Hyper Dense Wavelength Multiplexing (HDWM)

HDWM expands the use of available fiberoptic cable by multiplexing any of the existing multi-color channels by a factor of as much as two orders of magnitude.  Since the HDWM system is highly linear there is no crosstalk between these channels and this allows for a much more efficient use of the cables already installed in metropolitan areas.

The underlying technology of this approach makes use of phase modulation as contrasted to intensity modulation.  The attributes of this technological approach are that it decreases the noise figure, increases the available bandwidth, reduces the distortion of amplification, and is not subject to crosstalk between the channels.  The approach uses an optical phase diversity receiver

Applications: This technology is appropriate for both DoD and commercial applications.  For DoD platforms it provides distribution of sensor/control data, redundant fiber links to and from multiple locations, and chip-scale hyper-dense frequency division multiplexing.  The technology is flexible and permits mixed analog and digital signals without interference.  It allows programmable signal-to-noise/bandwidth and bit rate/bandwidth products. The channels are available fulltime and require no time-division multiplexing

For the metropolitan-area fiber-optic distribution networks, even though there are already many multi-color channels, there will be a need to increase the number of discrete channels as the usage demands increase.  The high-fidelity nature of this approach will increase each optical channel's usage and will permit as much as a hundred-fold increase in the aggregate data rate in each of the existing channels.

A patent protecting this technology has been issued and a proof of concept has been demonstrated by a recognized organization.