Control system for an optical fiber switch

• US 6,882,769 B1
• Filed: 10/24/2001
• Issued: 04/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Maitan, Jacek
• Primary Examiner(s): KIANNI, KAVEH C
• Application Number:
  US09/999,705
• Time in Patent Office: 1,273 Days
• Field of Search: 385/17, 385/16, 385/18, 385/25, 385/27, 385/31, 385/40, 385/52, 372/70, 372/20
• US Class Current: 385/17
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3512 the optical element being reflective, e.g. mirror
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3556 NxM switch, i.e. regular arrays of switches elements of matrix type constellation
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/359 of the position of the moving element itself during switching, i.e. without monitoring the switched beams
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0005 Switch and router aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/003 using switches based on microelectro-mechanical systems [MEMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0039 Electrical control
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0083 Testing; Monitoring

Abstract

An optical switching fabric enables an optical signal entering the device on any one of multiple input ports to be directed to any one of multiple output ports. Light entering the switching fabric on an input port is reflected by individual mirrors on one or more mirror arrays to an output port. Methods of controlling optical switching fabrics compensate for distortions due to mechanical and environmental changes without the need to measure losses along all optical paths linking input ports and output ports. Reference input ports are interspersed among signal input ports and reference output ports are interspersed among signal output ports. Periodically, the positions of mirrors which maximize the intensity of light deflected from reference input ports and reference output ports, are measured. The measured positions are used to predict mirror positions to maximize the intensity of light deflected from signal input ports to signal output ports.

Claims

1. A method of controlling an optical switching fabric, comprising:

periodically measuring current optimum positions of at least two reference mirrors on at least one mirror array; and

adjusting optimum positions for remaining mirrors on the at least one mirror array based on differences between the current optimum positions and previous optimum positions of the at least two reference mirrors.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein periodically measuring current optimum positions includes measuring optimum cross connect positions when differences between current optimum straight-through positions and previous optimum straight-through positions exceed threshold values.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting optimum positions includes recalculating positions in a look-up table by interpolating between optimum positions of reference mirrors.

4. A method of controlling an optical switch, the method comprising:

periodically measuring positions of mirrors in a first mirror array corresponding to reference input ports, the reference input ports being interspersed among signal input ports in an input fiber block, and positions of mirrors in a second mirror array corresponding to reference output ports, the reference output ports being interspersed among signal output ports in an output fiber block, the positions maximizing the intensity of reference light coupled from a reference light source to the reference input ports and directed to a reference light detector coupled to the reference output ports, via the mirrors in the first mirror array corresponding to the reference input ports and the mirrors in the second mirror array corresponding to the reference output ports, wherein the reference input ports and the reference output ports are dedicated to carrying reference light from the reference light source; and

using the measured positions of mirrors corresponding to the reference input ports and the reference output ports to predict positions for mirrors in the first mirror array corresponding to signal input ports and for mirrors in the second mirror array corresponding to signal output ports to maximize the intensity of signal light directed from signal input ports to signal output ports, via the mirrors in the first mirror array corresponding to the signal input ports and the mirrors in the second mirror array corresponding to the signal output ports.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the number of signal input ports is substantially greater than the number of reference input ports and the number of signal output ports is substantially greater than the number of reference output ports.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the optical switch further comprises:

a first control light source illuminating the first mirror array with control light;

a first position sensing detector for detecting control light reflected by the first mirror array wherein signals from the first position sensing detector correspond to positions of mirrors in the first mirror array;

a second control light source illuminating the second mirror array with control light; and

a second position sensing detector for detecting control light reflected by the second mirror array wherein signals from the second position sensing detector correspond to positions of mirrors in the second mirror array,

wherein periodically measuring positions of mirrors in the first mirror array and in the second mirror array comprises recording the signals from the first position sensing detector and the signals from the second position sensing detector.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein periodically measuring positions of mirrors in the first mirror array and in the second mirror array comprises recording signals from a third position sensing detector that detects control light generated by the first control light source reflected by the first mirror array and the second mirror array.

