| 摘要 |
This invention substantially reduces the hardware complexity of an optical add-drop multiplexer, in an optical node, that can drop desired signals from input optical fibers or add desired signals to output optical fibers leading away from an optical cross-connect. This invention is provided with a plurality of 1*20s optical couplers (PC) and a plurality of transponder banks (TBK). The optical couplers (PC) are connected to some or all of s sets of input optical fibers (Fi1 through Fi(n-2)), said sets being connected, respectively, to a plurality of optical cross-connect units (OXC1 through OXCs). Each of the transponder banks (TBK) has a set of s* 1 optical switches (PS), each of which receives, and selects one of, signals outputted from a subset of the optical couplers (PC), each optical couplers (PC) in said subset being connected to a different optical cross-connect unit (OXC1 through OXCs). In each transponder bank (TBK), for each of the signals outputted by the optical switches (PS) in that transponder bank (TBK), a signal of a desired wavelength is selected and supplied to a transponder. |
