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US 7,925,158 B2Granted
Testing optically amplified links with time-division multiplexed test signals
AssigneeActerna LLC
InventorsAlexey Turukhin, Enrico Gonzales
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A time division multiplexed measurement technique is used for spectral measurements in active wavelength division multiplexed loaded optical links, and offers instantaneous real-time correlation of performance and spectral parameters of the link, which is important for dynamic characterization of link performance during transient effects or polarization mode dispersion fluctuations.
Claims8
A system for testing an optical link, while a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) signal with a plurality of wavelength channels is being transmitted, comprising:
- a probe signal generator for generating a probe signal;
- a first time division multiplexing (TDM) optical switch for time division multiplexing the probe signal with the WDM signal forming a TDM signal;
- a second TDM optical switch for separating the probe signal from the WDM signal after the TDM signal has traversed the optical link;
- an analyzer for receiving the probe signal from the second TDM switch, and for conducting tests on the probe signal;
- a gating signal generator connected to the second TDM switch for generating a gating signal indicative of a modulation frequency of the TDM signal for use in separating the probe signal from the WDM signal;
- a photo-detector connected to the gating signal generator for detecting the modulation frequency of the TDM signal;
- and a clock signal generator, independent of the gating signal generator, connected to the first TDM optical switch for generating a clock signal to set the modulation frequency of the TDM signal.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.