METHOD, APPARATUS AND DATA CARRIER FOR COMPENSATING FOR CHANNEL DEPLETION OF A MULTI-CHANNEL SIGNAL IN AN OPTICAL LINK OR OPTICAL NETWORK

摘要

A method and apparatus for compensating for channel depletion of a multi-channel signal in an optical link or optical network comprising a chain of optical amplifiers. The method comprises determining channel depletion for each amplifier from the power of the input signal to the optical amplifier and the power of the output signal from the previous amplifier. Each amplifier is then controlled to amplify the signal to a level equal to the nominal (ideal) power plus the calculated channel depletion for that amplifier.