THEORETICAL SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON A WDM SURVIVABLE UNIDIRECTIONAL OPEN RING NETWORK USING TUNABLE CHANNEL SELECTING RECEIVERS

In this paper theoretical and experimental investiga tions on a Wavele ngth-Division-Multiplexed (WDM) reconfigurable open ring network are r eported. The theoretical study is focused on network component charact eristics and ring network structure. These aspects will form the basis of numerical modeling. A powerful Computer Aided Design software ''CO MSIS') is used for the simulation. The simulation takes into account t he most important parameters: node structure, link losses, EDFA charac teristics, optical powers of the channels, and signal wavelength arran gements. The power of a new channel added at each node and its wavelen gth with respect to those present before the node are two important pa rameters in the performance analysis of this open ring network. If the performance criterion is to receive the channels with high signal to noise ratios (SNR) and a narrow spread Delta SNR, the optimal length o f this ring network can reach 366 km for 4 nodes and 565 km for 8 node s. The experimental demonstrator is composed of 4 secondary nodes inco rporating Tunable Channel Selecting Receivers (TCSR's) and Erbium Dope d Fiber Amplifiers (EDFA's). The reconfiguration and the protection of the ring is computer controlled. Experimental results of a fully conn ected testbed demonstrator are also presented.