METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MULTI-LEVEL POWER MANAGEMENT OF AN OPTICAL NETWORK INCLUDING AUTOMATIC INITIALIZATION

摘要

A method and system for multi-level power management in an optical network is provided that may also perform automatic initialization of the network. The power management provides three levels of control of an amplifier in the optical network. The first level of control maintains the gain of the amplifier operating in automatic gain control (AGC) mode at a target amplifier gain. The second level of control eliminates channel gain excursion by dynamically changing the amplifier target gain so as to provide that the gain for each channel is within a gain ripple of the amplifier. The third level of control sets the target gains of amplifiers according to fiber span losses. The third level of control may also perform pre-emphasis of channel powers by changing the power of one or more channels passing through the amplifier so as to compensate for gain ripple of the amplifier. As a result, this multi-level control of the amplifiers in the network provides an increased level of optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR), protection of network components, and stabilization of channel power in the network.