Increased span length: external DWDM optical amplifiers (OAs)
Overview
For OC-192 spans of up to 140km, Alcatel-Lucent offers DWDM optical amplifiers. The DWDM optical amplifier is a stand-alone shelf and can be used with both regular and DWDM OC-48 and OC-192 optics.
Concept
Optical amplifiers consist of one booster and one pre-amplifier part. The booster part is connected via a Dispersion Compensation Module (DCM) to the transmit interface of the respective OC-192 or OC-48 port unit. The pre-amplifier is connected by means of a DCM to the receive interface of the associated port unit.
Applications
The DWDM optical amplifier has two main applications:
A simple example for a single span application is shown in the following figure.
Figure 3-32: External optical amplifier application
Further information
For a description of the optical amplifier's physical specifications, see External optical amplifiers in Chapter 4, Product description.