“What problems will increased bandwidth density bring in the 400G era?” closer to speeds of 400G, what sort of problems re s inging up and how are the requirements to deliver increased bandwidth density being addressed, Antony Savvas looks at how the industry is adapting. withyournetwork infrastructurewill ‘only comeback tohauntyou’.He stresses the importanceofbuildingnetworks from thegroundupwith the future inmind. Zammitacknowledges that theconcept ofachievingacompletehigh-densityfibre management infrastructuremay seem
APPLICATIONS & RESEARCH
likea ‘daunting task’ formany operators,but says theycan
Anthony Savvas – see page 28
P otentialerrors thatneed tobe tackled include opticaldispersionover
overcome problems bygetting it rightat the outset.
Also,asopticalfibredoesnothave unlimitedbandwidth,eachopticalcarrier inafibre requiresaminimumamountof bandwidth inorder toeffectivelypropagate the signal.Eachcarrier inaDWDM system usesaportionof the totalopticalpower in thefibre.This results in limiting the total numberofcarriers thatarepossible (i.e., thechannel spacing).Themodulation
Axetris Micro-Lenses and Lens Arrays for 5G Networks FUTURE PROOFING He says, “Operatorsmustevolve their network tobe smarterandmoreefficient, and this startsbybuildinga ‘Layer0’fibre infrastructure that isbothversatileand agileenough tomanage theexplosive growth inopticalportconnectiondensity, whilebeing ready to supportanynew technologiesandapplicationswhichmay emergedown the road.”Headds, “Future- proofingyourconnectivity infrastructure in this fashioncanbedone inaway that is bothpracticalandbudget-friendly,while distanceandoptical ‘noise’.ChadLamb, chief systemsarchitect atopticalnetworking products supplierXKL, says, “Asyou increasebandwidthyouhave to increase power.When increasingpower,youhave to lookat thedistancebetweenamplifier locations toensureyouarenotadding toomuchor too littlepower. Ifyouadd toomuchpower,youcan interferewith theconstellationwithin themodulation scheme.ThiscouldcreateFEC,orForward ErrorCorrection.With increasederror in thenetwork,you loseperformance,andas youamplifyacross theampchain,youalso amplifynoise.So, the signal-to-noise ratio mustbeaddressed tomaintainaquality powerbalance.” scheme,baud rateandnumberofcarriers perchanneldetermineshowmuchoverall bandwidth isavailable in thefibre. “There are limitationsonhowmuchoptical powercanbe launchedbeforeothernon- linearities in thefibreprohibit the recovery of these signals,” saysLamb, “meaning the launchpowerpercarrier,aswellasoverall launchpower, is limited.Thisalso limits theoveralldistance signalscaneffectively propagatedownfibre.” With this ismind,MichelZammit,VP andGMatfibreconnectivity solutions enhancing theability tomanagenew serviceswithoutcompromisingnetwork performanceand reliability.”
The transition to the next generation 5G network requires the deployment of ever increasing numbers of transceivers and other high-speed data and telecom components. On the other hand, cost pressure is increasing and trickles down the supply chain to the individual parts making up the high-speed components. Axetris’ manufacturing process based on lithography
that are used in high speed components requiring very high coupling efficiency, such as WSS, Coherent - ICRs, ACOs, Modulators, µITLAs and TOSAs & ROSAs for 100G/400G/1T components and modules. Axetris operates its own 6 inch to 8 inch wafer MEMS foundry in Central Switzerland. Meet Axetris at ECOC 2018 in Rome at stand 526. www.axetris.com/en/micro- optics-and-services
capabilities allow to implement further features such as metallisation (alignment marks or solder pads), mechanical features, precise edges or DRIE structures and more. Such features can help to improve the assembly process steps, which in turn helps to reduce overall component assembly costs. Axetris AG serves customers with a wide range of micro-optics products
and etching achieves the high lens quality needed for coupling to single mode fibres or waveguides, as well as the precise lens placement required to match fibre-, waveguide- or photodiode arrays. The wafer-based manufacturing enables to scale to high volumes and low cost and therefore offers competitive alternatives to known solutions such as molded lenses etc. In addition, our processing 28 | ISSUE 13 |Q22018
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iXblue and Photonics Bretagne Deliver Multicore EY Doped Fibre
After a first phase of design optimisation, an optical fibre, including twelve Erbium/Ytterbium
and Lannion Trégor Communauté, started in 2016. The new active optical fibre has been characterised and delivered to Lumibird,the enterprise in charge of developing fan-in/ fan-out technologies that will allow the integration of the advanced fibre into an amplifier prototype. Its evaluation by end-users (Ekinops and Orange), in terms of both optical performances and power consumption, is expected by the project end.
develop power efficient components based on multicore rare-earth doped fibres in order to reduce size and cost of optical amplifiers and Reconfigurable Optical
capacity needs worldwide, where multicore optical fibres have attracted a great deal of interest over several years. As well as multicore passive optical fibres, active multicore fibres are seen as a key technology that will allow the implementation of more efficient and more flexible optical amplifiers, but is also suited for other applications such as lasers or sensors. Based on end-user requirements, the collaborative EFFLAM project has been built to
co-doped cores, has been fabricated by a
partnership of iXblue and Photonics Bretagne. The duo worked together as part of the Evolution des inFrastructures de réseaux de Fibres optiques grâce à L’Amplification à fibres Multi-coeurs (EFFLAM) project. The development can be viewed in the context of fast growing transmission
Add and Drop Multiplexers (ROADMs). Partners involved in the project are Lumibird (formerly Keopsys), iXblue, Photonics Bretagne, Orange Labs, Ekinops, Telecom Paris-Tech, and Institute Mines-Telecom/Telecom Bretagne. The three year project, funded by BPI France, Région Bretagne
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| ISSUE 14 | Q3 2018
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