At no point in time has the importance of telecommunications been as much under the spotlight, as the drive to work from home escalates in response to global lockdowns. The increasing demand for high-capacity and faster data transmission rates over long distances has made fibre optic networks the go-to strategy. According to Maggie Kruger, MiRO product manager for MikroTik, MikroTik’s CWDM range has become the best solution to meet the demand for more capacity and faster data transmission rates with minimal infrastructure and far less effort.

The CWDM is a passive MUX/DEMUX unit, which allows you to combine up to eight fibre links into one, to simplify and reduce the cost of long-distance fibre installations. At the other location, the combined line is split back up again, so that instead of eight long fibre lines, you would only need one. The Coarse Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (CWDM) technology offers a solution which will increase the capacity of existing fibre infrastructure by enabling multiple channels/wavelengths over the same fibre cabling and will reduce costs for a new fibre optic deployment.

You can use a single optical fibre cable to create up to eight independent 1.25Gbps SFP (up to 40km) or 10Gbps SFP+ (up to 10km) links, offering a more affordable alternative to installing more fibre or leasing additional fibres. You can even use 1.25Gbps modules and 10Gbps modules at the same time. The operating principle of CWDM is not difficult to understand.  Imagine different colours of light, such as red, green, yellow and blue, these colours are transmitted through the air together and may mix, but they can easily be separated by using a simple device like a prism. It is like separating the ‘white’ light from the sun into a spectrum of colours with the prism. CWDM is equivalent to the prism in the operating principle.

“A CWDM system uses a multiplexer at the transmitter to join the several signals together. At the same time, it uses a demultiplexer at the receiver to split them apart,” continues Kruger. With the right type of fibre, it is possible to function as an optical add-drop multiplexer. “MikroTik’s routers and range of wireless solutions are now deployed in most countries around the world. The applications of both its new and existing internet technologies continue to provide novel offerings and these, coupled with existing fibre infrastructure are proven game-changers in the communication arena,” concludes Kruger.