Configurable optical add/drop multiplexer with partial or complete wavelength drop capability
First Claim
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1. A configurable optical add/drop multiplexer (C-OADM), comprising:
- at least one optical switch configured to select one or more optional operational modes, wherein the at least one optical switch has an input and a first and a second selectable output;
a wavelength drop pathway in communication with the first selectable output of a first optical switch of the at least one optical switch;
a wavelength tapping pathway in communication with the second selectable output of the first optical switch;
a full channel add pathway in communication with the first selectable output of a second optical switch of the at least one optical switch; and
a partial channel add pathway in communication with the second selectable output of the second optical switch, wherein the full channel add pathway provides a full channel added to the wavelength tapping pathway onto an unused wavelength channel, and the partial channel add pathway provides a channel added to a tapped path onto an unused channel.
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Abstract
An arrangement is provided for a configurable optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM) mechanism. The configurable OADM mechanism comprises at least one configurable optical add/drop multiplexer (C-OADM) module and at least one switch associated with the C-OADM modules (the minimum configuration is only one C-OADM with bypass (expansion) switches). The switches can be configured so that some of the C-OADM modules can be selected to form a processing pipeline. Each of the selected C-OADM moduels may be further configured to perform wavelength manipulations such as adding a wavelength, dropping a wavelength, tapping an input optical signal, and a combination thereof.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A configurable optical add/drop multiplexer (C-OADM), comprising:
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at least one optical switch configured to select one or more optional operational modes, wherein the at least one optical switch has an input and a first and a second selectable output;
a wavelength drop pathway in communication with the first selectable output of a first optical switch of the at least one optical switch;
a wavelength tapping pathway in communication with the second selectable output of the first optical switch;
a full channel add pathway in communication with the first selectable output of a second optical switch of the at least one optical switch; and
a partial channel add pathway in communication with the second selectable output of the second optical switch, wherein the full channel add pathway provides a full channel added to the wavelength tapping pathway onto an unused wavelength channel, and the partial channel add pathway provides a channel added to a tapped path onto an unused channel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A configurable optical add/drop multiplexer (C-OADM), comprising:
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at least one optical switch configured to select one or more optional operational modes, wherein the at least one optical switch has an input and a first and a second selectable outputs;
a wavelength drop pathway in communication with the first selectable output of a first optical switch of the at least one optical switch; and
a wavelength tapping pathway in communication with the second selectable output of the first optical switch;
wherein the optional modes include;
a drop mode, a tapping mode, an add mode, an add/drop mode, and an add/tapping mode;
wherein the wavelength drop pathway operates when the at least one optical switch is configured to select one of the drop mode and the add/drop mode;
the wavelength tapping pathway operates when the at least one optical switch is configured to select one of the tapping mode, the add/tapping mode, the drop/tapping mode, and the add/drop multiplexer mode;
the first wavelength add pathway operates when the at least one optical switch is configured to select one of the add mode and the add/drop mode; and
the second wavelength add pathway operates when the at least one optical switch is configured to select one of the add/tapping mode and the add/drop multiplexer mode wherein the wavelength drop pathway comprises;
a first wavelength selection device capable of separating a wavelength channel to be dropped from an input optical signal, received via the first selectable output of the first optical switch, and producing an updated optical signal with at least one remaining wavelength channel after a wavelength channel to be dropped is separated;
a third optical switch capable of being configured to allow the updated optical signal with the at least one remaining wavelength channel to travel through. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification