WDM technology will be widely used in 5G

WDM technology makes full use of the huge bandwidth resources brought by the low loss area of single-mode fiber, mixes light of different speed wavelengths for transmission, and determines the network capacity according to user requirements by adding new wavelength characteristics.

Traditionally, only WDM modules are used to transmit information on single-mode, such as 1550nm wavelength. However, since the early 1990s, the booming development of the Internet has prompted suppliers to find a way to increase the network capacity most economically-WDM equipment has therefore appeared.

CWDM and DWDM

• CWDM supports up to 18 wavebands simultaneously transmitted through optical fiber, from 1270nm to 1610nm, each waveband is separated by 20nm;

• DWDM supports up to 80 simultaneous wavelength channels, each channel is only 0.8nm apart.

• CWDM technology provides a convenient and cost-effective solution for a transmission distance of up to 70 kilometers;

For transmission distances between 40 and 70 kilometers, CWDM usually only supports eight channels. Unlike CWDM, DWDM connections can be amplified, so it can be used for longer-distance data transmission.

Advantages of WDM technology

• Large transmission capacity can save precious optical fiber resources

For a single-wavelength optical fiber system, a pair of optical fibers are needed to send and receive signals; for a WDM system, no matter how many signals there are, only one pair of optical fibers is required for the entire multiplexing system. For example, for 16 2.5gb/s systems, a single-wavelength optical fiber system requires 32 optical fibers, while a WDM system requires only 2 optical fibers.

•  Different types of signals have good compatibility

 Such as digital signals, analog signals, etc., WDM technology can be synthesized and decomposed.

• Support network capacity expansion

When the network capacity expands, there is no need to deploy more optical fibers or use high-speed network components. You only need to replace terminal machines and add additional wavelength light sources to introduce any new equipment or expand the capacity. Therefore, WDM technology is an ideal method for capacity expansion...

•  Flexible networking

By using an optical division multiplexer (OADM) or optical cross-connect equipment (OXC) in the network, an all-optical network node with high flexibility, high reliability, and high survivability can be formed.

4WDM technology is expected to optimize 5G development costs

5G wireless infrastructure requires WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) technology to optimize the use of optical fiber. Fixed and reconfigurable multiplexing are two compromise methods provided in terms of network scalability, reliability, and cost. The optical fiber network closest to the antenna is the most cost-sensitive and can benefit from a fixed WDM solution. Xintai can provide CWDM, DWDM optical modules, and other WDM solutions.