Patent Description:
With rapid increase of network traffic and bandwidth, operators have increasingly urgent requirements on intelligent scheduling functions of underlying wavelength division networks. Therefore, reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer, ROADM) are gradually adopted in an increasing number of high-end operators' networks. After the ROADM is introduced into a network, an operator can provide a wavelength-level service soon, thereby facilitating network planning to reduce operation costs, and facilitating maintenance to reduce maintenance costs.

On the other hand, in an optical communications long-haul transmission network, optical-electrical-optical (optical-electrical-optical, OEO) conversion in a link of a system tends to be reduced. Therefore, it becomes increasingly difficult to convert an optical signal to an electrical signal and then detect a bit error rate of a transmitted signal at an electrical layer, and testing the bit error rate only on a termination of the link is disadvantageous to fault locating. With an increased transmission capacity and improved flexibility in an optical network, system complexity becomes higher. To effectively control and manage the optical network, it becomes more important to monitor an optical signal for high-speed dense wavelength division multiplexing (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing, DWDM) in the network. For example, <CIT> discloses a method for controlling a spatial phase modulator in a wavelength selective switch.

Optical signal monitoring covers a plurality of aspects. For example, optical power monitoring can reflect a basic working status of a channel and instruct a system to perform automatic power equilibrium; optical signal-noise-ratio (Optical Signal Noise Ratio, OSNR) monitoring can relatively accurately reflect signal quality; dispersion monitoring can reflect a dispersion status of the channel to instruct the system to perform dispersion compensation on an optical layer or an electrical layer. These parameters are important for optical performance monitoring, facilitate impairment suppression, fault locating, degradation detection, backup, and recovery of the optical network, and are beneficial to stable working of the optical network. Optical signal monitoring is indispensable to all important network elements in the network. Therefore, it is very necessary to monitor a transmitted signal in real time by using an ROADM site.

A wavelength selective switch (Wavelength Selective Switch, WSS) is a technical option of current ROADM. For a <NUM>×N WSS, <NUM> refers to a common (COM) port, and N represents branch ports. Operation of the WSS is as follows: When a group of wavelength division multiplexing (Wavelength Division Multiplexing, WDM) signals enter from the COM port, the group of WDM signals are separated based on optical wavelengths, and then each wavelength is routed to one of the N branch ports based on a system requirement. Oppositely, an optical signal can be received, as input, from the N branch ports, and can be sent, as output, from the COM port.

An LCoS-WSS-based signal monitoring solution is provided in the prior art. In this solution, a single flare on a liquid crystal on silicon (Liquid Crystal on Silicon, LCoS) is divided into an optical monitoring area and a WSS signal switching area for separate processing. For example, if a flare occupies <NUM> pixels in total in a direction of an output port, <NUM> of the <NUM> pixels may be designated as the optical monitoring area, and the remaining <NUM> pixels are designated as the WSS signal switching area.

However, in the foregoing solution in the prior art, when monitored light is processed, phase information of the LCoS also needs to be continuously updated, to obtain different wavelength channels through filtering in a time-sharing manner for detection and monitoring. A scanning update speed of the LCoS is usually approximately <NUM>. If <NUM> channels in a band C need to be scanned, a time period of approximately <NUM> is required. For an N×M WSS device including a plurality of ports, a longer time period is required, and a demand for quick fault locating in a future network cannot be satisfied.

The present invention provides a signal monitoring method and apparatus for a wavelength selective switch WSS. The method and the apparatus that are provided in the present invention resolve a problem that an optical signal monitoring solution in the prior art is time-consuming and cannot satisfy a demand for quick fault locating in a future network.

According to a first aspect, a signal monitoring method for a wavelength selective switch WSS is provided, where after a WDM signal transmitted from an input port in a WSS passes through an incidence grating, light of wavelengths that is included in the WDM signal is incident to different positions or areas on a first optical engine, and the method includes:.

In the WSS to which the method provided in the present invention is applicable, a second optical engine is further added. The second-stage optical engine is disposed at the output-side grating of the WSS. Light of a particular wavelength that needs to be finally output can be selected by using rotation of the second optical engine in the wavelength plane, so that a processing speed of signal monitoring can be improved without refreshing phase information of the first optical engine while the monitored signal is scanned.

