Patent · US Expired

DWDM channel detection system

US6911645B2 · kind B2 · utility

7Cited by
1References
12Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 7, 2003
Grant dateJun 28, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 24, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04B10/66
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A channel detection system includes an interferometer coupled to a spectrum analyzer to differentiate additive spontaneous emission (ASE) noise from optical channels in a dense wave-division multiplex (DWDM) signal. It is assumed that channels, if present, are centered at frequencies corresponding to a standardized channel grid. The relative delay of the interferometer is chosen to be greater than the coherence time of the ASE noise but less than the coherence time of the channels with the interferometer's free spectral range set to an integer divisor of the channel-to-channel frequency spacing of the grid such that active channels experience a high degree of interference. The phase delay of the interferometer is then adjusted to maximize the interference at each grid-aligned frequency. The spectrum-analyzed outputs are compared (e.g., subtracted from one another and then thresholded) to determine the channels present in the DWDM signal.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.