller distance
DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 55
First Generation Optical Networks

• Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)

• Dates back to the early 1980s
• FDDI uses token-passing scheme
• Uses two fiber pairs, each operating at 100 Mbits/s.
• Data rates approaching 90% of its 100 MB/s operating rate
• FDDI was, and in some locations still is, commonly used at the
Internet Service Provider (ISP) peering points that provide
interconnections between ISPs.
• Relatively expensive

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 FDDI Position in the OSI Reference Model

• FDDI is defined as the two bottom layers of the seven-layer OSI reference model
• It provides a transport facility for higher-level protocols such as TCP/IP
• Physical layer is subdivided into:
• physical-medium-dependent (PMD) sublayer defines the details of the fiber-optic cable used
• the physical (PHY) layer specifies encoding/decoding and clocking
operation

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 57

 FDDI 4B/5B Coding

• The selection of the 4B/5B coding was based on the need to reduce the signaling level from 200
MHz to a 125-MHz rate (cost reduction)
• Each bit is encoded using non-returnto-zero-inversion (NRZI) transmission
• Because 4 bits are encoded into 5 bits, this means there are 16, 4-bit patterns.
• Those patterns were selected to ensure that a transition is present at least twice for each 5-bit code.
• DC balance: important for thresholding at receiver
• For some input data sequences the worst case DC unbalance is 10%
• Because 5-bit codes are used, the remaining symbols provide special meanings or represent invalid
symbols.
• Special symbols
• I symbol is used to exchange handshaking between neighboring stations,
• J and K symbols are used to form the Start Delimiter for a packet,
• which functions as an alert to a receiver that a packet is arriving.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 58

 FDDI Fiber Specifications
Core/Cladding
• OPTICAL FIBER SUPPORT
• FDDI can support 62.5/125-, 50/125-, and 100/140-µm multimode fiber sizes. Maximum distance 2
Km.
• FDDI also supports the use of single-mode fiber,
• Long-distance transmission (up to 40 Km)
• FDDI single-mode fiber is commonly specified as 8/125, 9/125, and 10/125.
• OPTICAL TRANSMITTER
• 850, 1300, and 1550 nm
• 850 and 1300 nm for multimode fiber
• 1300 and 1500 nm for single-mode fiber
• For single-mode fiber laser diodes must be used
• ATTENUATION
this means that up to
• For multimode fiber 11 dB of the optical
• PMD standard specifies a power budget of 11.0 dB signal can be lost.
• Maximum cable attenuation is 1.5 dB/km at 1300 nm.
• single-mode fiber
• power budget extends from 10 to 32 dB
DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 59
 FDDI Ring Structure

• FDDI backbone consists of two separate fiber-optic rings,

• primary ring: active
• secondary ring: “on hold,”
• Station Types
• Class A:dual-attachment stations, Class B: single-attachment station

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 60

 SONET/SDH(1)

• Current transmission and multiplexing standard for high speed signals

• North America: Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)
• Europe, Japan and rest of the world: Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH)
• Prior to SONET and SDH: Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH)
• 4KHz sampled at 8KHz quantized at 8 bits per sample  64kb/s

Transmission rates for PDH

Level North America [Mb/s] Europe [Mb/s] Japan

[Mb/s]
0 DS0 0.064 0.064 0.064
1 DS1/T1 1.544 E1 2.048 1.544
2 DS2/T2 6.312 E2 8.448 6.312
3 DS3/T3 44.736 E3 34.368 32.064
4 139.264 E4 139.264 97.728

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 SONET/SDH(2)

• PDH versus SONET/SDH

• Multiplexing
• PDH: Difficult to pick low bit rate stream from high bit rate stream
• In PDH, clocks of lower bit streams are not perfectly synchronous
• Higher rates are not integral multiples of 64Kb/s
• Bit stuffing needed
• Mulltiplexers and Demultiplexers complicated
• In SONET/SDH a master clock is usedMUX and DEMUX much easier
• Management
• Unlike PDH, SONET/SDH standards are rich of management and traffic performance
monitoring information
• Interoperability
• SONET/SDH define standard optical interfaces
• PDH: different vendors define different line coding, optical interfaces,...
• Networking
• SONET/SDH: Service restoration time is less than 60 ms
• PDH: restoration time is several seconds to minutes

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 62

 SONET/SDH(3)

• SONET/SDH
• Lower speed PDH is mapped into synchronous payload envelope (SPE), or synchronous
container in SDH
• Path overhead bytes are added to the SPE
• Path overhead unchanged during transmission
• Allows PDH monitoring end-to-end
• SPE+path overhead = virtual tributary VT (container in SDH)
• VT may be placed at different points within a frame (125 µs)
• Many small VTs can be multiplexed into a larger VT (see next slide)
• The overhead of each VT includes a pointer to smaller VTs multiplexed into the payload of
the larger VT
• This hierarchical structure simplifies extraction of low speed stream from high speed stream

