Transmission impairments in WDM networks

Summary form only given. In recent years there has been increased activity in studying the application of WDM techniques to networking in addition to straight point-to-point systems. In particular, attention has been paid to optical transport and access networking, using modeling and experiment to understand the benefits of such approaches. Optical networks have different and more complex characteristics than point-to-point systems and hence understanding the transmission limitations associated with such networks requires more complex modeling. The network end-to-end performance is a function of many variables, which may have different statistical properties, and is also dependent on the size and topology of the network. Examples of major network related issues are given: crosstalk; amplifier gain flatness and equalization; wavelength converter impairment; active switches; filter cascades and stability; gated amplifiers.