Chapter 7. Long-Haul Optical Networks
This chapter covers the following topics:
Light has an information-carrying capacity that is 10,000 times greater than the highest radio frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum. Nowhere is capacity more important than in long-haul networks, where communications converge between great masses of people. Since the 1980s, long-haul networks have followed the light to create today's capacious long-haul optical networks.
Long-haul optical networks benefit from two complementary ascendancies: the speed of optical modulation and the density of optical wavelengths. Both perpetuate the intrinsic capacity of optical fiber, the essential looking glass of long-haul networking.
Long-haul optical networks are classified based on achievable distance without signal regeneration. Long haul, extended long haul, and ultra long haul are distinct designations for long-distance optical networking.
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