Optical communication network and supervisory control device

An optical communication network comprising:

• a plurality of optical transmission devices that send or receive signal light;
• a communication path that couples the optical transmission devices to one another;
• an optical repeater which is disposed on the communication path to amplify and output the signal light which is transmitted through the communication path;
• and
• a supervisory controller that includes,
• a supervisory control information sender which is installed on at least one of one of the optical transmission devices and the optical repeater and controls a drive signal supplied to a semiconductor optical amplifier to modulate spontaneously emitting light according to the drive signal, the spontaneously emitting light being modulated to provide supervisory control information within a total power of light which includes the spontaneously emitting light which is output from the semiconductor optical amplifier, and
• a supervisory control information receiver that receives the light which has been output from semiconductor optical amplifier and transmitted through the communication path, converts the received light to an electric signal and identifies the supervisory control information on the basis of an intensity-modulated component of the total power of the electric signal in at least the other of one of the optical transmission devices and the optical repeater, and the supervisory control information sender transmits supervisory control information between the optical transmission device and the optical repeater to perform supervisory control on the optical repeater, wherein
• the plurality of optical transmission devices includes a send node having a plurality of output ports, and a receive node having a plurality of input ports which are arbitrarily connected with the output ports of the send node via an optical interconnection device,
• the optical interconnection device includes a plurality of semiconductor optical amplifiers that operate as gate switches, and
• the supervisory controller is configured by disposing a plurality of the supervisory control information senders corresponding to the plurality of semiconductor optical amplifiers of the optical interconnection device and by disposing the supervisory control information receiver in the receive node.

An optical communication network comprising:

• a plurality of optical transmission devices that send or receive signal light;
• a communication path that couples the optical transmission devices to one another;
• an optical repeater which is disposed on the communication path to amplify and output the signal light which is transmitted through the communication path;
• and
• a supervisory controller that includes,
• a supervisory control information sender which is installed on at least one of one of the optical transmission devices and the optical repeater and controls a drive signal supplied to a semiconductor optical amplifier to modulate spontaneously emitting light according to the drive signal, the spontaneously emitting light being modulated to provide supervisory control information within a total power of light which includes the spontaneously emitting light which is output from the semiconductor optical amplifier, and
• a supervisory control information receiver that receives the light which has been output from the semiconductor optical amplifier and transmitted through the communication path, converts the received light to an electric signal and identifies the supervisory control information on the basis of an intensity-modulated component of the total power of the electric signal in at least the other of one of the optical transmission devices and the optical repeater, and the supervisory control information sender transmits supervisory control information between the optical transmission device and the optical repeater to perform supervisory control on the optical repeater, wherein
• the plurality of optical transmission devices include optical senders and optical receivers which are connected with a signal sending/receiving unit that sends/receives signal light between different communication carriers and are owned by the communication carriers,
• the signal sending/receiving unit includes a plurality of semiconductor optical amplifiers that amplify and output rays of signal light sent from the optical senders of the communication carriers, and
• the supervisory controller is configured by disposing the plurality of supervisory control information senders corresponding to the plurality of semiconductor optical amplifiers of the signal sending/receiving unit and the plurality of supervisory control information receivers corresponding to the optical receivers of the communication carriers.

A supervisory controller comprising:

• a semiconductor optical amplifier that amplifies and outputs an input optical burst signal;
• and
• a supervisory control information sender that controls a drive signal to be sent to the semiconductor optical amplifier to modulate spontaneously emitting light according to the drive signal, the spontaneously emitting light being modulated to provide supervisory control information within a total power of light which includes the spontaneously emitting light which is output from the semiconductor optical amplifier;
• and
• a supervisory control information receiver that receives light which has been output from a semiconductor optical amplifier of an adjacent device, converts the received light to an electric signal and identifies the supervisory control information based on an intensity-modulated component of the total power of the electric signal.