Methods and apparatus for monitoring the strength of carriers in an optical communication system

摘要

A strength monitor for a wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) communication system in which the carriers comprising WDM signal do not need to spatially separated to determine their strengths. The strength monitor provides local modulation of a carrier to measured. In some embodiments, a strength monitor uses a digital channel equalizer to modulate a given carrier whose strength is to be measured.