Low-cost hybrid ROADM architectures for scalable C/DWDM metro networks

CWDM networks have proven to be a promising first-step metro and access network architecture, offering a significant cost advantage over DWDM due to the lower cost of lasers and the filters used in CWDM modules. If demand grows beyond the capacity covered by CWDM channels, DWDM network elements can be introduced to merge CWDM and DWDM traffic at the optical layer. This ensures two advantages: reduced initial investment and scalability for deploying DWDM channels in the future. This article presents various ROADM architectures, and explores the novel optical node architecture of hybrid C/DWDM networks, consisting of CWDM, hybrid C/DWDM, and junction nodes connecting two rings. Evaluation has shown that the hybrid ROADM architecture is superior to other conventional ROADM architectures in terms of scalability and the initial cost of optical nodes and networks.