
478 Principles of Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
The dispersion limit of the cable is decided by a factor called bandwidth-
distance product (BDP). Thus, the higher the bandwidth, the lesser is the
distance of the link.
A typical BDP for a single-mode ber (nondispersion shifted) operating at
1550 nm is 75 Gbps/km.
Thus, if our bandwidth is 622 Mbps (STM-4), our dispersion limit for the
distance will be
D = 75,000/622 = 121 km
which is much higher than our link length of 60 km; thus, we do not have to
worry on the dispersion front. However, if our payload is STM-16 (2.5 Gbps), then
D = 75,000/2500 = 30 km.
This means our link length becomes ...