Flexible OADM Architecture and Its Impact on WDM Ring Evolution for Robust and Large-Scale Optical Transport Networks* PAPER Joint Special Issue on Recent Progress in Optoelectronics and Communications

This paper discusses global area optical transport ring networks using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technologies and proposes a novel optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM) architecture suitable for such an application field. Study on the requirements of a global area ring application elucidates the appropriate ring/ protection architecture as the path switched bi-directional ring. The proposed OADM architecture has flexibility in terms of path provisioning and scalability. We conclude that the proposed OADM can effectively configure the large-scale path switched bi-directional rings. key words: optical transport network, ring network, global area network, optical add/drop multiplexer, path protection