In a possible implementation, the encoding a phase of the first optical engine based on the WDM signal includes:.

In the foregoing implementation, the phase of the first optical engine is encoded by using the foregoing formula. The first optical engine on which phase adjustment is performed processes an entire flare of the WDM signal without dividing the flare into two parts for processing. In this way, light splitting processing may be performed on the WDM signal at any ratio, and it is ensured that performance impact, such as insertion loss, on the original signal is minimal.

In another possible implementation, when the wavelength selective switch WSS includes a plurality of input ports, before the monitored signal is input to the second optical engine disposed at the output-side grating, the method further includes:.

In another possible implementation, when the wavelength selective switch WSS includes a plurality of input ports, and the monitored light includes signal light of a same wavelength that is included in a plurality of WDM signals input from the plurality of input ports, after the monitored signal is input to the second optical engine disposed at the output-side grating, the method further includes:.

The foregoing two possible implementations are for a case in which the WSS includes the plurality of input ports. Because of existence of the plurality of input ports, an input port and a wavelength need to be selected for to-be-detected light. According to the foregoing two implementations, light of a particular wavelength that needs to be finally output can be selected by using rotation of the second optical engine in the wavelength plane, so that a processing speed of signal monitoring can be improved without refreshing phase information of the first optical engine while the monitored signal is scanned.

According to a second aspect, a wavelength selective switch WSS is provided. The WSS includes an input port, an incidence grating, an input-end spherical lens, a first optical engine, an output-end spherical lens, an output-side grating, and a plurality of output ports, where the input port is configured to send an input WDM signal to the incidence grating;.

In a possible implementation, when there are a plurality of input ports, the WSS further includes:
a third optical engine, where the third optical engine is disposed between the first optical engine and the second optical engine, and is configured to rotate in a port plane based on an incidence angle at which a first monitored signal corresponding to the monitored light is incident to the third optical engine, so that the first monitored signal is output to the second optical engine from the third optical engine, and the monitored light that is output from the second optical engine is input to a preset output port.

In another possible implementation, when there are a plurality of input ports, and the monitored light includes signal light of a same wavelength that is included in a plurality of WDM signals input from the plurality of input ports, the WSS further includes:
a fourth optical engine, where the fourth optical engine is disposed between the output-end spherical lens and the output port, and is configured to rotate in a port plane based on an incidence angle at which monitored signal light is incident to the fourth optical engine, so that the monitored signal light is output and is input to a preset output port, where the monitored signal light is in the monitored light and is input from a second input port to be monitored.

According to a third aspect, a signal monitoring apparatus for a wavelength selective switch WSS is provided. The apparatus includes a WSS and a processor, where the WSS specifically includes an input port, an incidence grating, an input-end spherical lens, a first optical engine, an output-end spherical lens, an output-side grating, and an output port, and the WSS further includes a second optical engine disposed at the output-side grating, where the second optical engine is configured to sift out monitored light of a specified wavelength to be monitored; and
the processor is configured to: encode a phase of the first optical engine based on a WDM signal transmitted from the input port, so that the WDM signal is split into a transmitted signal and a monitored signal after passing through the first optical engine, and the transmitted signal and the monitored signal are output at different emergence angles in a direction of the output port, where the monitored signal is input to the second optical engine, and energy of the transmitted signal is greater than that of the monitored signal; determine, in the monitored signal, the monitored light of the specified wavelength that currently needs to be monitored; and control, based on an incidence angle at which the monitored light is incident to the second optical engine and an emergence angle at which the monitored light is output from the second optical engine, the second optical engine to rotate in a wavelength plane of the WDM signal, so that the monitored light is output from the second optical engine at the emergence angle.

In a possible implementation, the processor is further configured to:
encode the phase of the first optical engine by using a formula ϕsplitting(y,λ) = Arg{C<NUM>(λ)I(y)eiϕ<NUM>(y,λ) + C<NUM>(λ)I(y)eiϕ<NUM>(y,λ)}, where C<NUM>:C<NUM> is an energy ratio of the transmitted signal to the monitored signal, and the function ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) and the function ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) respectively correspond to output directions of the transmitted signal and the monitored signal.

