Optical channel monitor with integral optical switch

摘要

A multiport optical switch (such as an N×1 switch) is used to controllably select a specific incoming optical signal that is to be processed by an associated optical channel monitor (OCM). The OCM includes a tunable optical filter and photodetector arrangement, and is configured to measure the optical spectrum of the incoming optical signal and extract information associated with the various optical channels (wavelengths) forming the incoming optical signal (i.e., power, wavelength, OSNR and the like for each channel). The OCM also includes a signal processing component that generates a pair of output control signals, a first signal to control the wavelength scanning process of the tunable optical filter and a second signal to control the setting of the multiport optical switch.

主权项

1. An optical channel monitoring system comprising:
a multiport optical switch including a plurality of input ports and a single output port, each input port receiving a separate optical input signal, with each separate optical input signal including a plurality of separate wavelength channels, the multiport optical switch controlled to selectively couple one input port from the plurality of input ports to the single output port;
a tunable optical filter coupled to the single output port of the multiport optical switch for receiving the selected optical input signal, the tunable optical filter controlled to selectively pass different wavelength channels at different points in time;an optical photodetector coupled to the output of the tunable optical filter for converting each wavelength channel into an electrical signal equivalent; anda processor component responsive to the electrical signal equivalent for extracting optical characteristic data thereform for monitoring the performance of the selected optical signal applied as an input to the tunable optical filter, the processor component further configured to generate a first control signal applied as an input to the multiport switch to control the input port selection, and a second control signal applied as an input to the tunable optical filter to control the wavelength channel selection, and whereinthe processor component is further configured to transmit a “disconnect” control signal to the multiport optical switch so as to remove all optical signal component inputs to the tunable filter and create a baseline noise measurement for use as a correction factor in characterization of further optical measurements.