Analysis of significant factors in DWDM optical communication systems

Purpose: The current generation of light wave systems benefit from increased transmission distance by using optical amplification and increased capacity by using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology. The reach of present systems is limited by the noise contributed by the used amplifiers, combined with nonlinear effects from transmission. This paper aims to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach: The nature and extent of degradations in the optical DWDM systems due to these limiting factors have been discussed in this paper. Findings: It has been learnt that stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), four wave mixing (FWM) and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) are the important factors in optical DWDM systems. These factors limit the system capacity of the transmission systems drastically. Originality/value: It can be concluded from the discussion that while designing an efficient DWDM system, an optimization of the channel separation and the amplifier separation is required to minimize the nonlinear effects (FWM and SRS) along with the ASE noise introduced by inline optical amplifications.