In another possible implementation, when the WSS includes a plurality of input ports, the WSS further includes a third optical engine, where the third optical engine is disposed between the first optical engine and the second optical engine, where the apparatus includes:
the processor is further configured to: before controlling the monitored signal to be input to the second optical engine disposed at the output-side grating, control the monitored signal to pass through the third optical engine; determine, in the plurality of input ports, a first input port corresponding to the monitored light; determine a first transmitted signal and a first monitored signal that are formed after the WDM signal transmitted from the first input port is split after passing through the first optical engine; and control, based on an incidence angle at which the first monitored signal is incident to the third optical engine, the third optical engine to rotate in a port plane, so that the first monitored signal is output to the second optical engine from the third optical engine, and the monitored light that is output from the second optical engine is output to a preset output port.

In another possible implementation, when the WSS includes a plurality of input ports and the monitored light include signal light of a same wavelength that is included in a plurality of WDM signals input from the plurality of input ports, the WSS further includes a fourth optical engine, where the fourth optical engine is disposed between the output-end spherical lens and the output port, where the apparatus includes:
after controlling the monitored signal to be input to the second optical engine disposed at the output-side grating, the processor is further configured to: control the monitored light to pass through the fourth optical engine; determine, in the plurality of input ports, a second input port to be monitored, and determine, in the monitored light, monitored signal light that is input from the second input port; and control, based on an incidence angle at which the monitored signal light is incident to the fourth optical engine, the fourth optical engine to rotate in a port plane, so that the monitored signal light is output from the fourth optical engine and is input to a preset output port.

One or two of the foregoing technical solutions have at least the following technical effects:.

In the WSS to which the method provided in the embodiments of the present invention is applicable, a second-stage optical engine is further added. The second-stage optical engine is disposed at the output-side grating of the WSS. Light of a particular wavelength that needs to be finally output can be selected by using rotation of the second optical engine in the wavelength plane, so that a processing speed of signal monitoring can be improved without refreshing phase information of the first optical engine while the monitored signal is scanned.

To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the following clearly and completely describes the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Apparently, the described embodiments are some but not all of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The following further describes the embodiments of the present invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings of this specification.

As shown in <FIG>, an embodiment of the present invention provides a signal monitoring method for a wavelength selective switch WSS. In the method, after a wavelength division multiplexing (Wavelength Division Multiplexing, WDM) signal transmitted from an input port in a WSS passes through an incidence grating, light of wavelengths that is included in the WDM signal is incident to different positions or areas on a first optical engine. The method specifically includes the following steps.

Step <NUM>: Encode a phase of the first optical engine based on the WDM signal, so that the WDM signal is split into a transmitted signal and a monitored signal after passing through the first optical engine, and the transmitted signal and the monitored signal are output at different emergence angles in a direction of an output port, where the monitored signal is input to a second optical engine disposed at an output-side grating, and energy of the transmitted signal is greater than that of the monitored signal.

Light of different wavelengths that is in the WDM signal is incident, in parallel, to different areas on the first optical engine after the WDM signal passes through the incidence grating. Phase processing is performed on the first optical engine, so that flare energy corresponding to a wavelength can be split into two parts (which respectively correspond to a transmitted signal part and a monitored signal part) for separate output. A larger part of the energy is concentrated in an output direction of the signal (that is, the transmitted signal part), and a direction of the other part, a smaller part, of the energy is an output direction of a monitoring port (that is, the monitored signal part), so that impact of division of the monitored signal on signal transmission is minimized.

Step <NUM>: Determine, in the monitored signal, monitored light of a specified wavelength that currently needs to be monitored.

Step <NUM>: Control, based on an incidence angle at which the monitored light is incident to the second optical engine and an emergence angle at which the monitored light is output from the second optical engine, the second optical engine to rotate in a wavelength plane of the WDM signal, so that the monitored light is output from the second optical engine at a preset angle.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the wavelength plane is a plane in which signal light of different wavelengths that is included in the WDM signal is spread out at different angles after the WDM signal passes through the incidence grating.

