Patent ID: 8526813

Claim:
An optical switch system, comprising: at least one optical input port; at least one optical output port; an optical switch coupled between the at least one optical input port and the at least one optical output port, the optical switch being adapted to optically couple a selected input port to a selected output port to configure an optical path through the optical switch system; an optical coupler in the optical path, the optical coupler being adapted to divert a portion of an optical signal on the optical path; an optical channel power estimator optically coupled to the optical coupler to receive the diverted portion of the optical signal, wherein the optical channel power estimator is adapted to estimate optical power in an optical channel carried by the optical signal based on the diverted portion of the optical signal and to output a control signal indicative of the estimated optical power; a variable optical intensity controller in the optical path, the variable optical intensity controller being coupled to the optical channel power estimator to receive the control signal and being adapted, in response to the control signal, to adjust an optical intensity of an optical signal on the optical path.