Wavelength Division Multiplexing (or WDM) is part of the changing landscape that is the optical backbone of any respectable network, wireless or otherwise. Since larger networks require frequent OSNR checks (optical signal-to-noise-ratio) to maintain optimum performance standards and clue technicians in to where they should boost signals where necessary, wouldn’t it be easier if this checking-then-amplifying-appropriate-signals only required a technician to push the “start” button to make a measurement?
Of course it would. Thankfully, EXFO’s (News - Alert) WDM-aware technology far surpasses anything else in the optical telecommunications industry in that it optimizes OSNR readings by determining the presence of polarization mode dispersion (PMD), crosstalk from neighbors, polarization multiplexing, polarization scrambling, and reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers.
One must wonder about how some people in the optical telecommunications industry have relied upon polarization nulling to measure OSA given its limitations in situations that require a great deal of processing, like when OSA is 20 dB or more or there are 16 or more channels being managed by one device?
Indeed, polarization nulling has been shown to be rather slow and sometimes inaccurate in such situations. Thankfully, EXFO’s WDM-aware technology has no problems with such challenges due to its more robust processing algorithm.
WDM-aware technology is also superior as a method for measuring OSNR since it is not as susceptible to PMD in comparison to polarization nulling, nor is it limited by the polarization extinction ratio; this means that not only will OSNR be measured more accurately, but it can be measured and subsequently dealt with more quickly.
This last point cannot be emphasized enough as more and more signals are multiplexed on a single fiber and the general ambient intrachannel noise gets progressively more complex as time goes by and more optical telecommunications are in use. Eventually, the old method of polarization nulling will be obsolete due to its aforementioned limitations and EXFO’s WDM-aware technology will be the industry standard.
Do you want to wait until you cannot perform without EXFO’s products or should you be looking into them right now?
Edited by Jennifer Russell