Ciena Corporation

Paul Chedore

Jean-Luc Archambault

Choudhury A Al Sayeed

David Casson Bownass

Edward Chen

David Miedema

Vipul Bhatnagar

Scott Kohlert

David W Boertjes

Balakrishnan Sridhar

Kevan Peter Jones

Song Cao

A method for a scalable Reconfigurable Optical-Add Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) includes determining a plurality of channels at a ROADM node in an optical network will ingress and egress at another ROADM node in the optical network, such that the plurality of channels are able to share a same physical routing in the optical network; interfacing the plurality of channels at a degree in the ROADM node, such that the plurality of channels are connected to the another ROADM node in the optical network; adding and dropping the plurality of channels at the ROADM node with corresponding modems; and pre-combining the plurality of channels onto a common port between the degree and the corresponding modems, such that the plurality of channels connect to the degree together in a single connection. An add/channel count of the ROADM node is higher with the pre-combining.

Scalable add/drop colorless, directionless, and contentionless optical architectures

Laser safety shutoff or power reduction is disclosed for optically amplified fiber optic links with high transmission power. In an embodiment, a network element includes an amplifier configured to amplify one or more traffic carrying signals that are being transmitted over an optical fiber connected to the network element; a first receiver configured to receive a first monitoring signal that counter propagates over the optical fiber relative to the one or more traffic carrying signals; and circuitry configured to one or more of reduce power of the amplifier and shut off lasers associated with the amplifier, responsive to a loss of signal at the first receiver.

Laser safety shutoff or power reduction for optically amplified fiber optic links with high transmission power

Systems and methods for conducting various types of Connection Validation (CV) are provided for reducing the overall CV scan time of regular CV scans. A Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM), according to one implementation includes at least one degree component; at least one add/drop component; a plurality of fibers interconnecting the at least one degree component and/or the at least one add/drop component; and a controller configured to, responsive to any of ongoing operation and connection of one or more fibers of the plurality of fibers, cause a Connection Validation (CV) scan in the ROADM that cycles through the one or more fibers, attain a desired cycle time for the CV scan through one or more techniques, and determine one or more of connectivity and whether fiber loss is within expectations, based on the CV scan.

Reducing connection validation (CV) time in an optical node

A modular optical add/drop system supporting a Colorless, Directionless, and Contentionless (CDC) architecture includes a first Contentionless Wavelength Selective Switch (CWSS)-based optical add/drop device; and one or more channel pre-combiners each having a common port with a transmit port and a receiver port, at least two local add/drop ports, components configured to combine channels between the at least two local add/drop ports and the common port, and a splitter and a combiner connected to the common port, wherein a first output of the splitter and the combiner is connected to the first CWSS-based optical add/drop device. The modular optical add/drop system can further include a second CWSS-based optical add/drop device, wherein a second output of the splitter and the combiner is connected to the second CWSS-based optical add/drop device.

Upgradeable colorless, directionless, and contentionless optical architectures

Systems and methods for integrated band splitter for scaling a dual band Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM). A degree in a ROADM includes ROADM components including a line port and a plurality of connection ports; channel multiplexer/demultiplexer components including degree ports and local add/drop ports; and one or more band splitters in between the ROADM components and the channel multiplexer/demultiplexer components. The band splitter can be configured to split/combine C-band spectrum and L-band spectrum. The band splitter can be a passive fiber device.

Integrated band splitter for scaling dual-band ROADM

An optical trunk switch is configured to support an OTDR. The system includes a transmit switch having two inputs and outputs, the first input is configured to connect to a signal input, the second input is configured to receive a OTDR signal, the first output is configured to connect to one of a primary fiber and a standby fiber, and the second output is configured to connect to the other fiber. The system further includes a receive switch having two inputs and outputs, the first input is configured to connect to one of the primary fiber and the standby fiber, the second input is configured to connect to the other fiber, the first output is configured to connect to a signal output, and the second output is configured to connect to a OTDR signal; and one or more OTDR ports.

Optical time-domain reflectometer interoperable trunk switch

Systems and methods for conducting various types of Connection Validation (CV) are provided for reducing the overall CV scan time of regular CV scans. A method, according to one implementation, includes a step of receiving a request to perform a focused CV on one or more communication cables after the one or more communication cables are physically connected or reconnected into a portion of a network. The method also includes the steps of interrupting an ongoing CV running in the portion of the network and executing the focused CV to target a CV scan on the one or more communication cables.

