5G OMUX for 5G Optical Network

Since 2006, Gigalight has been dedicated to providing the best optical devices for telecom customers. Today, Gigalight has accumulated the most comprehensive portfolio of optical transceivers covering 100M to 400G optical transmission networks. These products adopt the latest form factors such as QSFP28, QSFP56 and QSFP-DD, as well as the latest PAM4 and coherent technologies. At the same time, Gigalight has also prepared the best solution for 5G commercials around the world, the proudest of which is the 10G/25G/100G industrial transceivers and 5G OMUX portfolio for 5G fronthaul.

Gigalight has always regarded product reliability as one of the most important indicators, and through long-term and large investment in R&D, it is now guaranteed that all products will achieve the best reliability within the GR standard of MTBF>20 years. Depending on the scaled production line and the automated production line being deployed, Gigalight has a strong supply capability and continues to reduce product costs by continually optimizing product design and production processes. At present, Gigalight has provided ultra-low-cost and ultra-high-performance optical transceivers and passive components to some of the world’s leading carrier customers for 5G commercial networks.

5G OMUX

LWDM Series 5G OMUX

Gigalight’s 5G OMUX LWDM Mux/Demux Module (25Gb/s per channel) is based on TFF platform. This LWDM features ultra-low loss and super thermal stability, and unparallel reliability. The module features up to 3 low dispersion channels, enabling it to be a high capacity, low-cost solution for LWDM system or WDM PON network applications. Easily customizable, Gigalight’s LWDM module can be configured from a standard list of packaging and connector options.

DWDM Series 5G OMUX

3CH/6CH DWDM MUX/DEMUX

>Low Insertion Loss

>Hight Isolation

>Industrial Temperature Range

Gigalight’s 5G OMUX DWDM Mux/Demux Module (100GHz channel-spacing) is based on TFF platform. This DWDM features ultra-low loss and super thermal stability, and unparallel reliability. The module features low dispersion channels, thereby enabling it to be a high capacity, low-cost solution for DWDM network applications. Easily customizable, Gigalight’s DWDM module can be configured from a standard list of packaging and connector options.

WDM Technology Will Be Broadly Used in the Coming 5G

 

1

An Overview of WDM

WDM stands for Wavelength Division Multiplexing. WDM is the most important and most popular method to increase the capacity of a single strand of fiber.  

Traditionally, only one colored light was used on a single strand of fiber to carry the information, such as 1550nm light. However, starting from the early 1990s, the Internet boom pushed service providers to find a method to increase the capacity on their network in the most economical way. That is when WDM devices were invented.

In a WDM system, many different colored lights are combined by a WDM multiplexing device and put into a single strand of fiber, each color is called a channel.

On the receiver side, each color is separated into its own channel by a WDM de-multiplexing device. It shows that a single fiber’s capacity is increased by 40 times with a 40 channel WDM. The beauty of WDM is that you only need to upgrade the end equipment, no need to dig up trenches to bury more fibers, which is much more costly.   
2

Communication systems are designed differently, and the width of the gap between each wavelength varies. Depending on channel spacing, WDM can be subdivided into CWDM and DWDM.

CWDM and DWDM

CWDM supports up to 18 wavelength channels transmitted through a fiber at the same time. To achieve this, the different wavelengths of each channel are 20nm apart.

DWDM, supports up to 80 simultaneous wavelength channels, with each of the channels only 0.8nm apart. 

CWDM technology offers a convenient and cost-efficient solution for shorter distances of up to 70 kilometers.

For distances between 40 and 70 kilometers, CWDM tends to be limited to supporting eight channels. Unlike CWDM, DWDM connections can be amplified and can, therefore, be used for transmitting data much longer distances.

 

  • Wavelengths Used in WDM

 

DWDM is typically limited to 1450 to 1650nm

CWDM may operate over the full range of 1280 to 1650nm

 

  • Laser Source Spacing

 

DWDM uses lasers at ~0.8nm spacing

CWDM uses lasers at a 20nm spacing  

Advantages of WDM Technology

  1. Large transmission capacity can save valuable optical fiber resources. For single-wavelength optical fiber systems, a pair of optical fibers are needed to transmit and receive a signal, while for WDM systems, no matter how many signals there are, the entire multiplexing system only needs a pair of optical fibers. For example, for 16 2.5gb /s systems, the single-wavelength optical fiber system needs 32 optical fibers, while the WDM system only needs 2 optical fibers.
  2. It can transmit different types of signals such as digital signals, analog signals, etc., and can synthesize and decompose them.
  3. When the network capacity is expanded, there is no need to deploy more optical fiber, nor need to use high-speed network components, only need to change the end machine and add an additional wavelength of light to introduce any new service or expansion capacity, so WDM technology is an ideal means of capacity expansion.
  4. The dynamic reconfigurable optical network can be constructed, and the all-optical network with high flexibility, high reliability, and high survivability can be formed by using optical division multiplexer (OADM) or optical cross-connection device (OXC) at the network nodes.

WDM Technology Is Expected to Optimize Cost for 5G Development

The 5G wireless infrastructure necessitates wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology to optimize fiber usage. Fixed and reconfigurable multiplexing are two approaches that provide tradeoffs in terms of network scalability, reliability, and cost. Optical networks closest to the antenna are the most cost sensitive and can benefit from fixed WDM solutions. Gigalight’s broad portfolio of WDM modules is available in various configurations including coarse-WDM (CWDM), dense-WDM (DWDM) modules and other WDM solutions.