Cisco Technology, Inc.

Giacomo Losio

Gilberto Loprieno

Luca Della Chiesa

Maurizio Gazzola

Theodor Kupfer

David Bianchi

Valerio Viscardi

Fulvio Arecco

Mauro Rudi Casanova

Giovanni Giobbio

Andrea Castoldi

Alessandro Sguazzotti

Giuseppe Pietro Ravasio

A data stream with a given data rate is distributed into a plurality of virtual lanes or streams, each with a lower data rate than the data stream. Virtual lanes permit the use of lower cost electronics at the optical-electrical conversion points. Security information is generated that includes a unique initialization vector. The security information is distributed or allocated across some or all of the of the virtual data streams in a virtual lane alignment marker in a portion of the alignment marker used to maintain direct current (DC) transmission balance, but that otherwise does not provide useful information.

Securing virtual lane physical layers

In one embodiment, a one-way delay is measured between optical devices in an optical transport network based on roundtrip times of request and corresponding response frames. A first optical device sends a sequence of delay measurement request frames to a second optical device, which varies a local delay before responding to a request frame, thus causing a slippage in the sequence of reply frames received by the first device. The point at which the request frames are received in relation to the stream of frames sent by the optical device can be identified based on the frame slippage. Therefore, the delay measurement can be adjusted by a corresponding offset to the beginning of a frame in order to increase the accuracy of the one-way delay measurement.

Optical transport network delay measurement

An Optical Transport Network (OTN) frame comprises an optical channel payload unit that is divided into a plurality of timeslots. This OTN frame is received at a transmitter and the timeslots are grouped into blocks of timeslots. Two or more blocks of timeslots are selected for encryption and are encrypted/authenticated in parallel to generate an encrypted OTN frame in which only certain blocks of timeslots are encrypted.

Timeslot encryption in an optical transport network

Using polarization modulation techniques to simultaneously transmit two different data streams (formatted according to two different protocols) over a single optical wavelength. A first data stream that is encapsulated for transport using a first transport protocol, and a second data stream that is encapsulated for transport using a second transport protocol are received. The first data stream is modulated on a wavelength with a first polarization mode of a polarization division modulation scheme to produce a first modulated data stream and the second data stream is modulated on the wavelength with a second polarization mode of the polarization division multiplex transmission scheme to produce a second modulated data stream having the second polarization mode. The second polarization mode is orthogonal to the first polarization mode. The first and second data streams are combined onto a single wavelength for transmission over a single optical fiber using a polarization beam combiner.

Multiprotocol transport using polarization division multiplexing

An apparatus-transmitting signals in a network includes a light source generating an optical signal for encoding information transmitted over a light path of the network, a modulator controlling the optical signal to generate chirped optical pulses having a first frequency spectrum such that when the pulses are transmitted from the apparatus and received at an end of the first light path the pulses have a chromatic dispersion penalty that is less than a predetermined penalty. Modulation control circuitry receives instructions from a remote controller and, in response to the instructions, controls the modulator such that the chirped optical pulses have a second frequency spectrum such that when the pulses are transmitted from the apparatus and received at an end of a second light path of the telecommunications network the pulses have a chromatic dispersion penalty that is less than a predetermined penalty.

Remotely settable chromatic dispersion robustness for dense wave division multiplexing interfaces

An apparatus may include a plurality of queues, wherein each queue is configured to receive a respective data stream. The apparatus may also include a multiplexer configured to time division multiplex the data streams into a combined data stream and a Generic Framing Procedure-Transparent (GFP-T) frame constructor configured to create a GFP-T frame. The GFP-T frame may include a payload portion. The payload portion may include a payload data portion including a subsection of the combined data stream, and a payload header portion indicating the occurrence of a data stream signal failure. The apparatus may also include a transmitter configured to transmit the GFP-T frame via an optical link.

Low latency multiplexing over time division multiplexing networks

According to another general aspect, an apparatus may include a receiver, a decoding engine, an envelope generator, an error code generator, and a transmitter. In one embodiment, the receiver may be configured to receive an Ethernet packet that includes a payload portion. In various embodiments, the decoding engine may be configured to decode at least the payload portion of the Ethernet packet such that the size of the payload portion is reduced. In some embodiments, the envelope generator may be configured to encapsulate the payload portion such that packet boundaries may be identified. In various embodiments, the error code generator may be configured to associate an error correction code with the encapsulated payload portion. In another embodiment, the transmitter may be configured to transmit the encapsulated payload and error correction code.

Techniques for ethernet optical reach improvement

In one embodiment, a SONET/SDH over Ethernet demapping point utilizes a pointer offset mechanism for clock recovery and timing. The pointer offset is determined by the difference between a client clock and a reference clock.

Pointer offset mechanism enabling cost effective SONET/SDH mapping/demapping over ethernet

Various example embodiments are disclosed. According to an example embodiment, a form factor adapter module may include a small form factor (SFF) host connector configured to receive a small form factor pluggable (SFP or SFP+) module and to transmit and receive data according to a Serializer-deserializer Framer Interface (SFI) protocol. The form factor adapter module may also include a 10 Gigabit Ethernet Small Form-Factor Pluggable (XFP) edge finger connector configured to transmit and receive data to and from the SFF host connector according to the SFI protocol and to mate with an XFP edge finger socket.

Form factor adapter module

A transponder unit which relays signals between a plurality of channels of an optical transport network and a plurality of clients. The interconnections within the transponder unit are reconfigurable for selective connections. A connection between a first client and a first network channel and a connection between a second client and a second network channel is independent of each other and may be selected so that the second client is connected to the first network channel and the first client is connected to the second network channel. Other selected connections are also possible.

Reconfigurable multiple port transponder

Systems and methods for reliable and low cost optical connection verification. One application is verification and monitoring of optical cross-connect performance. A connection is verified by splitting off optical signals at both ports of the connection, converting the signals to electrical signals, and then cross-correlating to verify connectivity between the ports. Lowpass filtering applied to the electrical signals may be applied to reduce the complexity of the cross-correlation.

Growing community of inventors

Tortona, Italy

Giacomo Losio