Numerical analysis of transparency limitations in optical core networks

Transparent optical core networks offer the possibility of using the optical fibre amplifier bandwidth by optical frequency division multiplex (OFDM) techniques, whereas routing within transparent optical crossconnects in conjunction with linear and nonlinear fibre effects leads to significant decrease of transmission length. These effects can be illustrated by the transparency length diagram. To overcome the problems with the combined analytical investigation of transparency limits, a software package, BroadNeD, which allows the numerical analysis of transparency limitations in optical networks has been developed. Results of typical simulation scenarios are presented.