1268 results about "Optical networking" patented technology

An optical signaling header technique applicable to optical networks wherein packet routing information is embedded in the same channel or wavelength as the data payload so that both the header and data payload propagate through network elements with the same path and the associated delays. The header routing information has sufficiently different characteristics from the data payload so that the signaling header can be detected without being affected by the data payload, and that the signaling header can also be removed without affecting the data payload. The signal routing technique can be overlaid onto the conventional network elements in a modular manner using two types of applique modules. The first type effects header encoding and decoding at the entry and exit points of the data payload into and out of the network; the second type effects header detection at each of the network elements.

A method and system for routing high-speed data to and from SANs (Storage Area Networks and Server Area Networks) via optical burst-switched (OBS) networks. OBS network components, including edge nodes and switching nodes, are coupled between SAN islands. In one embodiment, the OBS network comprises a photonic burst-switched (PBS) network. Under one scheme, a PBS edge node and SAN gateway are co-located at the interface to the SAN, while a plurality of PBS switching nodes are deployed between the PBS edge nodes. Under another scheme, PBS switching / edge nodes are co-located at respective SANs. This scheme employs an external gateway protocol (EGP) for routing data via selected route segments. Data going to and received from a SAN is packaged as Fibre Channel Frames. Data transmitted via the PBS network is converted into PBS frames having encapsulated Fibre Channel Frames. The schemes also support interfaces with legacy networks, such as LANs and WANs.

A method and apparatus for filtering data packets in a shared-medium or point-to-multipoint communications network. A filter unit is sent a data packet carrying a filter tag value in a packet addressed to the filter unit. The value is stored in the filter unit and subsequently received packets not addressed to the filter unit itself are forwarded only if they carry the stored filter tag. An embodiment of particular interest applies the method to Ethernet frames over a telecommunications access network (including optical or wireless networks), and uses the VLAN tag field to carry the filter tag information.

A passive optical network having a plurality of optical splitters / combiners each comprising first and second through ports and at least one drop port. The through ports of the plurality of splitters / combiners are concatenated to form a linear arrangement having two end through ports. Optical signals may be transmitted between the end through ports by means of the linear arrangement; and signals may be transmitted between at least one of the end through ports and one of the drop ports by means of the linear arrangement. The splitter / combiners can be inserted to form drop points in a ring or dual-homed passive optical network to provide flexibility in provision of protection and network reconfiguration.

An apparatus and methods for testing a passive optical network with regard to fiber connectivity and attenuation losses, and with regard to the proper operation of packet-based communication protocols thereon.

The present invention provides an optical bridge for interconnecting optical networking components and methods of making optical bridges that include a waveguide that are compatible with semiconductor processing steps. The optical bridge of the present invention has less optical losses and is less affected by misalignment that prior art interconnections. The waveguide is formed of a curable optical material that spans optically active areas of two components. In one embodiment of the present invention, one optical component is an optical circuit board and the connected optical component is an electro-optical integrated circuit package containing light emitting or light receiving elements. The method provides a curable optical liquid to the components, bringing the components together to form a continuous optical liquid between the components, and curing the optical liquid.

The invention relates to a system and method of communication between optical transceivers in an optical WDM network, wherein a broad-band modulation of optical signals in a primary frequency band is utilized for transmitting primary high-speed data, while a plurality of relatively low-frequency in-band subcarriers is used to modulate the optical signals to transmit secondary data between network nodes, wherein the plurality of low-frequency subcarriers lie at least in part within the primary frequency band.

An apparatus having an interface connectable to a network. The interface may be configured to transmit information via a frame in the network. The frame may have a packet envelope carrying a plurality of packets. A first packet may have one or more labels configured to control routing of the first packet through the network and a payload to carry the information.

A remote interface network in which multiple remote HID encoder / decoder units share a common physical transport medium for connecting to one or more processing unit encoder / decoders is described. In one embodiment, the physical transport medium includes an optical shared media transport network. Each remote HID encoder / decoder unit can support one or more remote HIDs. The processing unit encoder / decoder can support one or more Pus. The network can be used, for example, in office, hospital, dense seat (e.g., aircraft, bus, etc.) and content provider networks.

