Continued cost- and power-efficient capacity scaling in optical networks is imperative to keep pace with ever-increasing traffic demands. In this paper, we investigate multi-wavelength transponders as a potential way forward. Suitable system architectures and realistic specifications of multi-wavelength transponders are identified and analyzed in terms of transmit OSNR penalties and spectral constraints. We investigate the performance for different specifications as compared to single-wavelength transponders in a network planning study on two network topologies, developing guidelines for multi-wavelength transponders specifications and their potential benefits. The studies show a reduction in the number of required lasers of up to 83% at the expense of a slight increase in number of lightpaths, demonstrating the potential for significant cost savings and efficiency improvements.

翻译：持续实现光网络中经济高效且节能的容量扩展对于满足不断增长的流量需求至关重要。本文研究了多波长收发器作为潜在的发展方向。我们识别了合适的多波长收发器系统架构及实际参数，并从发射OSNR惩罚和频谱约束方面进行了分析。通过基于两种网络拓扑的网络规划研究，我们对比了不同参数下多波长收发器与单波长收发器的性能差异，为多波长收发器的规格制定及其潜在优势提供了指南。研究表明，在光路数量略有增加的前提下，所需激光器数量最多可减少83%，这表明多波长收发器在显著节约成本和提高效率方面具有巨大潜力。