Method and apparatus for optical node construction using software programmable ROADMs
OwnerMark E. Boduch, Kimon Papakosinventors
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Abstract
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a software programmable reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer (ROADM) comprising of a plurality of wavelength switches and a plurality of waveguide switches, wherein when the plurality of waveguide switches are set to a first switch configuration, the software programmable ROADM provides n degrees of an n-degree optical node, and wherein when the waveguide switches are set to a second switch configuration, the software programmable ROADM provides k degrees of an m-degree optical node.
Claims20
A reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer (ROADM) comprising:
- a first plurality of wavelength switches;
- a second plurality of wavelength switches;
- and
- a plurality of programmable waveguide optical elements,
- wherein when the plurality of programmable waveguide optical elements are programmed to a first state, the first plurality of wavelength switches provides wavelength switching for one output degree of an n-degree optical node, and wherein when the plurality of programmable waveguide optical elements are programmed to a second state, the first plurality of wavelength switches and the second plurality of wavelength switches provide wavelength switching for one output degree of an m-degree optical node, wherein m>n, and wherein the second state is different from the first state.
A reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer (ROADM) comprising:
- a first plurality of wavelength switch sets comprising at least one wavelength switch;
- a second plurality of wavelength switch sets comprising at least one wavelength switch;
- and
- a plurality of programmable waveguide optical elements,
- wherein when the plurality of programmable waveguide optical elements are programmed to a first state, the first plurality of wavelength switch sets provides wavelength switching for one output degree of an n-degree optical node, and wherein when the plurality of programmable waveguide optical elements are programmed to a second state, the first plurality of wavelength switch sets and the second plurality of wavelength switch sets provide wavelength switching for one output degree of an m-degree optical node, wherein m>n, and wherein the second state is different from the first state.
An apparatus comprising:
- a first plurality of wavelength switch sets comprising at least one wavelength switch;
- a second plurality of wavelength switch sets comprising at least one wavelength switch;
- and
- a plurality of programmable waveguide optical elements,
- wherein when the plurality of programmable waveguide optical elements are programmed to a first state, the first plurality of wavelength switch sets provides wavelength switching for one output degree of an n-degree optical node, and wherein when the plurality of programmable waveguide optical elements are programmed to a second state, the first plurality of wavelength switch sets and the second plurality of wavelength switch sets provide wavelength switching for one output degree of an m-degree optical node, wherein m>n, and wherein the second state is different from the first state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.