The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 06, 2011
Filed:
Jan. 20, 2008
Ping Wai Wan, Kanata, CA;
Derrick Remedios, Ottawa, CA;
Patrick Chilufya Chimfwembe, Kanata, CA;
Colin Geoffrey Kelly, Ottawa, CA;
James Benson Bacque, Ottawa, CA;
Ping Wai Wan, Kanata, CA;
Derrick Remedios, Ottawa, CA;
Patrick Chilufya Chimfwembe, Kanata, CA;
Colin Geoffrey Kelly, Ottawa, CA;
James Benson Bacque, Ottawa, CA;
Alcatel Lucent, Paris, FR;
Abstract
A method and apparatus for distributed measurement of chromatic dispersion in an optical network is disclosed. The network comprises optical switching nodes interconnected by optical links. An optical link may comprise multiple spans, each span ending in a transport module which comprises signal-processing components. At least one optical switching node has a probing signal generator transmitting an optical probing signal along a selected path in the network. Probing-signal detectors placed at selected transport modules determine chromatic-dispersion values and send results to a processing unit which determines appropriate placement of compensators or appropriate adjustments of compensators placed along the path. A preferred probing signal has the form of wavelength modulated optical carrier which is further intensity modulated by a periodic, preferably sinusoidal, probing tone. Variation in the phase-shift of the probing tone corresponding to variation of the wavelength of the optical probing signal determines chromatic-dispersion characteristics for different spans of the path.