Patent ID: 6807370
Filing Date: 2004-10-19
Classification: H04B

Abstract:
An optical transmission system with a mechanism to locate a fault on an optical transmission line, comprising:(a) repeaters which relay optical signals over the optical transmission line, each repeater comprising: monitoring report signal generating means, responsive to a monitoring control command, for monitoring a current operating status and input/output signal conditions of said each repeater, and generating a monitoring report signal that contains results of the monitoring; and light pulse signal sending means, responsive to a troubleshooting control command, for sending a probing light pulse signal to the optical transmission line to locate a fault thereon, as well as a complementary light pulse signal that is complementary to the probing light pulse signal; and (b) an end station which controls optical signal transmission and remotely controls said repeaters, said end station comprising: (b1) a monitoring controller, comprising: monitoring control command sending means for sending the monitoring control command; and monitoring report processing means for monitoring the operating status of said repeaters by analyzing the monitoring report signals received therefrom, and identifying a faulty link section if any problem with the optical transmission line is detected; and (b2) a troubleshooting unit, comprising: troubleshooting command sending means for sending the troubleshooting control command to one of said repeaters that is located near to the identified faulty link section; Rayleigh backscatter measurement means for measuring a Rayleigh backscattered light caused by the probing light pulse signal, using the complementary light pulse signal as a reference for synchronization; and fault detection means for locating the fault on the faulty link section by analyzing the measured Rayleigh backscattered light.