An optical signaling header technique applicable to optical networks wherein packet routing information is embedded in the same channel or wavelength as the data payload so that both the header and data payload propagate through network elements with the same path and the associated delays. The technique effects survivability and security of the optical networks by encompassing conventional electronic security with an optical security layer by generating replicated versions of the input data payload at the input node, and the transmission of each of the replicated versions over a corresponding one of the plurality of links. Moreover, each of the links is composed of multiple wavelengths to propagate optical signals or optical packets, and each of the replicated versions of the data payload may be propagated over a selected one of the wavelengths in each corresponding one of the plurality of links.

A transparent wavelength routed optical network has two or more different optical layer restoration schemes to provide different levels of resilience, and a restoration allocator arranged to allocate the optical layer restoration schemes, to different parts of the traffic. This can enable similar capacity for high resilience traffic as a single resilience level network, and provide additional capacity for lower resilience level traffic, which can reflect the value of the traffic. The allocator can be located centrally in a network manager, or in distributed fashion at each node, and can depend on a translation of a parameter requested by the customer. Nodes have message processors for receiving a message for reserving a path, determining if the path has become unavailable, and if so, sending a second message to collect information about any other paths still available on the same route.

The embodiment of the invention discloses a passive optical network system and a downlink transmission method thereof. The passive optical network system comprises an optical line terminal, an optical distribution network and a plurality of optical network units. The optical line terminal is used to send a downlink multi-wavelength optical signal composed of a plurality of downlink optical signal wavelength division multiplexing having different wavelengths, and the optical distribution network comprises a first-stage optical splitter, a plurality of second-stage optical splitters and a plurality of filter modules. The first-stage optical splitter is used to divide a downlink multi-wavelength signal sent by the optical line terminal into a plurality of downlink multi-wavelength signals, the plurality of filter modules are used to carry out filter processing on the plurality of downlink multi-wavelength signals to obtain a downlink single wavelength optical signal of which the wavelength corresponds to a channel central wavelength; wherein, the channel central wavelengths of the plurality of filter modules respectively correspond to the plurality of downlink optical signals having different wavelengths, the second-stage optical splitters are used to carry out spectral processing on the downlink single wavelength signal and then provide the downlink single wavelength signal to the optical network unit.

A method of distinguishing a wavelength-dependent reflective element (HRD) from wavelength-independent events in an optical network, the reflective element (HRD) being highly-reflective at a first predetermined wavelength (λ1) and significantly less reflective at least one other predetermined wavelength (λ2), comprising the steps of: connecting the wavelength-dependent reflective element (HRD) to said optical path at a first position, and, using an optical time domain reflectometer (22) connected to said optical path at a position remote from said reflective element, launching into said optical path light at said first wavelength (λ1) and at said second wavelength (λ2), detecting corresponding backreflected light from said optical paths and obtaining therefrom first and second OTDR traces (OTDR-λ1, OTDR-λ2) corresponding to said first (λ1) and second (λ2) wavelengths, respectively, of detected backreflected light as a function of optical distance from said point; comparing the first and second OTDR traces to distinguish a peak corresponding to said wavelength-dependent reflective element from peaks corresponding to said wavelength-independent reflective events; and outputting at least one parameter value of the distinguished peak as a measure of a parameter of said wavelength-dependent reflective element.

An apparatus and method for measuring optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) in a node of an optical data network is disclosed. A peak power level and an average power level are measured for an optical input to an optical detector. The OSNR is determined by selecting an OSNR having the peak power level and the average power level associated with an optical signal traversing an optical path having attenuation and optical amplifier noise.

An optical communication system provides coherent optical transmission for metro applications. Relative to conventional solutions, the optical communication system can be implemented with reduced cost and can operate with reduced power consumption, while maintaining high data rate performance (e.g., 100 G). Furthermore, a programmable transceiver enables compatibility with a range of different types of optical networks having varying performance and power tradeoffs. In one embodiment, the optical communication system uses 100 Gb / s dual-polarization 16-point quadrature amplitude modulation (DP-16QAM) with non-linear pre-compensation of Indium Phosphide (InP) optics for low power consumption.

