University of Ottawa

Francois Boudreault

Hanan Anis

Daniel Levner

S Richard Pramod

A method is provided for routing optical signals in an optical transport network. The method includes: separating an incoming optical multiplexed signal having a plurality of wavelength-channels embodied therein into two or more channel groups, where each channel group has a subset of the wavelength-channels and channels to be routed hitlessly in a given channel group are adjacent to a channel free region; providing a wavelength selective element for each wavelength-channel to be routed hitlessly; and routing a given wavelength-channel by tuning the corresponding wavelength selective element to either the given wavelength-channel or a channel free region adjacent to the given wavelength-channel. Providing a channel free region next to each channel to be routed allows the use of inexpensive tunable elements, which typically cause hits as they tune, to effect hitless routing.

Method and apparatus for hitless routing of optical signals in an optical transport network

The invention provides a unified optical network architecture for metro and access communication networks, wherein a metro ring network interfaces access PONs through one or more reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers to provide wavelength-reconfigurable all-optical transmission of communication signals from the metro ring network to designated optical network units associated with the end-users, and wherein one metro hub located in the metro ring network is utilized to set transmission wavelengths and timing for both downstream and upstream signal transmission for multiple access PONs.

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Ottawa, Canada

Francois Boudreault