8. The method of claim 4 further comprising determining the number of reference input ports and the placement of reference input ports, and determining the number of reference output ports and the placement of reference output ports.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein determining the number and placement of reference input ports and reference output ports comprises:

forming a connection grid wherein each point of the grid corresponds to a connection between a particular input port and a particular output port;

associating a vector of mirror positions with each point of the grid;

selecting candidate reference input ports and candidate reference output ports;

fitting functional forms to the vectors of mirror positions across rows and columns of the connection grid using points of the grid corresponding to connections between the candidate reference input ports and the candidate reference output ports; and

selecting reference input ports and reference output ports to minimize a difference, at all points of the grid, between mirror positions predicted by interpolation using the functional forms and the candidate reference input ports and candidate reference output ports and mirror positions optimized in an initial calibration.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein using the measured positions to predict positions for mirrors in the first mirror array corresponding to signal input ports and for mirrors in the second mirror array corresponding to signal output ports comprises using the measured positions and the functional forms to interpolate between the points of the connection grid corresponding to reference input ports and reference output ports.

11. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

measuring positions of mirrors in the first mirror array and in the second mirror array if changes in positions of mirrors in the first mirror array corresponding to reference input ports and in positions of mirrors in the second mirror array corresponding to reference output ports with respect to previously measured positions, measured in a straight-through mode wherein a signal from an Nth reference input port is directed to an Nth reference output port, are greater than a predetermined threshold; and

otherwise, waiting until a next scheduled recalibration time.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein measuring positions of mirrors in the first mirror array and the second mirror array includes measuring all possible combinations of optically coupling the reference input ports to the reference output ports using a cross-coupling mode.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising recalculating mirror positions in a look-up table associated with the first mirror array by interpolating between optimum positions of reference mirrors.

14. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

monitoring an intensity of signal light at the signal input ports using a first infrared sensor; and

monitoring an intensity of signal light at the signal output ports back-reflected from the fiber output block using a second infrared sensor.

15. A method, comprising:

performing a calibration of an optical fiber switch, wherein the optical fiber switch includes a first mirror array corresponding to input ports and a second mirror array corresponding to output ports; and

determining a number of reference input ports and a placement of reference input ports from among the input ports, and determining a number of reference output ports and a placement of reference output ports from among the output ports, wherein determining the number and placement of reference input ports and reference output ports comprises;

forming a connection grid wherein each point of the grid corresponds to a connection between a particular input port and a particular output port;

associating a vector of mirror positions with each point of the grid;

selecting candidate reference input ports and candidate reference output ports;

fitting functional forms to the vectors of mirror positions across rows and columns of the connection grid using points of the grid corresponding to connections between the candidate reference input ports and the candidate reference output ports; and

selecting reference input ports and reference output ports to minimize a difference, at all points of the grid, between mirror positions predicted by interpolation using the functional forms and the candidate reference input ports and candidate reference output ports and mirror positions optimized in the calibration.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

performing a recalibration of the optical fiber switch using only connections through the reference input ports and the reference output ports; and

updating an alignment look-up table for connections through the input ports and the output ports based on the recalibration using only connections through the reference input ports and the reference output ports.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein performing the calibration comprises:

selecting a first connection between a first input port of the input ports and a first output port of the output ports;

performing a course calibration of a first mirror of the first mirror array and a second mirror of the second mirror array corresponding to the first connection;

performing a fine calibration of the second mirror corresponding to the first connection; and

recording an optimal first mirror position and an optimal second mirror position for the first connection in an alignment look-up table.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein performing the course calibration comprises:

varying positions of the first mirror and the second mirror until the first connection is detected at an infrared detector coupled to the output ports; and

recording a course calibration signal from the infrared detector.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein performing the course calibration comprises:

varying the positions of the first mirror and the second mirror until the first connection is detected at a position sensing detector associated with the output ports; and

recording a course calibration signal from the position sensing detector.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein performing the fine calibration comprises:

varying the position of the second mirror in a region around the result of the course calibration to maximize signal intensity along the first connection; and

recording a fine calibration signal from the position sensing detector.