Wave division multiplexing technology and applications

WDM increases the bandwidth capacity of existing fibre plant by using optical filters to multiplex and demultiplex N laser wavelengths onto one strand of fibre. The growth in services such as broadband and personal mobile has increased the transport bandwidth requirements and put pressure on the installed fibre plant. Transport equipment suppliers are offering a range of optical solutions to their customers to allow them to take advantage of WDM. Optical amplifiers play a key role in WDM systems, both to compensate for coupler/filter loss and reduce the number of regenerators required in the proposed network expansion. This paper presents the issues relating to the use WDM in the transport layer and discusses the levels of multiplexing readily achievable