Dispersion constraints in optical burst switched metropolitan networks with WDM/OCDM technology

Abstract

In this work we study the influence of Chromatic Dispersion (CD) and Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) in the performance of Optical Burst Switched (OBS) Metropolitan networks using the hybrid WDM/OCDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing/Optical Code Division Multiplexing) technology with Optical Orthogonal Codes (OOC). The analysis is carried on the context of a metropolitan network, since its resources are limited and the WDM/OCDM technology is becoming an interesting way to improve the utilization of wavelengths. However, the pulse broadening is also increased when using WDM/OCDM technology, since the chip rates are higher than the bit user rates due to the process of code construction, and the dispersion mechanisms must be taken into account even when modeling metropolitan optical networks, in which the route distances are much smaller than that in a core optical network.