 Introduction

 Colorless and Directionless ROADM architectures

◦ PXC based architecture
◦ WSS based architecture
 Colorless, Directionless and Contentionless ROADM
architecture
 Practical Implementation Issues
 Conclusion
 Triple Play
Services

Rich Media
Services

US HQ

Business Scientific
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Services Research
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Challenges:
 Services are unpredictable in terms of their bandwidth, routing patterns
and requirements.
 Provisioning high bandwidth connectivity to every single site.
 Expectations - access to all the contents on demand, at any time and from
anywhere.
 In this unpredictable business environment, deliver all the services, as
quickly as possible.

Solutions:
 Next gen agile optical network – reconfigurable and scalable optical layer
 ROADMs – Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers.
 Colorless and Directionless architecture.
 In ROADM-driven optical systems, the flexibility of the mesh network
can be extended by Colorless and Directionless (C&D) feature at every
node in the network
 Colorless feature at a local add/drop port - ability of tunable
transponders to have wavelength transparent access to all the DWDM
network ports
 Directionless feature at a local add/drop port - ability of tunable
transponders to have non-blocking access to all the DWDM network
ports
 C&D feature enables efficient use of all the tunable access resources for
on-demand and high bandwidth network configuration and simplify the
network architecture
At a 4 degree node, the architecture consists of:
 320x320 non-blocking 3D MEMS large optical switches at the core
of PXC
 A set of AWG based 40 channel Mux/Demuxs
 Tunable transponders at local add/drop ports

PXC based C&D architecture

Sample mesh optical network

Advantages
 Provides Colorless and Directionless feature
 Provides Contentionless feature - same wavelengths carrying different
information can be received/sent simultaneously with the help of multiple
tunable transponders from/to different input/output fiber ports
 Efficient utilization of wavelengths
 Provides 100% add/drop at the local ports
 Minimal loss

Concerns
 As the number of ports N, in NxN core switch grows the number of
possible connections increases as N2
 Does not support multicasting – can not drop a wavelength from a
direction while simultaneously sending the same wavelength to other
directions along the express path
 Core switching fabric acts as a single point of failure
 Both the cores are kept
active to avoid
challenges faced while
switching the entire
services
 Protection Switching
Card (PSC) - performs
the functions of a 2x1
Protection Switch (PS)
and also a passive
splitter (S)
 Protection is provided
per transponder basis

Protection Scheme employed with dual core switching matrix in

PXC based architecture
 VOA
λ1

λ2

λ3

λ4

λ40

Port 1 Port 2 Port 3 Port 4 Port N

 VOA
λ1

λ2

λ3

λ4

λ40

Port 1 Port 2 Port 3 Port 4 Port N

 The architecture
consists of:
◦ 1x9 WSS modules
◦ Multi-port splitter
combiners (S/C)
 S/C at the local
add/drop site
provides expansion
facility.
 WSS along each
direction can either
block or allow a
certain wavelength.
 WSS is a better
choice along each
direction as it offers
intelligent
functionalities than a
passive combiner.
Advantages:
 Provides Colorless and Directionless feature at the local add/drop site
 WSS can provide Dynamic Channel Equalization and hence maximizes
overall performance
 Any wavelength from any direction or originating at that node can be
multicast to all the directions
 Offers Pay-as-you-grow approach – allows modular growth
 Scalable in terms of both
node-degree and number of
add/drop wavelengths

 Number of WSS modules

required at the local add/drop
site depends on the number
of ports in it.
Concerns:
 Very expensive on day 1
 Does not provide contentionless add/drop

 Consider 2 different
services on same
wavelength with common
end point – no contention
 If another service on same
wavelength to the same
end point – contention
 Contention can be avoided
with multiple WSS & S/C
modules, but expensive
 CD&C architecture is realized by combining the WSS based
ROADMs with PXC
 The WSS modules and multi-port splitter combiners are replaced
by PXC in the WSS based C&D architecture
 CD&C architecture
consists of:
• WSS modules
• Multi-port splitter
combiners
• 320x320 non
blocking 3D MEMS
based PXC
 Provides all the features offered by both PXC based and WSS based
architectures
 PXC used for the local add/drop provides the Contentionless
add/drop access in addition to C&D feature
 Allows modular growth in number of transponders depending on
number of add/drop wavelengths at the local add/drop site
 Better wavelength utilization
 Minimal optical power loss compared to WSS based architecture
 Completely eliminates the need for a number of WSS modules and
splitter combiners at the local add/drop site – Minimum CAPEX
 Performance analysis
 Choice of sub-system technologies
 Cost considerations
 Other challenges
 Power budgeting and OSNR calculation
 Distances between the nodes in the sample mesh network -
80km
 Launch power of a 10Gbps tunable transponder :
◦ 1.5dBm - PXC based C&D architecture
◦ 4.5dBm - WSS based C&D architecture
◦ 4.0dBm - CD&C architecture
 Minimum permissible value of the power level, at the APD
receiver is -26dBm
 Every wavelength from a local add site must pass through:
◦ Protection Switch Card, PSC (3.5dB loss)
◦ 320x320 MEMS switching core (2.5dB loss) Total loss of 13.5dB
◦ 40 channel Mux (4dB loss)
◦ Protection Switch PS (3.5dB loss)
 Every wavelength along the pass-through channels are sent via:
◦ 1x2 power splitter (3dB loss)
◦ 40 channel Demux (4dB loss)
◦ 320x320 MEMS switching core (2.5dB loss) Total loss of 17.0dB
◦ 40 channel Mux (4dB loss)
◦ Protection Switch (3.5dB loss)
 Every wavelength that is to be dropped must pass through:
◦ 1x2 power splitter(3dB loss)
◦ 40 channel Demux (4dB loss)
◦ 320x320 MEMS switching core (2.5dB loss) Total loss of 13.0dB
◦ Protection switch (3.5dB loss)
 Fiber loss for each fiber link of 80km 20.0dB (loss of 0.25dB/km)
 Every wavelength from a local add site must pass through:
◦ Protection switching card, PSC (3.5dB loss)
◦ Two WSS modules (6dB loss each) Total loss of 33.5dB
◦ Two 1x8 power splitters (9dB loss each)

