What is DWDM Transceiver?

5/19/15  |  Technical Article

DWDM Transceiver, as its name suggests, is a kind of optical transceiver which combines the DWDM technology. DWDM transceiver uses different wavelengths to multiplex several optical signal onto a single fiber, without requiring any power to operate. These transceivers are intended for high-capacity, long-distance transmissions, with speeds up to 10 Gbps and spanning a distance up to 120 kilometers. Meanwhile, the DWDM transceivers are designed to Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) standards in order to ensure broad network equipment compatibility. 10G DWDM transceiver modules support ESCON, ATM, Fibre Channel, and 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) over each port. In general, the DWDM transceivers are available as DWDM SFP, DWDM SFP+, DWDM XFP, DWDM X2, and DWDM XENPAK modules etc.

Functions & Principle of DWDM Transceivers

The basic function and principle of DWDM transceiver is as same as other optical transceivers, to convert the electrical signal to optical signal and then to electrical signal. But the DWDM transceiver is the transceiver based on DWDM applications, and specially it has its own features and functions. Compared to Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) transceiver, DWDM transceiver is designed for single mode fiber and operates at a nominal DWDM wavelength from 1528.38 to 1563.86 nm (Channel 17 to Channel 61) as specified by the ITU-T. It is designed to deploy in the DWDM networking equipment in metropolitan access and core networks. It is with the SFP 20-pin connector to allow hot-plug capability. The transmitter section uses a DWDM multiple quantum well DFB laser and is a class 1 laser compliant according to International Safety Standard IEC-60825. In addition, DWDM transceivers of many vendors are designed to be compliant with SFF-8472 MSA. Recent innovations in DWDM transport systems include pluggable and software-tunable transceiver modules capable of operating on 40 or 80 channels. This dramatically reduces the need for discrete spare pluggable modules, when a handful of pluggable devices can handle the full range of wavelengths.

Applications of DWDM Transceiver

DWDM transceivers are usually used in DWDM systems, though the cost of DWDM transceivers are higher than the CWDMs’, with the increasing demands, DWDM is becoming more and more widely used in MANs, or LANs. There are different applications of different package types DWDM transceivers. In general, DWDM SFP can be applied in amplified DWDM networks, Fibre Channel, Ring topologies with fixed and reconfigurable OADMs, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet and other optical transmission systems. DWDM SFP+ can be applied in 10GBASE-ZR/ZW, 10G fiber cable etc. And DWDM XFP is uaually used in the fields that meet the 10GBASE-ER/EW Ethernet, 1200-SM-LL-L 10G Fibre Channel, SONET OC-192 IR-2, SDH STM S-64.2b, SONET OC-192 IR-3, SDH STM S-64.3b and ITU-T G.709 standards. Other types, such as DWDM X2, DWDM XENPAK are with the similar applications. In addition, these DWDM transceivers can also be used in switch to switch interface, switched backplane applications and router/server interface etc.