CONTROLLING DATA ROUTING IN A OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

摘要

A method (10) of generating wavelength resource parameters of a link component of an optical communications network. The method comprises the steps: identifying wavelengths on which data can be transmitted within the said optical communications network (12); generating a data structure comprising an array of bit elements and mapping each said wavelength to a respective bit element (14); selecting a link component of the said network and determining whether each said wavelength is or is not available to be used for data transmission by said link component (16); providing a said data structure for the said link component and setting a value for each said bit element within the said array dependent on whether the respective said wavelength is or is not available to be so used by the said link component, to thereby form a populated array (18); and generating a control signal arranged to transmit said populated array (19).