DWDM Solutions for Arista 7500E Series Switches

Nowadays, the deployment of DWDM solution has been hotly debated in many enterprise networks, especially in the new Lay2 and Lay3 equipment like Arista 7500E series switches. For many enterprises, DWDM network solutions are undoubtedly the best choices of action, because they can provide a scalable and elastic solution for the enterprise that offered high bandwidth and data separation. This article will demonstrate DWDM solutions to Arista 7500E switches which are the foundation of two-tier open networking solutions for cloud data centers.

Analysis of DWDM System

DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) is a technology allowing high throughput capacity over longer distances commonly ranging between 44-88 channels and transferring data rates from 100 Mbps up to 100 Gbps per wavelength. For intra-datacenter solutions, an endpoint connection often uses multimode (850 nm) for short ranges and single mode (1310 nm) for longer ranges. The DWDM node converts this local connection to a channelized frequency or wavelength, which is then multiplexed with other wavelength and transmitted over a single fiber connection.

A key advantage of DWDM is that it’s bitrate independent. DWDM-based networks can transmit data in IP, ATM, SONET, SDH and Ethernet. Therefore, DWDM systems can carry different types of traffic at different speeds over an optical channel. Voice transmission, email, video and multimedia data are just some examples of services which can be simultaneously transmitted in DWDM systems.

Arista 7500E 100G DWDM Line Card

With full support for Layer2 and Layer3 protocols, Arista 7500E series switch is the ideal option for the network spine for two tier data centers applications. Arista 7500E especially provides the perfect resolution for high bandwidth Metro and long-haul DCI solutions with the 6-port DWDM line card. It has great advantage to migrate from existing 10G DWDM to 100G coherent line side modules. The 7500E series DWDM line card provides six 100G ports with coherent 100G tunable optics, which enables customers to connect directly into existing WDM MUX module without the need to add transceivers, which can save cost and space to a large extent. The coherent optics use C-band region wavelengths and offer a cost efficient solution for up to 96 channels of 100Gb over a single dark fiber pair.

Use Cases for Arista 7500E DWDM Card

• Less Than 80 km Dark Fiber Connection
  For distance less than 80 km, Arista 7500E switch with DWDM line cards can directly terminate a dark fiber connection with a pair of passive DWDM Mux, thus achieving a point-to-point connection between two locations.

• Between 80 km and 150 km Connection
  For distance greater than 80 km but less than 150 km, losses occurred during the process of transmission should be considered. In order to boost the power level, an EDFA (Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier) is used to gain flatness, noise level, and output power, which is typically capable of gains of 30 dB or more and output power of +17 dB or more. With the use of EDFA, the signal can be boosted into a certain power level, thus achieving distances of up to 150 km.

Conclusion

The Arista 7500E series DWDM solution offers a cost-effective solution for transporting scalable and massive volumes of traffic, and enhances the 7500E system by providing high performance 100G DWDM port density with the same rich features and dedicated secure encryption in compact and power-efficient systems. Enterprises can easily migrate existing metro and long-haul DWDM networks to add new 100G capacities, thus expanding Layer2 and Layer3 services.

Originally published at http://www.china-cable-suppliers.com/dwdm-solutions-arista-7500e-series-switches.html

Using EDFA Amplifier for Long-Haul CATV Systems

With Laser technology combining with fiber optic technology, CATV systems in the field of optical communication have demonstrated unprecedented and irreplaceable achievements in the past few decades. When transmitting optical signals with fibers, fiber attenuation is the main factor that limits the transmission distance. EDFA (Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier) designed for CATV long-haul transmission avoids the conversion of optic-electric-optic in CATV long-haul transmission. It amplifies low signal power into high signal power, thus extending transmission distance. This post analyzes EDFA configurations and the utilization in long-haul CATV systems.

EDFA Leading Position in CATV Systems

EDFA is one of the most prominent achievements in fiber optic transmission technology over the past decade. Because it cleverly combined the laser technology and optical fiber manufacturing technology in the CATV systems and its applications were then rapidly expanded. Originally PDFA and EDFA amplifiers were equally used for CATV systems, but today, EDFA has completely replaced PDFA and become the primary device for fiber optic transmission systems. Why EDFA has leading position on CATV systems? Because EDFA noise and distortion characteristics are better, and its superior characteristics can be clearly seen in the following:

• Operates at wavelength of 1550nm, consistent with C-band where fiber has the lowest loss
• Has higher saturation output power, useful in systems requiring transmission up to 100 km or systems requiring the optical signal to be split to multiple fiber optic receivers
• The signal gain spectrum is wide up to 30nm or more, can be used for broadband signal amplification, especially for WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) system, ideal for radio and data services networks
• Has user friendly interface RS232, easy to control and monitor with computers
• Low noise figure with high stability

EDFA Configurations

The configuration of a co-propagating EDFA is shown in Figure 1. The optical pump is combined with the optical signal into the erbium-doped fiber with a wavelength division multiplexer. A second multiplexer removes residual pump light from the fiber. An in-line optical filter provides additional insurance that pump light does not reach the output of the optical amplifier. An optical isolator is used to prevent reflected light from other portions of the optical system from entering the amplifier.

An EDFA with a counter propagating pump is pictured in Figure 2. The copropagating geometry produces an amplifier with less noise and less output power. The counter propagating geometry produces a noisier amplifier with high output power. A compromise can be made by combining the co- and counter-propagating geometries in a bi-directional configuration.

A Typical CATV System Using EDFA

Figure 3 illustrates a basic long-haul CATV transmission system designed to carry 77 channels of CATV signals for 100 km in a basic point-to-point configuration.

As you can see in Figure 3, the local CATV provider sends 77 channels of CATV signals at the transmitting side. After processing and RF combining, those multiple signals are combined into one channel of CATV signal with the wavelengths of 1550 nm. It transmits over a single-mode optical fiber to 50 km. An EDFA amplifier is used at the middle point to amplify the signals to a certain power level, continuing to transmit over a single mode fiber to 100 km. At the receiving side, the 1550nm CATV channel is split into multiple channels of 1550nm CATV signals, serving multiple hotel cable TV users.

FS.COM CATV EDFA Optical Amplifiers List

EDFA has undoubtedly received wide interest for CATV applications because of its high output power, low distortion and low noise capability. FS.COM supplies optical amplifiers including CATV EDFA, SDH EDFA, DWDM amplifier, etc. The following table lists FS.COM CATV EDFA amplifiers which are available with range of output power from 13 dBm to 24 dBm to meet the requirements of a high-density solution for the large-scale distribution of broadband CATV video and data signals to video overlay receivers in a FTTH/FTTP or PON system.

Originally published at http://www.china-cable-suppliers.com/using-edfa-amplifier-long-haul-catv-systems.html