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 63

 SONET/SDH(4)
• Hierarchical multiplexing structure employed in SONET and SDH
Big VT

Small VT Small VT Small VT

Pointer
Pointer
Pointer

Pointer
Smaller VT

• In SONET: VTs with four sizes

• VT1.5, VT2, VT3, VT6 that carry 1.5, 2, 3, 6 Mb/s PDH streams
• VT group = 4 VT1.5s or 3 VT2s or 2 VT3s or a single VT6
• Basic SONET SPE (STS-1) = 7 VT groups = 51.84 Mb/s
• STS-N = N × STS-1 (byte interleaved) STS = Synchronous Transport Signal
• STM-1 = synchronous Transport Module = 155 MB/s

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 64

 The mapping of lower-speed
SONET/SDH(5)
DS1
PDH streams into VTs in
SONET Optical Carrier
(SPE + path overhead)
1.544 Mb/s SONET Signal SDH Bit rate
VT1.5 SPE VT1.5 ×4 signal [Mb/s]
E1 STS-1 51.84
2.048 Mb/s ×3
VT2 SPE VT2 VT group STS-3 (OC-3) STM-1 155.52
DS1C STS-12 (OC-12) STM-4 622.08
3.152 Mb/s ×2
VT3 SPE VT3 STS-24 1244.16
DS2 ×1 ×7
STS-48 (OC-48) STM-16 2488.32
6.312 Mb/s byte
VT6 SPE VT6 interleaved STS-192 (OC- STM-64 9953.28
DS3 192)
44.736 Mb/s
STS-1 SPE STS-1 ×N
ATM
48.384 Mb/s
STS-N
E4
139.264 Mb/s
× N/3
STS-3c SPE STS-3c
ATM
149.760 Mb/s
Locked payload: not possible to demultiplex into
lower-speed streams
DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 65
SONET/SDH(6)
• SONET/SDH network configurations (see next slide)
• Point-to-point
• Node at ends
• Terminal Multiplexers (TM)
• Line Terminating Equipment (LTE)
• Linear
• Inserting add/drop multiplexers (ADM) between TM in point-to
point-links.
• Allows insertion or extraction of smaller traffic at mid-points
• Rings
• ADM with added function of protection: High level of availability
• Unidirectional path-switched rings (UPSRs)
• Bidirectional line-switched rings (BLSRs)
• Two fibers BLSR/2, four fibers BLSR/4

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 66

SONET/SDH(7) TM
Backbone ring

Backbone ring ADM Point to point ADM

BLSR/2 BLSR/2
ADM Or ADM DCS ADM Or ADM
BLSR/4 BLSR/4
OC-12/OC-48 Central office OC-12/OC-48

ADM Central ADM ADM

ADM office ADM

UPSR UPSR
ADM DCS ADM Linear add/drop
ADM
OC-3/OC-12 OC-3/OC-12

ADM ADM ADM Access ring

TM
Access ring
UPSR
ADM ADM
 Digital crossconnect (DCS):
OC-3/OC-12
Manage all transmission
facilities in the central office
Access ring
ADM

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 67

 • Path layer: End-to-end connections
• Line layer:
SONET/SDH(8)
SONET/SDH layers • Multiplexes a numer of path-layer connection into
a single link
• Responsible for protection switching
• Section layer: Links consist of sections
• Present at each regenerator
Path layer Path layer

Line layer Line layer Line layer

Section layer Section layer Section layer Section layer

Physical layer Physical layer Physical layer Physical layer

connection
Regenerator
SONET SONET SONET
terminal ADM terminal

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 68

SONET/SDH(9)
SELF-HEALING SONET/SDH RINGS
• Causes for a ring to go down:
• Failure of a fiber link:
• Fiber is accidentally cutoff
• The transmission or receiver equipment on the fiber link fail.
• SONET/SDH device fails (rare)
• Services automatically restored: using the automatic protection
switching (APS) protocol.
• The time to restore the services has to be less than 60 msec.
• Link protection:
• Dedicated 1 + 1,
• The two devices are connected with two
different fibers.
• The SONET/SDH signal is split and simultaneously transmitted over both
fibers.
• The destination selects the best of the two signals based on their quality.
• The working and protection fibers have to be diversely routed

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 69

SONET/SDH(10)
SELF-HEALING SONET/SDH RINGS

• Link protection:
• 1:1 scheme,
• Two diversely routed fibers: a working fiber and a protection fiber.
• The signal is transmitted over the working fiber.
• If this fiber fails, then the source and destination both switch to the protection fiber.
• The 1:N scheme
• Generalization of the 1:1 scheme,
• N working fibers are protected by a single protection fiber.
• Only one working fiber can be protected at any time.
• Once a working fiber has been repaired, the signal is switched back, either automatically
or manually, from the protection fiber to the working fiber.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 70

