Patent ID: 7113706

Claim:
A system for delivering optical signals to and from an undersea optical cable, comprising: a cable landing station connected to the undersea optical cable and configured to convey a wavelength division multiplexed optical signal from the undersea optical cable including an optical splitter configured to split the wavelength division multiplexed optical signal from the undersea optical cable into two split signals; a point of presence remote from the cable landing station and including wavelength division multiplexing equipment configured to convert the wavelength division multiplexed optical signal output from an optical switch to a plurality of optical channels; and two diversely routed terrestrial optical fiber coupled between the splitter in the cable landing station and the switch in the point of presence to transport the wavelength division multiplexed optical signal from the cable landing station to the point of presence, wherein the optical switch includes a first tap and photodiode optically coupled to a first one of the two diversely routed optical fibers and configured to provide a measurement of signals in the first optical fiber, a second tap and photodiode optically coupled to a second one of the two diversely routed optical fibers and configured to provide a measurement of signals in the second optical fiber, a processor configured to receive the measurements from the first and second taps and photodiodes and to determine whether to switch between the two diversely routed optical fibers, and a 1×2 optical switch optically coupled to the two diversely routed optical fibers and configured to switch between them based on a control signal from the processor.