System and method for quantification of optical signal-to-noise ratio using low frequency electrical signal analysis

摘要

A system for quantification of an OSNR of an optical signal transmitted in an optical communications network includes a signal converter for converting a sample of the optical signal to an electrical signal. The electrical signal is filtered within a predetermined range of frequencies to generate a filtered signal. An energy detector detects the energy level of the filtered signal. An energy detector detects the energy level of the electrical signal. A comparator compares the energy levels of the electrical signal to the energy level of the filtered signal to generate an output representative of the OSNR.