Directionless reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer systems and methods

An N degree directionless optical node, comprising:

• an N, N>2, degree reconfigurable optical-add drop multiplexer configured to receive inputs from each of N ingress degrees and to transmit outputs to each of N egress degrees;
• N 1×B splitters each connected to one of the N ingress degrees through the N degree reconfigurable optical-add drop multiplexer, wherein B is an integer;
• a switch comprising S×T ports connected to the N 1×B splitters and to one or more tunable filters and connected to N 1×B combiners and to one or more input signals, wherein each of the one or more tunable filters is configured to tune to a wavelength passband to provide a single wavelength output, and wherein S and T comprise integers greater than one;
• and
• at least one transceiver for local add/drop communicatively coupled to the switch, wherein the at least one transceiver comprises a transmitter directly communicatively coupled to the switch and a receiver communicatively coupled to the switch through a tunable filter of the one or more tunable filters, wherein the transmitter is configured to selectively transmit to any of the N egress degrees based on the switch and the receiver is configured to receive any of the plurality of wavelengths from any of the N ingress degrees based on the switch and the tunable filter;
• wherein the N 1×B combiners each connect to one of the N egress degrees through the N degree reconfigurable optical-add drop multiplexer.

A directionless method for adding and dropping wavelengths with a reconfigurable optical-add drop multiplexer, comprising:

• receiving a plurality of wavelengths at an ingress degree of the reconfigurable optical-add drop multiplexer, the reconfigurable optical-add drop multiplexer comprises three or more ingress degrees comprising the ingress degree;
• routing one or more of the plurality of wavelengths to one or more egress degrees of the reconfigurable optical-add drop multiplexer, wherein the reconfigurable optical-add drop multiplexer comprise three or more egress degrees;
• broadcasting dropped wavelengths to a switch via a plurality of distribution stages, wherein the dropped wavelengths comprise one or more of the plurality of wavelengths;
• switching the broadcasted dropped wavelengths to one or more tunable filters;
• filtering at each of the one or more tunable filters to provide one output of the broadcasted dropped wavelengths;
• and
• receiving the one output at a receiver of a transceiver, the receiver communicatively coupled to the one or more tunable filters, wherein the receiver is configured to receive any of the plurality of wavelengths from any of the three or more ingress degrees based on a configuration of the switch thereby enabling the receiver to communicate with any of the egress degrees without a manual disconnect from one of the three or more ingress degrees.