Patent ID: 8705958
Filing Date: 2014-04-22
Classification: H04J,H04Q

Abstract:
1. An optical packet switching apparatus, comprising: an optical packet switch configured to switch a route of an inputted optical packet signal and output the inputted optical packet signal; a packet density monitoring unit configured to detect a packet density of the optical packet signal inputted to the optical packet switch and/or a packet density of an optical packet signal outputted from the optical packet switch, the packet density being a ratio of a period of time occupied by the optical packet signal in a unit packet interval time; an optical amplifier provided on an input side and/or an output side of the optical packet switch; a variable optical attenuator provided anterior to or posterior to the optical amplifier; a storage configured to store gain characteristics in relation to the packet density at the optical amplifier; and a control unit configured to control an attenuation by the variable optical attenuator in such a manner as to compensate for gain fluctuation due to variation in the packet density at the optical amplifier, based on the packet density and the gain characteristics.