A second-stage optical engine (where the second optical engine is a single MEMS micromirror) is further added to a WSS to which the method provided in this embodiment of the present invention is applicable. The second-stage optical engine is disposed at the output-side grating of the WSS. When light of signals of different wavelengths is incident to the second optical engine at different angles, the second optical engine is controlled to rotate in the wavelength plane, so that monitored light corresponding to different wavelengths is output in a time-sharing manner. Light of a particular wavelength that needs to be finally output can be selected by using rotation of the second optical engine in the wavelength plane. Therefore, it is only needed to quickly rotate the second optical engine in a wavelength direction to implement a quick signal monitoring function without refreshing phase information of the first optical engine while the monitored signal is scanned.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the first optical engine on which phase adjustment is performed processes an entire flare of the WDM signal without dividing the flare into two parts for processing. In this way, light splitting processing may be performed on the WDM signal at any ratio, and it is ensured that performance impact, such as insertion loss, on the original signal is minimal. A specific implementation of encoding the phase of the first optical engine based on the WDM signal may be:.

When light of a signal of a specific wavelength is incident to an area on the first optical engine, a phase of the area is encoded, so that a flare in the area is output at a particular light splitting ratio in a particular direction. For example,
the phase of the first optical engine is encoded by using a formula <MAT>.

C<NUM>:C<NUM> is an energy ratio of the transmitted signal to the monitored signal. The function ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) and the function ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) respectively correspond to the output directions of the transmitted signal and the monitored signal. After the WDM signal is under the action of the phase function ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) and the energy ratio when passing through the first optical engine, a first part in the WDM signal, as the transmitted signal, is output in a first direction without being split. After the WDM signal is under the action of the phase function ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) and the energy ratio when passing through the first optical engine, a second part in the WDM signal other than the first part, as the monitored signal, is output in a second direction without being split. The first direction is different from the second direction.

In a specific application example, the WSS includes N output ports. If it is set that the first to the (N-<NUM>)th output ports are configured to output the transmitted signal and the Nth port is configured to output the monitored signal, the output direction of the transmitted signal corresponding to ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) is a direction of the first to the (N-<NUM>)th output ports, and the output direction of the monitored signal corresponding to ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) is a direction of the Nth output port.

The function ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) and the function ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) respectively correspond to the output directions of the transmitted signal and the monitored signal. Therefore, when the first optical engine loads a composite phase ϕsplitting(y,λ) = Arg{C<NUM>(λ)I(y)eiϕ<NUM>(y,λ) + C<NUM>(λ)I(y)eiϕ<NUM>(y,λ)}, a light splitting effect (as shown in <FIG>) can be achieved.

In addition, ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) and ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) are usually linear phases varying from <NUM> to 2pi (where phase variations of ϕ<NUM> and ϕ<NUM> are shown in <FIG>). A speed (a cycle) of the phase variation decides a direction of emergent light.

In a specific application environment, the WSS includes a plurality of implementation structures, generally including: (<NUM>) one WSS includes one input port and a plurality of output ports, namely, single-input multiple-output (<NUM>×N WSS); (<NUM>) one WSS includes a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports, namely, multiple-input multiple-output (N×M WSS). When the method provided in this embodiment of the present invention is applied to different WSS structures, specific implementations are different. The specific implementations are as follows:.

First, when the method provided in this embodiment of the present invention is applied to a <NUM>×N WSS structure, a specific implementation may be:.

A schematic principle diagram of a basic optical path in a <NUM>×N WSS structure in the prior art is shown in <FIG>. After a WDM signal (where the signal includes a plurality of signals of different wavelengths, namely, is a multi-wavelength signal) passes through an optical fiber array (including a collimation lens), the WDM signal enters an incidence grating. The incidence grating diffracts the multi-wavelength signal at different diffraction angles. After passing through a spherical lens, the signals in the multi-wavelength signal are incident, in parallel, to different positions or areas on a switching engine LCoS (that is, the first optical engine in Embodiment <NUM>). Subsequently, phase encoding modulation is performed on the LCoS based on output ports of signals of different wavelengths, and light of different wavelengths is output at different angles. Next, the signals of wavelengths are output through different emergence ports by sequentially passing through a spherical lens and an output-side grating.

In this solution provided in this embodiment of the present invention, the second optical engine is added based on the original <NUM>×N WSS structure. A schematic structural diagram of a <NUM>×N WSS structure provided in an embodiment of the present invention after adjustment is shown in <FIG>. Signal processing manners in the method provided in this embodiment of the present invention that are performed before the optical engine and after the second optical engine are all the same as those in the prior art. Processing procedures in the first optical engine, in the second optical engine, and between the first optical engine and the second optical engine may be:.

