Implications of Super-Channels

on CDC ROADM Architectures

Anuj Malik, Wayne Wauford, Zhong Pan, Nitin K Goel,
Steve Hand, Matthew Mitchell
Infinera Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA, USA
OFC 2014

Emergence of Super-Channels
DWDM super-channel

10 @ 50GHz

500 GHz

10 Super-Channel

375 GHz

Advantages of Super-Channels

Very high speed (up to 1 Tb/s)

Eliminate guard bands between channels
Increased fiber capacity
Lower operational complexity

Many recent experiments, field trials, and

deployments

Capacity of ROADM Node:

Super-Channels vs 100G Wavelengths

Unified channel of multiple optical carriers

Provisioned in a single operational cycle

400G/500G/800G/1Tb/s
Over 1Pb/s of deployed 500G super-channels

Terabits per second

200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2

4
5
6
ROADM Degrees

Super-channels increase
ROADM scale

ROADM Capabilities

Basic ROADM

Colorless-ROADM

Reconfigurable express &

add/drop (replace
FOADM)

Enhances Basic-ROADM

Specific l mux port

1 x mux per direction

1 x mux per direction

Enables any channel

connected to any mux port

CDC-ROADM
Colorless: any channel to
any mux port
Directionless: share mux
between directions
Contentionless: multiples of
same l can be add/drop to
same mux

CDC ROADM Provide Truly Flexible Optical Transport Infrastructure

Super-Channel CDC ROADM Architecture

Flexible Grid: support super-channels > 50GHz

System 1-8 IN
System 9 IN

Directionless: share mux between directions

1X16
WSS
System 16 IN

Line In

1X16
WSS

Contentionless: multiples of same l can be

add/drop to same mux

System 9 OUT

North

System 16 OUT

System 1-8 OUT

Super-channel Routing Module

with Flexible Grid Twin WSS

Express channels

FSP-E

Add/Drop channels

Amp

8 Line In/Out ports

Route and Select

Architecture

Amp

WSS WSS

Super-channel
Routing Module

Amp

Line Out

Colorless: any super-channel to any mux port

FSP-AD

East

West

Super-channel Switch Modules,

Multicast Switch (MCS) based

Super-channel
Switch
Modules

Super
Channel

MCS
Super
Channel

MCS
Super
Channel

Super
Channel

Super
Channel

16 Add/Drop In/Out ports

MCS

Super
Channel

Dual 8x16 Multicast Switch

FSP: Fiber Shuffle Panel for MPO fibers

Super-Channel CDC ROADM Simplify Networks

Super-channels are higher capacity than single
e.g., 400G, 500G, 800G, 1Tb/s

Significantly less Routing and Switching Module

ports

Compared to wavelength-based

Example: 1 Tb/s
Two 500Gb/s super-channels
Ten 100Gb/s wavelengths
2 vs. 10 add/drop ports

Node-level Comparison
4 degree CDC ROADM with Full Add/Drop
100G Waves

500G Superchannels

# of Switch
Modules

24

# of Routing
Modules

Total

32

CDC ROADM diagrams based on S. Gringeri et al.,

Flexible Architectures for Optical Transport Nodes
and Networks, IEEE Communication Magazine,
Vol. 48, no.7, July 2010, p.40

Super-channel CDC ROADMs Network Study

North American Long-haul Network Model
# of Nodes

87

# of Spans

434

Average Node Degree

2.6

Max Node Degree

Total Fiber Distance

40% annual growth

5
32,130km

Traffic Types
City-to-city
Data Center-to-Data
Center
International traffic from
submarine cables

Super-channel CDC ROADMs Network Study

500G Super-channels vs. 100G Wavelengths
Assumptions:
CDC ROADM (up to 8 degrees)
1x16 WSS for Routing Module
8x16 MCS for Switch Module
# of Super-channel vs 100G line modules
per year

Integrated OTN switching

100G line module
500G super-channel line module

# of Super-channel vs 100G ROADM elements*

per year

1000%
800%

400%
# of ROADM Elements
(using Yr1 S-C ROADM as the
base)

# of Line Modules
(using Yr1 S-C LMs as the base)

1200%
Super-Channel Line Modules
100G Line Modules

600%
400%
200%
0%

350%

Super-Channel ROADM

300%

Wavelength-based ROADM

250%
200%
150%
100%
50%
0%

Year 1

Year 3

Year 5

Year 1

*ROADM elements = Routing and Switch Modules

Year 3

Year 5

Conclusion
Emerging technology

Super-channels

Network scale

Ease of operation

CDC ROADMs
Super-channel
CDC ROADM

Colorless, Directionless, Contentionless

Most flexible and efficient optical transport

Flexible Grid
Significantly fewer ROADM elements
Less operational complexity

Super-channel CDC ROADMs simplify networks

Thank You