
Introduction
TheFiberPlexWDMisan8or16ChannelWavelengthDivisionMultiplexer,witheachopticalchannelbroughtouttoanSFPslot,sotheuser
doesnotneedtosupplywavelength‐specificmodules.EachchannelcanbelinkedviafiberwithselectedFiberPlexFOMorFOIfibermodules,
FiberPlexLightViper™orwithvirtuallyanythirdpartyfiberopticequipmentwithdataratesfrom155megabitsupto3gigabitsperchannel,
forapossiblemaximumaggregatedatarateof48gigabits.
TheuserdataentersandleavestheWDMvia16SFPslotsontheWDM16,or8slotsontheWDM8AandWDM8B,whichcanbeleft
unpopulatedforunusedchannels,orpopulatedwithuser‐suppliedMSA‐compliantSFPmodulesthatareappropriatefortheuser’sdatarate,
protocolandjitterrequirements.Internally,theseconnecttofiberoptictransceiverswhicharetunedtothespecificwavelengthsforthe
channels,whicharethenmultiplexedontotheaggregatepairwhichconnecttotheotherWDM(s)inthelink.Datathatentersaspecific
channelononeWDMwillappearonthecorrespondingchannelontheotherWDM(s)inthelink,withnointerferencewithanyother
channels.
Possiblelinkconfigurationsare:
WDM16toWDM16–all16channelsthrough
WDM8AtoWDM8A–all8channelsthrough
WDM8BtoWDM8B–all8channelsthrough
TheaggregatefibersfromtheWDMunitsexitthechassisviaaduplexLCcoupler,whichconnecttosinglemodefiber,upto20kminlength.
Sincethisisanaggregatedwidebandstream,anyuserequipmentintheopticalpath(switches,couplers,etc.)mustbeabletoaccommodate
theentirebandwidthwithoutattenuation,andwillnotbeabletoreceiveordecodethestreamdigitally.
TheWDMunitshaveprovisionfortwo(2)powersupplymodulesforredundancyeachhavingcapacitytopowertheentireunit.AnACpower
inputmoduleisavailablenowandaDCversionisindevelopment;bothare‘hotswappable’.
KeyFeatures
16(or8)ChannelActiveWaveDivisionMultiplexer
Combines16(or8)opticalchannelsintoasinglefiberpair
Eachchannelindependentlysupportsdataratesfrom155MBupto3GB
SMPTEcompatibleinternalfiberoptics,videooptimizedtosupportPathologicalSignals
Eachopticchannelcanindependentlyacceptmultimodeorsinglemodeoptics,coaxconnectionorCAT5usingflexibleSFPmodules
Fullyredundant,hotswappablepowerforultimatereliability
WDMTheoryofOperation
Infraredlighthasafrequencyofapproximately400Terahertz(400,000Gigahertz).Thatisabout125,000timeshigherthanthedatarateofa
typical3GigabitSFP,whichmeansalargeproportionofthebandwidthofafiberopticcableiswasted.Thecurrentstateoftheartdoesnot
allowutilizingallofthatbandwidth,butwecanrecoversomeofitbyatechniquecalled“CoarseWaveDivisionMultiplexing,”or“CWDM.”
Essentially,itisthesimpletechniqueoftakingeach3Gigabitchannelandusingittomodulateadifferentfrequencyinthat400Terahertz
bandwidth.Thisisdonethroughaseriesofopticalfiltersandcombiners,alongwithlasersandphotodiodestunedtoaparticularinfrared
centerfrequency.Historically,however,opticsarereferredto,notbytheirfrequency,butbytheirwavelength,whichisthespeedoflight
dividedbythefrequency.
InthetraditionalimplementationofaCWDM,itistheuser’sresponsibilitytoprovidethetailoredSFPsandtheCWDMitself,whichmay
requireadapterstointerfacewiththeuserequipment.
TheFiberplexWDMline,ontheotherhand,isanactiveWDM,withthewavelength‐specificcomponentsalreadytestedandconfigured.
Insteadofawavelength‐specificopticalfiber,agenericSFPelectricalinterfaceisprovidedforeachchannel.AnySFPthatconformstothe
MSAcanbeinserted,evencopper‐basedSFPslikegigabitEthernet,SDI,HDMIorMADI.
TheinternalSFPshaveafull3Gigabitbandwidth,video‐optimized.GenericfiberSFPshavelimitationsinpassingvideosignals,sincetheydo
notmaintainaconstantDClevel.Thevideo‐optimizedSFPsareconstructedtobetterhandletheshiftingDClevelsinvideosignals.