Subchannel photonic routing, switching and protection with simplified upgrades of WDM optical networks
US9641278B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 12, 2013 |
| Grant date | May 2, 2017 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 12, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04Q2011/0081
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention includes novel techniques, apparatus, and systems for optical WDM communications. Tunable lasers are employed to generate respective subcarrier frequencies which represent subchannels of an ITU channel to which client signals can be mapped. In one embodiment, subchannels are polarization interleaved to reduce crosstalk. In another embodiment, polarization multiplexing is used to increase the spectral density. Client circuits can be divided and combined with one another before being mapped, independent of one another, to individual subchannels within and across ITU channels. A crosspoint switch can be used to control the client to subchannel mapping, thereby enabling subchannel protection switching and hitless wavelength switching. Network architectures and subchannel transponders, muxponders and crossponders are disclosed, and techniques are employed (at the subchannel level/layer), to facilitate the desired optical routing, switching, concatenation and protection of the client circuits mapped to these subchannels across the nodes of a WDM network.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.