dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM)
Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) is a technology that puts data from different
sources together on an optical
fiber, with each signal carried at the same time on its own separate light wavelength.
Using DWDM, up to 80 (and theoretically more) separate wavelengths or channels of data can be
multiplexed into a lightstream transmitted on a single optical fiber. Each channel carries a time
division multiplexed (TDM)
signal. In a system with each channel carrying 2.5 Gbps (billion bits per
second), up to 200 billion bits can be delivered a second by the optical fiber. DWDM is also
sometimes called wave division multiplexing (WDM).
Since each channel is demultiplexed at the end of the transmission back into the original
source, different data formats being transmitted at different data rates can be transmitted
together. Specifically, Internet (IP) data, Synchronous Optical Network data (SONET), and
asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) data
can all be travelling at the same time within the optical fiber.
DWDM promises to solve the "fiber
exhaust" problem and is expected to be the central technology in the all-optical networks of
the future.
Contributor(s): Herschel Salan and David Williams
This was last updated in July 2007
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