How to Build an Economical Long-haul 500Gbps Metro Network?

četvrtak , 25.05.2017.

Through years of persistent endeavor, experts have already published 40Gbps and 100Gbps solutions to address the need for higher bandwidth, which have been gradually used for bandwidth-hungry applications. In spite of this, the trend for higher bandwidth seems never ending and now 500Gbps solution for Metro network has been also put forward for thousands of kilometers transmission, in order to meet the increasing network requirements. Considering that the deployment cost for 500Gbps Metro network is very high, the following will offer a cost effective 500Gbps solution that utilizes singlemode fiber patch cable, DWDM Mux and Demux and optical amplifier to build the long-haul 500Gbps Metro network.

Singlemode Fiber Patch Cable for 500Gbps Metro Network

As we know, many fiber patch cables are required in the long point-to-point connections, which would cost high. Hence, in order to build an economical long-haul 500Gbps Metro network, it is necessary to take the fiber patch cable cost into account. Which kind of fiber should be used for the long-haul 500Gbps network? Can it save the cost? Is there any solution to save fibers? The following text will seek the answers.

Singlemode fiber patch cable is undoubtedly the best choice for long-haul 500Gbps Metro network. But its cost would takes a certain percentage in the whole network budget. How to solve it? Under this case, using DWDM technology to deploy the 500Gbps network is highly recommendable that requires only one singlemode fiber to transmit multiple signals, allowing for a big cost saving. When it comes to DWDM network, the DWDM Mux and Demux can’t be ignored. It is the most indispensable optical component to multiplex and demultiplex signals with different wavelengths, which make the 500Gbps transmission over one singlemode fiber possible. In order to save fiber cost, let’s learn how to deploy 500Gbps DWDM network over one singlemode fiber patch cable, instead of point-to-point fiber connections.

DWDM Mux and Demux for 500Gbps Metro Network

How to use the DWDM Mux and Demux to deploy a cost effective 500Gbps network? Firstly, we should choose two 40 channels DWDM Mux and Demux and insert the 10G DWDM SFP+ transceivers into the 40 channels. Hence, a total 400Gbps load is achieved. Secondly, utilizing the extra 1310nm or 1550nm port on the DWDM Mux and Demux with the 100G QSFP28 LR4/ER4 transceiver to support a total 100Gbps transmission. Hence, the whole transport 500Gbps (400G + 100G) can be finished. If you only need a 440Gbps network, you can just insert the 40G QSFP+ LR4/ER4 transceiver into the extra port. What should be noted is the wavelength of the 100G or 40G transceiver should be the same to that of the extra port. To better know how does the 500Gbps network work, here offers a figure that illustrated the network design to run such huge network load over a single fiber.

Optical Amplifier for Long 500Gbps Metro Network

Although the singlemode fiber patch cable and DWDM Mux and Demux can address the 500Gbps issue, we still need to use optical amplifiers including semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) to enhance the signal power when the 500Gbps transmission distance is quite long. As shown in the following figure, the semiconductor optical amplifier is deployed in the extra link for boosting the 100G signals, which can extend the transmission up to 60 km. While the erbium-doped fiber amplifier should be deployed in the DWDM transmission link to enhance the 40 10G signals, enabling hundreds of kilometers transmission. Hence, the long 500Gbps Metro network can be finally built.

Conclusion

Due to the high cost for upgrading the current network equipment to higher data rate, it would be be more cost effective to build a long-haul 500Gbps DWDM Metro network with the use of DWDM Mux and Demux and optical amplifier (semiconductor optical amplifier and erbium-doped fiber amplifier). The DWDM Mux and Demux makes the 500Gbps network load possible through a single fiber, while the optical amplifier allows the 500Gbps signals to be transmitted longer. These two DWDM optical components are very critical to deploy the economical long-haul 500Gbps Metro network.

Oznake: semiconductor optical amplifier, erbium-doped fiber amplifier