Patent ID: 6804464
Filing Date: 2004-10-12
Classification: H04B,H04J

Abstract:
A system for use with non gain flattened optical amplifiers and for controlling the signal strength of multiple groups of optical channels prior to said groups of channels being received by an optical receiver, said system comprising:an optical demultiplexer receiving a compound input (multi-wavelength) optical signal and demultiplexing said input optical signal into said multiple groups of optical channels; a plurality of controllable compensation modules, each module receiving at least one group of channels; a channel strength monitor which monitors the signal strength of each of said multiple groups of optical channels; a controller coupled to said monitor and to each of said compensation modules, said controller causing each of said modules to amplify or attenuate the signal strength of the at least one group of channels received by each of said modules based on an output from said monitor to said controller; and an optical signal multiplexer receiving said multiple groups of optical channels from said compensation modules, said multiplexer multiplexing said multiplexing said multiple groups of channels into a compound output signal to be received by said receiver, wherein each of said compensation module controls the signal strength of said at least one channel based on an input from said controller; said channel strength monitor determines at least one of an input and an output signal strength of said groups of optical channels.