An optical, multi-channel, Differential Phase Shift Keying (DPSK) receiver demodulates multiple Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM) channels using at least one interferometer. This distributes expense of the interferometer(s) over all channels of an optical signal, allowing for deployment of cost-effective, scalable, wideband, WDM DPSK systems. For example, for an 80 channel WDM link, the receiver uses a single interferometer instead of eighty interferometers and associated stabilization hardware, dramatically reducing size, weight, power, and cost. The receiver is architecturally compatible with existing interferometer technologies so previous development and qualification efforts can be leveraged. This allows for expedited technology insertion into existing optical communications networks, including terrestrial and space-based optical networks.

An optical network includes a multidimensional coder and modulator for handling multiple-in-multiple-out MIMO spatial lightpath properties and content of any specific supercarrier, a spatial mode multiplexer responsive to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM transmissions and the multidimensional coder, a spatial-spectral routing node coupled over a fiber link to the spatial mode multiplexer for performing switching granularity by a spatial mode reconnection, a multidimensional decoder and demodulator; and a spatial mode demultiplexer coupled over a fiber link to the spatial-spectral routing node and responsive to the multidimensional decoder and demodulator.

A moving coil motor has an axisymmetric magnetic field applied to the drive coils on the movable member of the motor. The movable member is suspended by springs. The moving coil motor may be configured in a MEMS format, with the movable member and its suspension springs fabricated from a mono-crystalline substance to improve structural integrity. MEMS based moving coil motors may be configured in an array. Sensors are provided to detect the relative spatial positions of the movable member. The movable member may include several tiers. In one application, the moving coil motor may be configured to support and drive a mirror surface on the movable member to form a galvanometer, optical switch, or other optical component. Singular moving coil motors may be configured in an optical cavity to facilitate the tuning of specific wavelengths while a number of moving coil motors may be configured to form an array of optical switches to facilitate switching in a multi-channel optical network.

Optical networking has become ubiquitous in providing low cost, high speed communications networks supporting our communication needs from FTTH through long haul to undersea. The large number of users and high speeds provided to each user fiber mean that information retrieval and routing functionality within the data centers hosting this information can become the bottleneck both in terms of speed and latency. According to embodiments of the invention the inventors present architectures based upon all-optical passive optical networks that support a distributive approach to latency reduction as well as protocols relating to their deployment. Beneficially, such POCXN concepts exploit optical components already supported by high volume manufacturing techniques as well as CWDM / DWDM techniques for throughput increase.

This invention relates to the design of a scaleable high performance multiservice network based on programmable transport. A meshed network with dynamically-adjustable link capacities and nodes which provide data packing into "containers" for transport is proposed. A ring-based network, exchanging data containers among its nodes, is the preferred implementation, due to its flexibility, maintainability, and high reliability. With lossless rings, the quality of service is controlled solely by the origin and destination nodes, without any interference from other data streams. Flexible programmable transport greatly improves the performance, simplifies the controls, and facilitates scaleability. The concept is a departure from classical network thinking. By reducing the complexity of the network core, an economical, reliable, and manageable network with feature-rich edge nodes can be realized. An architecture with recursive ring-based structures provides a high degree of flexibility in bandwidth allocation and is compatible with current transport networks and future all-optical networks.

The present invention provides an optical networking device for re-amplifying, re-shaping, and re-timing an optical signal, as well as providing distortion compensation and performance monitoring of the optical signal. The optical networking device includes an all-optical regenerator device for one or more of re-amplifying, re-shaping, and re-timing the optical signal; a distortion compensator device for compensating for distortion associated with the optical signal; and a quality-of-signal monitoring device for measuring the quality of the optical signal. Preferably, the all-optical regenerator device, the distortion compensator device, and the quality-of-signal monitoring device are disposed within a single module. The quality-of-signal monitoring device measures the optical signal subsequent to distortion compensation. Alternatively, the quality-of-signal monitoring device measures the optical signal subsequent to distortion compensation and all-optical regeneration. In various embodiments, the quality-of-signal monitoring device provides feedback to the distortion compensator device, a distortion compensator device disposed along a line system, one or more of an optical amplifier and a distortion compensator device disposed along the line system, and a transmitter device disposed along the line system.

