Patent ID: 7469104

Claim:
A land-based cable station for interfacing with first and second undersea transmission segments of an undersea optical transmission system, the first and second undersea transmission segments each including two fibers, said cable station comprising: optical transmission terminal equipment for receiving and transmitting optical signals that undergo opto-electric conversion therein; a first interface device operably coupled to the terminal equipment for bidirectionally communicating optical signals between the terminal equipment and the first undersea transmission segment and for providing signal conditioning to the optical signals received from the terminal equipment so that the optical signals are suitable for transmission through the first undersea transmission segment; a second interface device operably coupled to the terminal equipment for bidirectionally communicating optical signals between the terminal equipment and the second undersea transmission segment and for providing signal conditioning to the optical signals received from the terminal equipment so that the optical signals are suitable for transmission through the second undersea transmission segment; at least one first bypass optical transmission path for selectively coupling reflectometry probe signals and backscattered and reflected signals located at a prescribed wavelength from the first interface device to the second interface device; at least one second bypass optical transmission path for selectively coupling reflectometry probe signals and backscattered and reflected signals located at a prescribed wavelength from the second interface device to the first interface; wherein said first interface device includes a first loopback path for selectively coupling the backscattered and reflected optical signals from a first optical transmission path located therein that receives the reflectometry probe signals from the second bypass path to a second optical transmission path located therein that couples the reflectometry probe signals to the first bypass path; and wherein said second interface device includes a second loopback path for selectively coupling the backscattered and reflected optical signals from a second optical transmission path located therein that receives the reflectometry probe signals from the first bypass path to a first optical transmission path located therein that couples the reflectometry probe signals to the second bypass path.