Rate adaptive optical communication system

摘要

The present invention discloses a rate adaptive system for an optical communication network, preferably an Ethernet network. The system comprises a plurality of optical transceivers capable of transmitting and receiving at several different rates and an optical fibre linked to the transceivers. The system is configured to cause the optical transceivers to transmit/receive at an initial rate, preferably a maximum system rate of 10 Gb/s, and if an error condition exists such as a failure to synchronise or an error rate/coefficient exceeding a predefined range, the system successively lowers the rate until the error condition changes (figure 2). Preferably the system also notifies a network operator of the error condition.