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Installation and Networking Guidelines for Optical Routing
Chapter 1
Describing the optical routing system
Nortel Networks* optical routing system uses coarse wavelength division
multiplexing (CWDM) in a grid of eight optical wavelengths. CWDM Gigabit
Interface Converters (GBICs) in the switch transmit optical signals from Gigabit
Ethernet ports to multiplexers in a passive optical shelf. Multiplexers combine
multiple wavelengths traveling on different fibers onto a single fiber (Figure 1).
At the receiver end of the link, demultiplexers separate the wavelengths again and
route them onto different fibers which terminate on separate CWDM GBICs at the
destination. The system supports both ring and point-to-point configurations.
Figure 1 Wavelength division multiplexing
This chapter includes the following topics:
• “Parts of the optical routing system” next
• “Gigabit interface converter description” on page 18
• “Optical add drop multiplexer description” on page 19
• “Optical multiplexer/demultiplexer description” on page 21
Multiplexer
10539EA
1
signal
2
signal
3
signal
4
signal
Demultiplexer
Single Fiber
1
signal
2
signal
3
signal
4
signal
= Wavelength