Minimizing bandwidth narrowing penalties in a wavelength selective switch optical network
US8542999B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 1, 2011 |
| Grant date | Sep 24, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 16, 2031 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04Q2011/0086
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
This invention relates to provisioning wavelength-selective switches and reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers to minimize the bandwidth narrowing effect from the optical filters. Novel architectures and methods are disclosed that can significantly reduce bandwidth-narrowing on channels in a reconfigurable WDM network where a large number of optical filter elements are cascaded. Instead of blocking unused channels as in the prior art, unused channels are selectively provisioned depending on the state of their adjacent channels. Unused adjacent channels of an active channel are provisioned to follow the same path as the active channels. As each channels is deployed, the channel frequency is selected so as to minimize bandwidth narrowing.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.