DWDM technology allows for multiple signals to be sent simultaneously along a single fiber at different wavelengths, increasing bandwidth and making it adaptable for various types of data. It addresses growing customer demands for streaming video and can virtually split fiber capacities into more than two carriers.
As data transmission gets heavier and heavier, it requires stronger and stronger fibers to travel on. In the world of technology, there’s stronger and then there’s denser, and density is what’s needed, in most cases. Rather than building more and more fibers, researchers prefer to make it possible to move ever-increasing amounts of data about existing fibers. One way to do this is to use DWDM, which stands for Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing.
Basically, this technology uses less to achieve more. It can be likened to a band of radio frequencies, where various stations can broadcast their signals without making it impossible for listeners to hear what they want to hear. DWDM bundles multiple signals together and sends them simultaneously along a fiber, with transmissions occurring at different wavelengths. This turns a single fiber into the virtual equivalent of multiple fibers, not just a few.
Systems up to 160 wavelengths are not entirely uncommon. Thanks to this cutting-edge technology, existing fibers were able to transmit at speeds of up to 400 gigabits per second. The method of transmission is also extremely adaptable and versatile, as the type of data and the wavelength at which the data travels can vary.
Telecommunications companies have sought such technologies to address a growing range of customer demands, including streaming video, which requires large amounts of bandwidth to create real-time broadcasts. Some leading service providers have reported bandwidths doubling approximately every six to nine months. DWDM enables such transmissions by virtually splitting the fiber capacities into more than two carriers.
In some ways it can be thought of as a pipeline that allows more and various substances to cross it at the same time. In the real-world example of a pipeline, however, the all-too-real problem of finite space would have to be overcome. In the world of fiber optics, finite space presents no problem.
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