Patent ID: 6823108
Filing Date: 2004-11-23
Classification: H04B,H04J

Abstract:
An add/drop apparatus attached to a transmission line of a WDM optical transmission system, comprising:a divider for dividing a WDM signal into a plurality of different signal bands having respectively different dispersion values; a plurality of branch waveguides, wherein the divider passes the signal bands over the plurality of branch waveguides; a plurality of optically-communicating add/drop modules and dispersion-compensating modules, wherein each branch waveguide includes a plurality of the add/drop modules and dispersion-compensating modules connected in series; and a combiner for combining the signal bands to an altered WDM signal; wherein the branch waveguides carrying signal bands of higher dispersion, as compared to the remaining signal bands of the remaining branch waveguides, include dispersion-compensating modules of higher attenuation than the remaining branch waveguides and include a lesser number of the add/drop modules as compared to a number of add/drop modules in each of the remaining branch waveguides, such that a respective power output level of each of the branch waveguides is substantially similar.