Light of different wavelengths is incident, in parallel, to different areas on the first optical engine (where the first optical engine may be an LCoS). Phase processing is performed on the LCoS, so that flare energy corresponding to a specific wavelength is split into two parts for separate output. A larger part of the energy is concentrated in an output direction of the signal, and a direction of the other part, a smaller part, of the energy is an output direction of a monitoring port (as shown in <FIG>).

After the transmitted signal and the monitored signal that are output from the first optical engine passes through the spherical lens, the transmitted signal is input to the output-side grating, and the monitored signal is input to the added second optical engine, so that the second optical engine sifts out, from the monitored signal, monitored light of a particular wavelength that currently needs to be monitored.

Second, when the method provided in this embodiment of the present invention is applied to a multiple-input multiple-output (N×M WSS) WSS structure, there are two types of N×M WSS. A role of a first type of N×M WSS (where a specific structure is shown in <FIG>) is that an optical signal of any output port may come from any input port or is a combination of signals from a plurality of input ports. A second type of N×M WSS structure includes N input ports and M output ports, and an output signal of the M output ports can come from only one of the N ports. The two cases are separately described in detail below:.

A1: Control the monitored signal to pass through the third optical engine, where the third optical engine is disposed between the first optical engine and the second optical engine.

A2: Determine, in the plurality of input ports, a first input port corresponding to the monitored light.

The method in this embodiment is applied to the WSS structure including the plurality of input ports. Therefore, monitoring a signal corresponding to which input port at a specific time point needs to be determined, and the first input port corresponding to the finally output monitored light needs to be determined.

A3: Determine a first transmitted signal and a first monitored signal that are formed after the WDM signal transmitted from the first input port is split after passing through the first optical engine.

A4: Control, based on an incidence angle at which the first monitored signal is incident to the third optical engine, the third optical engine to rotate in a port plane, so that the first monitored signal is output to the second optical engine from the third optical engine, and the monitored light that is output from the second optical engine is input to a preset output port.

In this embodiment, a final effect to be achieved through rotation of the third optical engine in the port plane is that: the first monitored signal is sifted out from monitored signals from the plurality of input ports, and it is ensured that an emergence direction, in the port plane, of the monitored light that is output after the first monitored signal passes through the second optical engine corresponds to the output port. Therefore, when the third optical engine is controlled to rotate in the port plane, reference needs to be made to the incidence angle of the first monitored signal and a final position of the output port of the monitored light, to ensure that the monitored light to be monitored is output from a particular output port at a particular time point.

A specific implementation of applying the method provided in this embodiment of the present invention to the first type of N×M WSS structure is described below with reference to a specific structural accompanying drawing.

In this embodiment, compared with the <NUM>×N WSS structure, a multi-port WSS device requires optical engines of two stages (the first optical engine and the third optical engine shown in <FIG>). In correspondence to a device including N input ports, the first optical switching engine includes N rows of flares, and each row of flare is spread out in a wavelength direction. Any wavelength from any input port may be mapped to the third optical switching engine through switching of the first optical engine. The third optical engine is configured to switch (performing optical path deflection on) a signal mapped to an area on the engine, to couple the signal to a preset output port for output.

An N×M WSS structure provided in an embodiment of the present invention is shown in <FIG>. After WDM light entering from the N input ports passes through apparatuses such as a collimation lens array, a grating, and a lens, the WDM light is spread out in a wavelength direction, arranged into N rows, and transmitted to the first optical engine. Then, a light splitting operation is performed on a signal of each wavelength in each row of flare on the first optical engine by using a phase algorithm. An incident signal of each wavelength is divided into two parts at a specified light splitting ratio. One part is a transmitted signal, and the other part is a monitored signal. A direction of the transmitted signal depends on an output port corresponding to the transmitted signal. For example, if a signal of a specific wavelength needs to be output from a second output port, a phase of the first optical engine is controlled, so that the signal of the specific wavelength is mapped to a position that is on the third optical engine and that corresponds to the second output port. Monitored signals are output by using a same output port. Therefore, all the monitored signals are mapped to a particular position on the third optical engine. In addition, a direction of the monitored signal corresponding to each input port depends on a position of a flare that is on the third optical engine and that corresponds to an output port of monitored light.

