Communication system employing optical frame templates

A method comprising:

• receiving a first local time information from a first network element;
• receiving a second local time information from a second network element;
• at a control system, computing, from the first local time information and the second local time information, one or more global time values;
• transmitting the one or more global time values to the first network element or to a third network element different from the first and second network elements;
• computing at least one of a sum or a difference of the received first local time information and the received second local time information;
• determining a difference between a first propagation delay and a second propagation delay based on the at least one of a sum or a difference of the received first local time information and the received second local time information;
• wherein the first propagation delay represents a propagation delay between an optical power supply and the first network element, and the second propagation delay represents a propagation delay between the optical power supply and the second network element.

An apparatus comprising a control system configured to synchronize two or more network elements, the control system comprising:

• a first port configured to receive a first local time information from a first network element;
• a second port configured to receive a second local time information from a second network element;
• a processor configured to compute, from the first local time information and the second local time information, one or more global time values;
• and
• a third port configured to transmit the one or more global time values to the first network element or to a third network element different from the first and second network elements;
• wherein the first local time information and the second local time information each represents a function of two local time values, the local time values being associated with a same time stamp extracted by each of the first and second network elements from respective sequences of optical frame templates and loaded optical frames received thereat.

A method comprising:

• receiving a first local time information from a first network element;
• receiving a second local time information from a second network element;
• at a control system, computing, from the first local time information and the second local time information, one or more global time values;
• transmitting the one or more global time values to the first network element or to a third network element different from the first and second network elements;
• generating a first sequence of optical frame templates and a second sequence of optical frame templates;
• sending the first sequence of optical frame templates to the first network element;
• and
• sending the second sequence of optical frame templates to the second network element;
• wherein the first sequence of optical frame templates comprises one or more time stamps, and the second sequence of optical frame templates comprises one or more time stamps;
• wherein the first local time information comprises local time values that are local to the first network element and associated with a time stamp extracted by the first network element from the first sequence of optical frame templates;
• wherein the second local time information comprises local time values that are local to the second network element and associated with a time stamp extracted by the second network element from the second sequence of optical frame templates.