 Every wavelength along the pass-through channels are sent via:

◦ 1x8 power splitter (9dB loss)
Total loss of 15.0dB
◦ WSS module (6dB loss)

 Every wavelength that is to be dropped must pass through:

◦ Two 1x8 power splitters (9dB loss each)
◦ Two WSS modules (6dB each) Total loss of 33.5dB
◦ Protection switching card (3.5dB loss)

 Fiber loss for each fiber link of 80km 20.0dB (loss of 0.25dB/km)
 Every wavelength from a local add site must pass through:
◦ Protection Switch Card, PSC (3.5dB loss)
◦ 320x320 MEMS switching core (2.5dB loss)
◦ 40 channel Mux (4dB loss) Total loss of 19.5dB
◦ Protection Switch PS (3.5dB loss)
◦ WSS module (6dB loss)

 Every wavelength along the pass-through channels are sent via:

◦ 1x8 power splitter (9dB loss)
Total loss of 15.0dB
◦ WSS module (6dB loss)

 Every wavelength that is to be dropped must pass through:

◦ 1x2 power splitter (3dB loss)
◦ 1x8 power splitter (9dB loss)
◦ 40 channel Demux (4dB loss)
Total loss of 22.0dB
◦ 320x320 MEMS switching core (2.5dB loss)
◦ Protection switch (3.5dB loss)

 Fiber loss for each fiber link of 80km 20.0dB (loss of 0.25dB/km)
 Launch power of a 10Gbps tunable
transponder :
◦ 1.5dBm for the case of PXC based C&D
architecture
◦ 4.5dBm for the case of WSS based C&D
architecture
◦ 4.0dBm for the case of CD&C architecture
 Each channel suffers a specific loss
 EDFAs at various locations provide the
required amplification to keep optical
power level within the limits
 24dB 13dB
18dB
18dB
18dB 12dB

20dB 16dB  EDFAs are associated with specific noise

figures (NF) which vary with amplification
values
 1
OSNRcurent_stage= 1 NF hν∆f
OSNRprevious_stage + Pi/p_current_stage(Watts)

◦ NF = Noise figure of the amplifier

◦ h = Planck’s constant = 6.634 x 10-34
◦ Δf = bandwidth that measures the NF
= 0.5nm (62.08GHz)
◦ ν = optical frequency = 193 THz

 CD&C architecture has better OSNR

performance
 CD&C ROADM architecture could also
be 40Gbps ready as it readily provides
the 6dB higher OSNR margin

OSNR values at amplifiers along a chosen path

 Plays important roll in the performance of architecture
 Liquid crystal based switches - stable but slight defect introduces
a high power loss
 ‘Bubble’ based switches – high switching speed but lesser core
size
 Thermo optical waveguides – faster switching but constant
heating and cooling causes adverse on the device
 MEMS based switches – requires vibration free environment but
provides high i/p & o/p port counts, minimal loss, low PDL
 In PXC based & WSS based architectures, cost of implementation is
very expensive
 CD&C architecture - relatively lower CAPEX
 The overall cost of architecture at a node is calculated by:
◦ cost of the devices
◦ cost based on number of ports used for a particular add/drop ratio
 No. of ports used = (No. of degrees) x (No. of channels per degree) x 2 +
(Add/drop ratio) x (No. of degrees) x (No. of channels per degree) x 2
 For PXC based architecture:
◦ $ 200 per PXC port
◦ $ 3,000 for a pair of AWG based Mux/Demuxs
 For WSS based architecture:
◦ $ 9,000 for a 1x9 WSS module
 The same costs were considered for CD&C architecture
 At lower add/drop
ratio, PXC based
architecture is very
expensive
 WSS based architecture
becomes expensive as
more no. of
wavelengths
added/dropped
 As the add/drop ratio
increases, the CD&C
architecture is very cost
effective
 Complex interconnections between core switches and
Mux/Demuxs or other components
 Integrating core switches with other components –
reduces complexity, power requirement and space
occupied
 However, it has the drawback of making it a single-
vendor solution
 Scalability beyond 8 degrees and 40 channels
 Colorless, Directionless and Contentionless ROADM architecture
enabled by the combination of WSS based ROADM and PXC is
proposed
 Practical implementation issues of CD&C architecture were
discussed
 CD&C provides
◦ contentionless add/drop along with Colorless and Directionless features
◦ dynamic optimization of lightpaths by optical bridge-and-roll
◦ elimination of wavelength conversion
◦ alternate protection paths
 CD&C architecture is a promising solution:
◦ Flexibility
◦ Ease of provisioning
◦ Modular add/drop
◦ Minimal pre-planning
 All the reviewers for their comments which led to a
significant improvement of the paper
 Prof. Byrav Ramamurthy for the valuable suggestions