System and method to calibrate an optical cross-connect

A method of fine training a micro-electromechanical mirror (MEMS) optical cross connect (OXC) system, the method comprising the steps of:

• applying a set of time-multiplexed input optical signals, each of the set of input optical signals being configured to occupy a unique, non-overlapping timeslot with respect to other input optical signals in the set;
• configuring each OXC input port such that each OXC input port receives a one of the set of time-multiplexed input optical signals;
• configuring switch connections within the OXC such that each pulse input to the OXC arrives at a predetermined OXC output port;
• combining the optical signals that arrive at each of the output ports to form a combined signal;
• and
• measuring the amount of optical energy in the combined signal.

A method of computing a characteristic property related to switch connections in a MEMS-mirror Optical Cross connect (OXC) system, the OXC including a plurality of input ports (N) and a plurality of output ports (N) and a plurality of channels (N) to connect any one of the N input ports with any one of the N output ports, the method comprising the steps of:

• applying a set of time-multiplexed input optical signals to one or more of the plurality of N input ports, each of the set of input optical signals being configured to occupy a unique, non-overlapping timeslot with respect to other input optical signals in the set;
• establishing switched connections within the OXC for C channels thereby associating C input ports with C output ports, where C<=N, whereby optical signal applied at each of the one or more of the plurality of N input ports arrives at C associated output ports;
• measuring optical signal strength at at least one of the C switched output ports;
• comparing the optical strength measured at the at least one of the C switched output ports with a threshold value;
• and
• computing the value of a characteristic property of the OXC switch.