Optical differential phase shift keying transmission system having multiplexing, routing and add/replace capabilities

A Differential Phase Shift Keying (DPSK) system comprising

• a transmitter including
• a laser for generating an optical carrier signal,
• a delay encoder for providing a different delay for each of a plurality, M, of input signal channels, and
• a M channel phase modulator for phase modulating the optical carrier signal with each of the differently delayed M input signal channels to form a Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) phase modulated optical signal for transmission over an optical facility and
• a receiver for demodulating a TDM phase modulated optical signal received from over the optical facility, the receiver including
• a first and a second signal paths for receiving a portion of the received TDM phase modulated optical signal, the second signal path having a delay which exceeds a delay of the first signal path by τ, where τ=τ0/X, where τ0 is the bit period of the highest data bit rate channel of the M input signal channels, and where X is an integer ≧M, and
• a square-law detector for demodulating a signal formed from the combined signals outputted from the first and second paths.

An add node for adding an add signal channel to an empty time slot channel of a received Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) phase modulated optical signal, said add node comprising

• a receiver for demodulating the received TDM signal, the receiver including
• a first and a second signal paths for receiving a portion of the received TDM signal, the second signal path having a delay which exceeds a delay of the first signal path by τ, where τ=τ0/X, where τ0 is the bit period of the highest data bit rate channel of the M input signal channels, and where X is an integer ≧M, and
• a square-law detector for demodulating a signal formed from the combined signals outputted from the first and second paths to form an output signal including the empty time slot channel;
• a clock recovery circuit responsive to the output signal for producing a clock signal having the same bit timing as the empty time slot channel;
• a first circuit responsive to the clock signal and the new channel signal for producing a clocked new channel signal;
• and
• a channel phase modulator for phase modulating the clocked new channel signal into the empty time slot channel of the received TDM phase modulated optical signal.

A channel replace node for replacing a selected channel of a received Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) phase modulated optical signal with a new channel signal, said channel replace node comprising

• a receiver for demodulating the received TDM phase modulated optical signal, the receiver including
• a first and a second signal paths for receiving a portion of the received TDM phase modulated optical signal, the second signal path having a delay which exceeds a delay of the first signal path by τ, where τ=τ0/X, where τ0 is the bit period of the highest data bit rate channel of the M input signal channels, and where X is an integer ≧M, and
• a square-law detector for demodulating a signal formed from the combined signals outputted from the first and second paths to form an output signal;
• a clock recovery and demultiplexer circuit channel select circuit responsive to the output signal and a channel select signal for producing a clock signal having the same bit timing as the selected channel of the received TDM signal and a demultiplexed data channel signal;
• a first circuit responsive to the clock signal and the new channel signal for producing a clocked new channel signal;
• and
• a second circuit, including a channel phase modulator, responsive to the clocked new channel signal and the demultiplexed data channel signal for overwriting the selected channel of the received TDM signal with data represented by the clocked new channel signal.

A method of operating a router circuit comprising the steps of:

• receiving an optical carrier signal,
• providing a different delay for each of a plurality, M, of received input signal channels, and
• phase modulating the optical carrier signal with each of the differently delayed M input signal channels to form a Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) phase modulated optical signal
• controlling the value of the different delays for each of the M input signal channels,
• demodulating the TDM phase modulated optical signal received from the DPSK transmitter by
• receiving a first signal portion of the TDM phase modulated optical signal;
• receiving a second signal portion of the received TDM phase modulated optical signal;
• delaying the second signal portion relative to the first signal portion by a delay τ, where τ=τ0/X, where τ0 is the bit period of the highest data bit rate channel of the M input signal channels, and where X is an integer ≧M;
• square-law demodulating a combined signal, formed from the first and the delayed second signal portion, to form a demodulated signal including an empty time slot channel;
• and
• receiving the demodulated signal and demultiplexing it into M received signal channels.

A method of operating an add node for adding a new signal channel to an empty time slot channel of a received Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) phase modulated optical signal, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a first signal portion of the received TDM phase modulated optical signal;
• receiving a second signal portion of the received TDM phase modulated optical signal;
• delaying the second signal portion relative to the first signal portion by a delay τ, where τ=τ0/X, where τ0 is the bit period of the highest data bit rate channel of the M input signal channels, and where X is an integer ≧M;
• square-law demodulating a combined signal, formed from the first and the delayed second signal portion, to form an output signal including an empty time slot channel;
• forming a product signal from the new signal channel multiplied with the output signal;
• and
• using the product signal, phase modulating the selected channel of the received TDM phase modulated optical signal so as to overwrite the data in the selected channel with data from the new signal channel.

A method of operating a channel replace node for replacing a selected channel of a received Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) phase modulated optical signal with a new channel signal, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a first signal portion of the received TDM phase modulated optical signal;
• receiving a second signal portion of the received TDM phase modulated optical signal;
• delaying the second signal portion relative to the first signal portion by a delay τ, where τ=τ0/X, where τ0 is the bit period of the highest data bit rate channel of the M input signal channels, and where X is an integer ≧M;
• square-law demodulating a combined signal, formed from the first and the delayed second signal portion, to form an output signal including an empty time slot channel;
• producing, in response to the output signal and a channel select signal, a clock signal having the same bit timing as the selected channel of a received TDM signal and a demultiplexed data channel signal;
• producing, in response to the new channel signal, a clocked new channel signal;
• and
• overwriting, in response to the clocked new channel signal and the demultiplexed data channel signal, the selected channel of the received TDM signal with data represented by the clocked new channel signal.