Widely used in telecommunications are optical methods where the carrier wave is in the classical optical domain. A carrier of very high frequency, generally 186 to 196 THz, may carry analog or digital signals up to a few gigahertz (GHz) or gigabits per second (Gbps) via wave modulation. In fact, by employing several carrier waves that are propagating on a single fiber with little to no contact, the bitrate may be boosted even higher.
Every frequency has a unique wavelength associated with it. For extremely close frequency spacing, dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) is used. In this blog, let’s know about DWDM and how does it work.
What Exactly Is DWDM?
Dense wavelength division multiplexing, or DWDM, is a technique used in fiber-optic networks, which transfer data using light through fine plastic or glass fibers. By encoding each transmission on a separate light wavelength, DWDM mixes several data streams on a single fiber line. Signals are recognized and separated after they have arrived at their destination.
The world is run by fiber optics and they are structurally ingrained in every aspect of our communications. Additionally, fiber optics for use in all facets of networking continue to improve in accessibility and cost. Make sure you’re utilizing the appropriate tools for the task when you need to maintain the integrity of any network.
Only by having a thorough awareness of what is available will you be able to achieve that assurance. These days, studying DWDM technology can help you advance your comprehension. It is a crucial and in many cases wholly indispensable kind of fiber optic communications. Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) is a type of fiber optics that are designed particularly for activities involving a lot of data. Two aspects of DWDM architecture are principally responsible for addressing such data-intensive requirements.
This is fiber optic multiplexing, to start. This indicates that the wires are connected in a way that permits simultaneous data streaming in two directions. To put it another way, every node on the network can send and receive data concurrently.
What Are DWDM’s Common Applications?
DWDM is mostly employed in applications that demand it because of the exceptional data density it can deliver. Telecommunications is the most popular of these applications. Internet service providers frequently use communication hubs to run DWDM.
Similarly to this, dense data centers frequently use DWDM. The flexibility to run different data formats and speeds on each channel greatly aids data centers in streamlining their networks, even though aggregate data rates are crucial.
The other significant user of DWDM is the cloud service industry. As you might expect, to satisfy demand, business cloud providers need the tremendous bandwidth offered by dense fiber optics.
In conclusion, DWDM is one of several ways to establish a network. Some of the quickest data are provided.
Advantages Of DWDM
Let’s go through some of the advantages of DWDM:
Transparency
The physical layer architecture of DWDM allows it to transparently handle TDM as well as data formats like ATM, Gigabit Ethernet, ESCON, and Fibre Channel with open interfaces across a single physical layer.
Ability to scale
DWDM may easily address the need for capacity on point-to-point links and on spans of existing SONET/SDH rings by utilizing the availability of dark fiber in many metropolitan areas and business networks.
Adaptive provisioning
Network connections may be quickly, easily, and dynamically provisioned, enabling service providers to offer high bandwidth services in days as opposed to months.
How Does DWDM Work?
A single stream of light is conveyed through a fiber-optic cable using DWDM, which multiplexes optical signals with different frequencies into multiple data channels. Eight separate light wavelengths can concurrently send up to 80 data streams through the fiber since each optical signal has its unique frequency.
DWDM-based networks can handle bit rates between 100 Mb/s and 2.5 Gb/s and can transfer data in IP, ATM, SONET/SDH, and Ethernet. As a result, DWDM-based networks may transmit various types of traffic via an optical channel at various rates.
The signals are demultiplexed and distributed to their different data channels at the opposite end by a multiplexer. Because the laser light sources for producing signals across fiber must be extremely steady, DWDM-supporting devices are more expensive.
The Bottom Line
The goal of DWDM is to expand the fiber-optic cable’s usable bandwidth. For instance, using DWDM, each fiber may transmit 2.5 Gbps of data on as many as 80 channels, giving each optical fiber a capacity of 200 billion bits per second. Organizations may access astounding levels of bandwidth thanks to DWDM technologies because the majority of fiber-optic connections are made up of hundreds of fiber strands.