An optical network can include a data service hub, a laser transceiver node, and a subscriber optical interface. The data service hub can comprise a satellite antenna and a RF receiver for receiving satellite TV-band electrical signals. These electrical signals can be converted into the optical domain and then propagated over the optical network through optical waveguides to the subscriber optical interface. The subscriber optical interface can comprise an optical filter and a satellite analog optical receiver. The optical filter can separate the satellite TV-band optical signals having a first optical wavelength from other optical signals such as cable TV-band optical signals with a second optical wavelength and data optical signals with a third optical wavelength. The satellite analog optical receiver can further comprise various mechanisms for controlling access to the satellite TV-band signals.

A network design that reduces the number of wavelengths needed to support communications in a Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) network is disclosed. Wavelengths are reused in isolated sub-networks that do not share common network paths, allowing for the reduction in cost of the WDM equipment supporting the communications in the network.

Data may be preconditioned to be transferred on a switched underlay network to alleviate the data access and transfer rate mismatch, so that large files may be effectively transferred on the network at optical networking speeds. A data meta-manager service may be provided on the network to interface a data source and / or data target to prepare a data file for transmission, such as by dividing a large file into multiple pieces and causing those pieces to be stored on multiple storage subsystems. The file may then be read from the multiple storage subsystems simultaneously and multiplexed onto scheduled resources on the network. This enables the high bandwidth transfer resource to be filled by a data transfer without requiring the storage subsystem to be augmented to output the data at the network transfer rate. The file may be de-multiplexed at the data target to one or more storage subsystems.

The invention is used for helping multi SPC services with same source and same destination to rapidly establish label-switching path, and at the same time, ensuring the label-switching establishment of said SPC services not to be failure due to insufficient resources, and to rapidly recover from the failure. The method comprises: according to the request, calculating at least one group of route passing through same nodes, and along with said group of routes, establishing one group of label-switching path once. The apparatus thereof comprises a calculation requesting module, a path calculating module and a path establishing module.

The present invention discloses a passive optical network (PON) protection method, a switchover control device, and a PON protection system. In embodiments of the present invention, a protection optical line terminal (OLT) is connected to optical links of at least two working OLTs through the switchover control device; when a working OLT or working optical link fails, the switchover control device replaces the working OLT through the protection optical link, thus ensuring smooth communication. In addition, by using the networking mode of multiple working OLTs and one protection OLT, the embodiments of the present invention greatly saves the networking cost and facilitates the application of the PON technology.

A method for lightpath provisioning in a reconfigurable optical network that comprises the steps of naming each network addressable element in the reconfigurable optical network, determining current resources therein, determining current topology therein, requesting establishment of a lightpath, and allocating the lightpath. A system for lightpath provisioning in a reconfigurable optical network is also provided, comprising means for naming each network addressable element in the reconfigurable optical network, means for determining current topology in the reconfigurable optical network, means for determining current resources in the reconfigurable optical network, means for requesting establishment of a lightpath, means for allocating the lightpath and means for removing the lightpath upon completion.

An optical network includes a transmitting portion configured to (i) encode an input digitized sequence of data samples into a quantized sequence of data samples having a first number of digits per sample, (ii) map the quantized sequence of data samples into a compressed sequence of data samples having a second number of digits per sample, the second number being lower than the first number, and (iii) modulate the compressed sequence of data samples and transmit the modulated sequence over a digital optical link. The optical network further includes a receiving portion configured to (i) receive and demodulate the modulated sequence from the digital optical link, (ii) map the demodulated sequence from the second number of digits per sample into a decompressed sequence having the first number of digits per sample, and (iii) decode the decompressed sequence.