The monitored signals corresponding to the input ports are all mapped to a same particular position area on the third optical engine, but incidence angles in the port plane are different. Therefore, when the third optical engine is controlled to rotate in the port plane, an input port from which a monitored signal is to be output may be selected.

After the third optical engine determines a monitored signal of a specific input port, the monitored signal is mapped to the second optical engine. The second optical engine disposed at the output-side grating rotates in the wavelength direction to select monitored light of a particular wavelength for output.

Positions of each flare on the first optical engine and the third optical engine are shown in <FIG>. The first optical engine includes N rows of flares, respectively corresponding to WDM signals of the N input ports. The third optical engine includes M+<NUM> rows of flares. M rows correspond to optical signals of the M output ports, and the other row of flare corresponds to monitored signals from <NUM> to N input ports. It is learned from the figure that for an optical wavelength channel λk, a flare of the optical wavelength channel λk corresponds to the monitored signals from the N input ports (at different incidence angles).

For the second type of N×M WSS structure, the method provided in this embodiment of the present invention is applicable to a WSS structure shown in <FIG>. The WSS structure includes the first optical engine, the second optical engine, and a fourth optical engine. After the first optical engine splits the WDM signal into two parts, the monitored signal corresponding to each input port is input to a particular position on the second optical engine. The second optical engine can output monitored light of only a particular wavelength. However, the monitored light of the particular wavelength includes signal light of a same wavelength that is from the plurality of input ports. For example, if red light that is input from a first input port needs to be monitored, the monitored light that is output from the second optical engine includes red light in WDM signals input from all the input ports. To monitor monitored light of a particular wavelength at a particular port, a beam of monitored light needs to be further selected from the monitored light that is output from the second optical engine. Monitored light of a particular wavelength is specifically selected by using the fourth optical engine. A specific implementation may be:.

A specific implementation of applying the method provided in this embodiment of the present invention to the second type of N×M WSS structure is described below with reference to a specific structural accompanying drawing.

In an existing WSS structure, the output-side grating is in front of the fourth optical engine. When an optical signal obtained through optical multiplexing that is output from the first optical engine is mapped to the fourth optical engine, a role of the fourth optical engine is to select an input port from which a multiplexed signal is to be output and selection cannot be performed for each wavelength. Therefore, a signal wavelength can be selected based on the second optical engine newly added to the output-side grating in this solution of the present invention. A specific structure is shown in <FIG>. A specific implementation of the method may be:.

An N×M WSS structure according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in <FIG>. After WDM light entering from the N input ports passes through apparatuses such as a collimation lens array, a grating, and a lens, the WDM light is spread out in a wavelength direction, arranged into N rows, and transmitted to the first optical engine. Then, a light splitting operation is performed on a signal of each wavelength in each row of flare on the first optical engine by using a phase algorithm. An incident signal of each wavelength is divided into two parts at a specified light splitting ratio. One part is a transmitted signal, and the other part is a monitored signal. A direction of the transmitted signal depends on an output port corresponding to the transmitted signal. A phase of the first optical engine is controlled, so that a monitored signal from each input port is mapped to a position that is on the second optical engine and that corresponds to an output port of the monitored light.

After the monitored signal corresponding to each input port is mapped to a particular position on the second optical engine, the second optical engine rotates in the wavelength plane to sift out monitored light of a particular wavelength from each monitored signal for output, and maps the monitored light to a particular position on the fourth optical engine.

The monitored light of the particular wavelength that corresponds to each input port is mapped to the particular position on the fourth optical engine. Therefore, when the fourth optical engine is controlled to rotate in the port plane, an input port from which monitored light of a particular wavelength is to be output may be selected.

According to the method provided in this embodiment of the present invention, one stage of optical engine is added based on the original WSS structure to select signal light to be monitored, thereby effectively improving a fault monitoring speed of the WSS structure.

In addition, in the method provided in this embodiment of the present invention, the first optical engine on which phase adjustment is performed processes an entire flare of the WDM signal without dividing the flare into two parts for processing. In this way, light splitting processing may be performed on the WDM signal at any ratio, and it is ensured that performance impact, such as insertion loss, on the original signal is minimal.