SONET/SDH(11)
SELF-HEALING SONET/SDH RINGS
• Self-healing SONET/SDH ring architectures are distinguished by
• Number of fibers: A SONET/SDH ring can consist of either two or four
fibers. the working and protection rings are route diverse.
• Direction of transmission: A SONET/SDH ring can be unidirectional or
bidirectional.
• Line or path switching: Protection on a SONET/SDH ring can be at the
level of a line or a path.
• Line is a link between two SONET/SDH devices and might include
regenerators.
• A path is an end-to-end connection between
the point where the SPE originates and the
point where it terminates.
• Line switching restores all of the traffic that
pass through a failed link
• Path switching restores some of the
connections that are affected by a link failure.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 71

SONET/SDH(12)
SELF-HEALING SONET/SDH RINGS
• Two-fiber Unidirectional Path Switched Ring (2F-UPSR)
• Example: The working ring consists of fibers 1, 2, 3, and 4; the protection
ring consists of fibers 5, 6, 7, and 8.
• Unidirectional: A transmits to B over fiber 1 (working), and B transmits to
A over fibers
2, 3, and 4 (working).
• Protection: path level
using 1 + 1

• Simple ring architecture:

Used as a metro edge ring
to interconnect PBXs and
access networks to a metro core ring.
• Typical transmission speeds are OC-3/STM-1 and OC-12/STM-4.
• Disadvantage:The maximum amount of traffic it can carry is equal to the
traffic it can carry over a single fiber.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 72

SONET/SDH(13)
SELF-HEALING SONET/SDH RINGS
• Two-fiber Bidirectional Line Switched Ring (2F-BLSR)
• Used in metro core rings.
• Example:
• Clockwise transmission
(Ring 1): Fibers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
and 6.
• Counter-clockwise transmission
(Ring 1): Fibers 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,
and 12.
• Rings 1 and 2 carry working and
protection traffic.
• Assume: each fiber is OC-12/STM-4. Then, two OC-3/STM-1s are allocated
to working traffic and the other two to protection traffic.
• Since only two OC-3/STM-1s can be used for working traffic, the maximum
capacity that the 2F-BLSR can carry over both Rings 1 and 2 is OC-12/STM-
4.
• The capacity allocated to protection traffic on either Rings 1 and 2 can be
used to carry low priority traffic.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 73

SONET/SDH(14)
SELF-HEALING SONET/SDH RINGS

• 2F-BLSR
• Bidirectional:
• Ring 1 or Ring 2, depending on the route of the shortest path to the destination.
• A transmits to B over the working part of fibers 1 and 2 of Ring 1,
• B transmits to A over the working part of fibers 8 and 7 of Ring 2.
• Fiber 2 fails:
• line switching: Traffic over fiber 2 automatically switched to the protection part of Ring 2.
• All of the traffic will be rerouted to ADM 3 over the protection part of Ring 2 using fibers 7, 12, 11,
10, and 9.
• From there, the traffic continue on following the original path of the connection.
• Consider a connection from A to C (solid line).
• When fiber 2 fails, the traffic from A will be rerouted (dotted line).
• At ADM 3, it will be routed back to ADM 4 over fiber 3.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 74

Second Generation Optical Networks

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 75

 Optical Layers(1)
User applications

Virtual circuits Virtual circuits Virtual circuits

ATM layer Enterprise

Serial
SONET/SDH connections Connection
SONET/SDH layer ATM layer ESCON layer
Lightpaths

Optical layer

• Physical Layer
• First generation networks:
• Point-to-point, full bandwidth over single wavelength to layers above
• Second generation networks:
• Variable amounts of bandwidth
• Optical layer: Provide lightpaths to varaity of first-generation optical layers

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 76

 Optical Layers(2) Example:
SONET over optical layer

Optical Optical Path

Channel Channel Line

SONET/SDH layer
Section
Multiplex Multiplex Multiplex Physical
Section Section Section Channel

Optical layer
Multiplex
Amplifier Amplifier Amplifier Amplifier Section
Section Section Section Section Amplifier
Section
connection
WDM WDM WDM
node node node
Amplifier

• Optical layer OC (lightpath layer): end-to-end connections

• Each lightpath traverses a number of links, each link carries multiple wavelengths (WDM).
• Optical multiplex section OMS: point-to-point
• Consists of several segments

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 77

WDM OPTICAL NETWORKS
• Considerable increase in traffic became a driving force for WDM and its
evolution into dense WDM (DWDM).
• WDM refers to the technology of combining multiple wavelengths onto the
same optical fiber.
• Each wavelength is a different channel.
• At the transmitting end, there are W independent transmitters. Each
transmitter Tx is a light source, such as a laser, and is independently
modulated with a data stream. The output of each transmitter is an optical
signal on a unique wavelength λi , i = 1, 2, . . . , W.
• WDM: ~200 GHz spacing
• DWDM: ~50 GHz spacing

