Branching unit for telecommunications optical cable systems
US5655036A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 1, 1994 |
| Grant date | Aug 5, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 1, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04B10/07
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An active branching unit for interconnecting three cables (two trunk cables and one spur cable) each including optical fibres. In a first interconnection configuration fibres of the trunk cables are connected together via the spur cable. Optical switch means, comprised for example by an erbium doped fibre amplifier (EDFA) (20) and an optical attenuator (21) in series, are disposed between optical fibres of the two trunk cables and are such as to pass telecommunications traffic between the trunk cables when, for example, there is fault in the spur cable and an alternative configuration is required. In this case a pump signal is applied to the EDFA (20) and the loss of the attenuator (21) overcome so that traffic can pass directly between the trunk cables and thus be diverted from the spur cable. This path switching can be achieved automatically.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.