In 1985, Televerket (the Swedish Telecommunication Authority) field tested BOH Optical AB’s three-channel fiber-optic WDM system. They wanted to use the same technology but for drop/insert networks adapted to Nokia’s electronics.

On March 3, 1985, BOH Optical AB had conducted the first test run of its transmitter module with success! Next, the entire system was tested in a real-world environment.

The most important module in the project was the fiber optic transmitter, which would later be labeled Optical TX B 201. At that time, the few scientific articles published internationally about WDM mainly dealt with the MUX and DEMUX components.

Part 2 delves deeper into this exciting project. The new laboratory was unveiled at an open house event in 1983, a success! It was around 75 visitors, virtually everyone of significance in photonics, from academia and industry in Sweden.

Welcome to my first blog! The theme for this one and the ones to come is Sweden's forgotten WDM Breakthrough in the 1970s and 1980s with the world's first two fiber optic systems for WDM transmission.