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 78

 Components: 2 × 2 Couplers(1)
• The 2 × 2 coupler is a basic device in optical networks,
• Fused-fiber coupler.
• Fabricated by twisting together, melting, and pulling two single-
mode fibers so that they get fused together over a uniform section
of length.
• Known also as directional coupler.
• The coupled optical power is varied by varying the length of the
coupling region, the size of the reduced radius of the core in the
coupling region, and the difference in the radii of the two fibers in
the coupling region.
• There is always some power loss when the light goes through the
coupler.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 79

 Components: 2 × 2 Couplers(2)
• Waveguide coupler
• A waveguide is a medium that confines and guides a propagating electromagnetic wave.
A waveguide coupler has two identical parallel guides in the coupling region.
• As in the fused-fiber coupler, part of the light going down one guide is coupled onto the
other guide.
• The degree of interaction between the two guides can be varied through the width of the
guide, the gap between the two guides, and the refractive index between the two guides.

• 3-dB coupler:
• Power is divided evenly between output ports
• Splitter: One input, two outputs
• Combiner: Two inputs, one output

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 80

 Components: 2 × 2 Couplers(3)

 Star coupler: Combines power from N inputs and splitts evenly to N outputs
 Fused-fiber method, limited to small N

 Combining 3-dB couplers in Banyan network

 Number 3-dB of couplers = (N/2) log N
2
 Each input is associated with a different wavelength.
 The star coupler combines
all of the wavelengths
together and then evenly
distributes them on all of
the output ports.
 It can also be used as
1-to-N splitter (demultiplexer)
or an N-to-1 combiner (multiplexer).

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 81

 Components: Optical Cross-connects(1)
• An optical cross-connect (OXC) is an N × N optical switch,.
• it can switch the optical signal on incoming wavelength λi of input fiber k to the
outgoing wavelength λi of output fiber m.
• If it is equipped with converters, it can also switch the optical signal of the
incoming wavelength λi of input fiber k to another outgoing wavelength λj of the
output fiber m.
• OXC can also be used as an optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM).
• In the example shown, wavelengths λ1 and λW of input fiber 1 are directed to
output fiber N. Likewise, wavelengths λ1 and λW of input fiber N are directed to
output fiber 1.
• An OXC should have:
• Low switching time (burst switching appl.)
• Low insertion loss: power lost because of the
presence of the switch in the optical
network.
• Low crosstalk: the ratio of the power
at an output from an input to the power from
all other inputs.
• Low polarization-dependent loss.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 82

 Components: Optical Cross-connects(2)
• Technologies for building a switch fabric of an OXC,
• Multi-stage interconnection networks of 2 × 2 switches (directional
couplers)
• electro-optic switch, thermo-optic switch, and the Mach-Zehnder
interferometer.
• Digital micro electronic mechanical systems (MEMS),
• Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA).
• Micro electronic mechanical systems (MEMS):
• dimension from a few hundred microns to millimeters.
• fabricated on silicon substrates using standard semiconductor
processing techniques.
• robust, long-lived, and inexpensive to produce.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 83

 Components: Optical Cross-connects(3)

• The 2D MEMS is a square array of N × N micro-mirrors (actuator and a

mirror) arranged in a crossbar.
• Each row of micro-mirrors = an input port, (single wavelength)
• Each column of micro-mirrors = output port.
• A micro-mirror can be either in the down or up position.
• For a wavelength on input port i to be switched to
output port j ,
• all micro-mirrors along the ith row, from
column 1 to port j − 1 have to be in
the down position,
• the micro-mirror in the (i, j ) position has
to be up,
• the micro-mirrors on the jth column from
rows i + 1 to N have to be in the down
position.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 84

 Components: Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer
• OADM can drop a number of incoming wavelengths and insert new optical
signals on these wavelengths. The remaining wavelengths of the WDM link
are allowed to pass through.
• The wavelengths that it adds/drops can be either statically or dynamically
configured.
• OADM can be easily implemented using the 2D MEMS architecture.

OADM Logical diagram 2D MEMS OADM

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 85

 Wavelength Routing Optical Networks

• Lightpaths
• Circuit-switched network.
• This connection is a circuit-switching connection and is established by
using a wavelength on each hop along the connection’s path.
• Exmaple
• Lightpaths from router A to C over OXCs
1 and 2; from B to D over OXCs 1 and 3;
and from C to D over OXCs 2
and 3.
• OXC 3 contains wavelength
converter
• Assumed single fiber carrying
W wavelengths,
• Unidirectional transmission.

DEPT. OF EXTC SH-2018 86