The design of a European optical network

This paper presents a number of design issues under consideration in the development of an all-optical network linking major centers in Europe. The proposed network is characterized by spanning a large geographical area, the diameter is in excess of 3000 km, but with a relatively small number of nodes (20). The study combines aspects of two optical network projects funded by the European Commission: COST 239-ultra-high capacity optical transmission networks and RACE 2028: multiwavelength transport network. The network uses multiwavelength technology and combines wavelength selection and space switching to achieve signal routing. One of the objectives of the study is to understand the extent to which transparency can be achieved in such a large network. For example the effect of using amplifiers to achieve transparency is to provide extremely long fiber paths in which non-linear effects may become significant and effectively limit the number of wavelengths that can be employed; this limit may be at conflict with the number of wavelengths required from a traffic viewpoint. The paper therefore considers capacity requirements, transmission limitations and node and network architecture issues. It is concluded that partitioning of the network may be necessary to maximize transparency and suggestions are made as to how this might be achieved