As shown in <FIG>, an embodiment of the present invention provides a wavelength selective switch WSS. The WSS includes an input port <NUM>, an incidence grating <NUM>, an input-end spherical lens <NUM>, a first optical engine <NUM>, an output-end spherical lens <NUM>, an output-side grating <NUM>, and an output port <NUM>.

The input port <NUM> is configured to send an input WDM signal to the incidence grating.

The incidence grating <NUM> is configured to respectively diffract signals of wavelengths in the received WDM signal to the input-end spherical lens at different diffraction angles.

The input-end spherical lens <NUM> is configured to allow the signals of wavelengths to be incident, in parallel, to different positions or areas on the first optical engine.

The first optical engine <NUM> is configured to perform phase encoding modulation based on the input port corresponding to the signals of wavelengths, and output the signals of wavelengths to the output-end spherical lens at different angles.

The output-end spherical lens <NUM> is configured to output the signals of wavelengths to the output-side grating.

The output-side grating is configured to output the signals of wavelengths from different the output ports.

In this solution provided in this embodiment of the present invention, the WSS further includes a second optical engine <NUM>. The second optical engine <NUM> is disposed at the output-side grating <NUM>. Based on a structure provided with the second optical engine <NUM>,
the first optical engine <NUM> is further configured to split a signal of any wavelength in the signals of wavelengths into a transmitted signal and a monitored signal, and output the transmitted signal and the monitored signal at different emergence angles in a direction of the output port, so that the monitored signal is input to the second optical engine <NUM>.

Correspondingly, the second optical engine <NUM> is configured to determine, in the monitored signal, monitored light of a specified wavelength that currently needs to be monitored, and rotate in a wavelength plane of the WDM signal based on an incidence angle at which the monitored light is incident to the second optical engine <NUM> and an emergence angle at which the monitored light is output from the second optical engine <NUM>, so that the monitored light is output from the second optical engine at a preset angle.

In a specific application environment, the WSS includes a plurality of implementation structures, generally including: one input signal corresponds to a plurality of output signals, namely, single-input multiple-output (<NUM>×N WSS); or a plurality of input signals correspond to a plurality of output signals, namely, multiple-input multiple-output (N×M WSS). For a WSS structure including a plurality of input ports, a specific implementation is different. The specific implementation is as follows:.

As shown in <FIG>, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a signal monitoring apparatus for a wavelength selective switch (WSS). The apparatus includes a wavelength selective switch <NUM> and a processor <NUM>. The wavelength selective switch <NUM> specifically includes an input port, an incidence grating, an input-end spherical lens, a first optical engine, an output-end spherical lens, an output-side grating, and an output port, and the WSS further includes a second optical engine disposed at the output-side grating. The second optical engine is configured to sift out monitored light of a specified wavelength to be monitored.

The processor <NUM> is configured to: encode a phase of the first optical engine based on a WDM signal transmitted from the input port, so that the WDM signal is split into a transmitted signal and a monitored signal after passing through the first optical engine, and the transmitted signal and the monitored signal are output at different emergence angles in a direction of the output port, where the monitored signal is input to the second optical engine, and energy of the transmitted signal is greater than that of the monitored signal; determine, in the monitored signal, monitored light of the specified wavelength that currently needs to be monitored; and control, based on an incidence angle at which the monitored light is incident to the second optical engine and an emergence angle at which the monitored light is output from the second optical engine, the second optical engine to rotate in a wavelength plane of the WDM signal, so that the monitored light is output from the second optical engine at the emergence angle.

Optionally, the processor <NUM> is further configured to:
encode the phase of the first optical engine by using a formula ϕsplitting(y,λ) = Arg{C<NUM>(λ)I(y)eiϕ<NUM>(y,λ) + C<NUM>(λ)I(y)eiϕ<NUM>(y,λ)}, where C<NUM>:C<NUM> is an energy ratio of the transmitted signal to the monitored signal, and the function ϕ<NUM> (y,λ) and the function ϕ<NUM>(y,λ) respectively correspond to output directions of the transmitted signal and the monitored signal.

When the apparatus provided in this embodiment of the present invention is applied to a multiple-input multiple-output (N×M WSS) WSS structure, there are specifically two types of N×M WSS structures. A role of a first type of N×M WSS is that an optical signal of any output port may come from any input port or is a combination of signals from a plurality of input ports. A second type of N×M WSS structure includes N input ports and M output ports, and an output signal of the M output ports can come from only one of the N ports. For the two cases, the apparatus provided in this embodiment may be specifically as follows:.

