REGULATING RADIATION COMPONENT POWER IN WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXED OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

摘要

There is provided a method of, and apparatus for, regulating radiation component (wavelength channel) power in a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical communications system (10). The system (10) comprises a plurality of nodes (20) interconnected through optical waveguides (30, 40) (optical fibres). The method is characterised by: passing one or more tokens (300) around the system from node to node; adjusting nodal settings (150, 170), such as optical attenuation, applied at each node to regulate the powe r of WDM radiation components at the node in response to receiving one or more tokens; and repeating the method until WDM radiation component power within the system is substantially regulated.