Comparison of Passive DWDM and Active DWDM System
DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) technology is an ideal solution to address the capacity-hungry issue, which can simply fall into two types, passive DWDM and active DWDM. To greatly expand the bandwidth of the existing fiber system, both passive DWDM and active DWDM systems are designed to multiplex different wavelengths for carrying multiple signals over one single fiber. To better know the features of these two DWDM systems, the following will intend to learn what are the passive DWDM and active DWDM systems, and find their advantages and disadvantages.
Passive DWDM System Overview
Since there is no any active component used in the passive DWDM system, the performance of the passive DWDM link only depends on the optical budget of the DWDM transceivers used in the system. That’s to say, the transmission distance the passive DWDM system supports can’t be extended and is limited to the optical budget of the DWDM transceivers. We can learn from the figure below that shows a common passive DWDM system. Obviously, no active component like fiber amplifier and DCM module, but a pairs of 20 channels DWDM Mux are used. This design allows for high capacity transmission and makes capacity expansion possible. In short, it is very suitable to deploy passive DWDM system in metro networks and high speed and capacity communication lines.
Active DWDM System Overview
Unlike passive DWDM system, active DWDM system can be composed of fiber amplifier, DWDM Mux, DWDM transceiver, DCM module and OEO transponder, which can be also called transponder-based system. Due to its active feature, it is easier to manage and control the optical active DWDM network. Here offers the design of the active DWDM system for your reference.
Active DWDM
In the active DWDM system, the transponder usually utilizes short wave 850nm or long wave 1310nm to do the optical-electrical-optical (OEO) DWDM conversion. When the long distance is required in the active DWDM system, several EDFA fiber amplifiers will be inserted along the active DWDM link. What should be noted is that the active DWDM link can’t be extended infinitely, because the number of fiber amplifiers for an active DWDM link is limited to the optical cable type, the channel count, the data transmission rate of each channel, and permissible OSNR value, etc.
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