An Optical Protection Switch (OPS) includes a splitter connected to a transmitted input and a path continuity monitor transmitter and configured to output the transmitted input with a path continuity monitor signal to two paths; a switch connected to a receiver output and configured to provide one of two receiver inputs each from one of the two paths based on a setting of the switch; and one or more path continuity monitor receivers connected to the two receiver inputs and configured to detect a corresponding path continuity monitor signal from a complementary OPS, wherein the setting of the switch is set based upon the received path continuity monitor signals. The one or more path continuity monitor receivers each have a narrow optical bandwidth relative to an overall optical bandwidth of the transmitted input.

Optical switch with path continuity monitoring for optical protection switching

An optical module includes a plurality of ports configured to connect to a multi-fiber cable that includes transmit fibers and receive fibers therein for the plurality of ports; a detector for each of the plurality of ports configured to detect loss of signal at a port level; and a processor configured to perform automatic power reduction only for affected ports of the multi-fiber cable that have a detected loss of signal. The multi-fiber cable can be an MPO cable.

Multi-fiber interface automatic power reduction systems and methods

An optical trunk switch supporting an Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) includes a transmit switch configured to provide an input signal to one or more of a primary fiber path and a standby fiber path; a receive switch configured to provide an output signal from one of the primary fiber path and the standby fiber path; and an OTDR port configured to interface OTDR signals to monitor the standby fiber path.

A Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) node with a Colorless, Directionless, and Contentionless (CDC) architecture, targeting smaller degree nodes, includes an integrated ROADM degree and add/drop module having M common input and output ports and N add/drop input and output ports, wherein the integrated ROADM degree and add/drop module is formed by an M&#xd7;N demultiplexer Contentionless Wavelength Selective Switch (CWSS) and an M&#xd7;N multiplexer CWSS; and X degree modules, each having an input and output port connected to common ports of the integrated ROADM degree and add/drop module, a first set of ports of the N add/drop input and output ports are connected for degree-to-degree connectivity and a second set of ports of the N add/drop input and output ports are utilized for local add/drop, such that the integrated module provides both the degree-to-degree connectivity and the local add/drop.

Optimized colorless, directionless, and contentionless ROADM in a module

A network element includes a transmitting amplifier configured to transmit to a first optical fiber, wherein the transmitting amplifier has a pump laser; and an optical monitor connected to a second optical fiber and configured to detect a portion of optical power thereon; wherein the pump laser is modulated to convey a signal to a second optical monitor in a second network element connected to the first optical fiber, when the transmitting amplifier is one of in a safety mode and has no input.

Optical amplifier signaling systems and methods for shutoff coordination and topology discovery

An automatic power reduction (APR) system for an optical network module, including: a multi-fiber interface including a plurality of ports adapted to be coupled to one or more multi-fiber connectors; a card processor operable to detect a loss of signal on an input port of the plurality of ports and comparing the power of an associated output port to an activation threshold received by the card processor; and a module processor operable to, in the event that the loss of signal is detected on the input port and the power of the output port exceeds the activation threshold, trigger the optical network module to execute an APR routine and attenuate spectrum associated with an affected port using a wavelength selective switch coupled to the plurality of ports.

An optical add/drop system supporting a colorless, directionless, and contentionless (CDC) architecture includes a Contentionless Wavelength Selective Switch (CWSS)-based optical add/drop device including N local add/drop ports and M degree ports; and a channel pre-combiner including a common port connected to a first port of the N local add/drop ports and at least two local add/drop ports coupled to the common port. The CWSS-based optical add/drop device can include an M-array of 1&#xd7;N Wavelength Selective Switches (WSSs) and an N-array of M&#xd7;1 switches. The channel pre-combiner can be a passive device which passively combines the at least two local add ports and splits the at least two local drop ports. The channel pre-combiner can also include amplifiers on the common port in both an add direction and a drop direction.

Channel pre-combining in colorless, directionless, and contentionless optical architectures

A method for noise suppression in a colorless optical add/drop system implemented prior to a colorless optical add/drop device includes, subsequent to receiving an optical signal from an optical modem, filtering the optical signal with a wavelength blocking filter to suppress out of band Amplified Stimulated Emission (ASE) in order to prevent noise funneling in the colorless optical add/drop device; and providing the filtered optical signal with the out of band ASE suppressed therein to a multiplexer port in the colorless optical add/drop device. The method can include, prior to the filtering, amplifying the optical signal with a single channel amplifier, wherein the single channel amplifier can include a pump laser shared with one or more additional single channel amplifiers.

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Ottawa, Canada

Paul Chedore