First, for the first type of multiple-input multiple-output WSS structure, the WSS further includes a third optical engine. The third optical engine is disposed between the first optical engine and the second optical engine. Correspondingly,
the processor <NUM> is further configured to: before controlling the monitored signal to be input to the second optical engine disposed at the output-side grating, control the monitored signal to pass through the third optical engine; determine, in the plurality of input ports, a first input port corresponding to the monitored light; determine a first transmitted signal and a first monitored signal that are formed after the WDM signal transmitted from the first input port is split after passing through the first optical engine; and control, based on an incidence angle at which the first monitored signal is incident to the third optical engine, the third optical engine to rotate in a port plane, so that the first monitored signal is output to the second optical engine from the third optical engine, and the monitored light that is output from the second optical engine is output to a preset output port.

Second, for the second type of multiple-input multiple-output WSS structure, the WSS further includes a fourth optical engine. The fourth optical engine is disposed between the output-end spherical lens and the output port. Correspondingly,
after controlling the monitored signal to be input to the second optical engine disposed at the output-side grating, the processor <NUM> is further configured to: control the monitored light to pass through the fourth optical engine; determine, in the plurality of input ports, a second input port to be monitored, and determine, in the monitored light, monitored signal light that is input from the second input port; and control, based on an incidence angle at which the monitored signal light is incident to the fourth optical engine, the fourth optical engine to rotate in a port plane, so that the monitored signal light is output from the fourth optical engine and is input to a preset output port.

The foregoing technical solutions in the embodiments of this application have at least the following technical effects or advantages:
According to the method and the apparatus that are provided in the embodiments of the present invention, one stage of optical engine is added based on the original WSS structure to select signal light to be monitored, thereby effectively improving a fault monitoring speed of the WSS structure.

In addition, in the method and the apparatus that are provided the embodiments of the present invention, the first optical engine on which phase adjustment is performed processes an entire flare of the WDM signal without dividing the flare into two parts for processing. In this way, light splitting processing may be performed on the WDM signal at any ratio, and it is ensured that performance impact, such as insertion loss, on the original signal is minimal.

The present invention is described with reference to the flowcharts and/or block diagrams of the method, the device (system), and the computer program product according to the embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood that computer program instructions may be used to implement each process and/or each block in the flowcharts and/or the block diagrams and a combination of a process and/or a block in the flowcharts and/or the block diagrams. These computer program instructions may be provided for a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or a processor of any other programmable data processing device to generate a machine, so that the instructions executed by a computer or a processor of any other programmable data processing device generate an apparatus for implementing a specific function in one or more processes in the flowcharts and/or in one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

Claim 1:
A signal monitoring method for a wavelength selective switch WSS, wherein after a wavelength division multiplexing WDM signal transmitted from an input port (<NUM>) in a WSS passes through an incidence grating (<NUM>), light of wavelengths that is comprised in the WDM signal is incident to different positions or areas on a first optical engine (<NUM>); and the method comprises:
encoding (S101) a phase of the first optical engine (<NUM>) based on the WDM signal, so that the WDM signal is split into a transmitted signal and a monitored signal after passing through the first optical engine (<NUM>), and the transmitted signal and the monitored signal are output at different emergence angles in a direction of an output port, wherein the monitored signal is input to a second optical engine (<NUM>) disposed at an output-side grating (<NUM>), and energy of the transmitted signal is greater than that of the monitored signal, wherein the second optical engine (<NUM>) is configured as a single MEMS micromirror;
determining (S102), in the monitored signal, monitored light of a specified wavelength that currently needs to be monitored; and
controlling (S103), based on an incidence angle at which the monitored light is incident to the second optical engine (<NUM>) and an emergence angle at which the monitored light is output from the second optical engine (<NUM>), the second optical engine (<NUM>) to rotate in a wavelength plane of the WDM signal, wherein the wavelength plane is a plane in which signal light of different wavelengths that is included in the WDM signal is spread out at different angles after the WDM signal passes through the incidence grating (<NUM>), so that the monitored light is output from the second optical engine (<NUM>) at a preset angle, so that monitored light corresponding to different wavelengths is output in a time-sharing manner.