Bandwidth demand keeps growing with 5G backhaul, data center interconnect and cloud services, but fiber doesn’t scale as easily. In many areas, particularly those less populated, fiber scarcity limits deployment of these services which has real economic and social consequences. But it can also happen in dense urban areas, especially those that have a lot of datacenters where fiber demand is off the charts. In these areas, and others, leased strands are expensive, new builds mean civil works and permits, and demand far outstrips supply. The result: the need to fully maximize the fiber assets you have by using a single fiber strand for bi-directional transmission.
Ekinops has single-fiber capability at both 10G and FlexRate™ coherent up to and including 800G. Each direction uses its own wavelength band, so traffic travels both ways over one strand. Whether you have access to one strand or two, single-fiber operation can benefit you.
Three network situations where operators and enterprises turn to single-fiber transmission.
Find your answer to common questions on Ekinops single-fiber bi-directional transmission solution.
Ekinops splits the usable C-band spectrum into two sub-bands using dedicated optical filters, one for each direction, supporting up to 32 wavelengths in each sub-band running in opposite directions on the same strand. At 10G, this uses wideband receivers tuned to accept any incoming channel. At coherent rates up to 800G, each end uses a dual laser architecture, where the receive-side laser acts as a local oscillator tuned to the incoming channel’s wavelength.
Yes. A single-fiber network carries fewer channels because the C-band is split into two sub-bands, one for each direction. Each sub-band supports up to 32 wavelengths.
Yes. Single-fiber operation requires the bi-directional amplifier, couplers and multiplexers.
No. Single-fiber operation is supported on 10G as well as 400G/600G/800G line cards.
Yes. If you already have two fiber strands, each one can run in single-fiber mode independently, supporting route diversity and 1+1 protection designs rather than one pair used as a single link. For service providers, that also means each strand can generate its own revenue instead of sharing one connection.
