wavelength crossconnect (ROADM) (WXC)

A wavelength crossconnect (WXC) is an optical component in a wavelength division multiplexed optical network.

A WXC crossconnect switches a certain number of input signals from the incoming optical fibers to the output port and thus to the output fibers. The number of switches and multiplexers exponentiates with the number of input and output fibers. Each input fiber can be switched to each output fiber. The resulting interconnection possibilities result from the multiplication of inputs and outputs. No regeneration or wavelength conversion takes place in the wavelength cross- connector.

WXC components are part of reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers, Reconfigurable OADMs( ROADM), and serve as a switching matrix between the input and output ports.