Patent ID: 6856454

Claim:
A method of dynamically compensating for signal loss and dispersion in an optical signal traversing though an optical network; comprising: providing a dynamic gain equalization filter (DGEQ) having a dynamically adjustable transfer function; providing a first optical amplifier and a second optical amplifier interconnected by the DGEQ to form a dynamic amplifier site in the optical network; and controlling spectral power profile of the optical signal at an output of the dynamic amplifier site by dynamically adjusting a transfer function associated with the DGEQ; controlling average power of the optical signal by dynamically adjusting gains of the first optical amplifier and the second optical amplifier; and decoupling a first optical amplifier control loop, a DGEQ control loop, and a second optical amplifier control loop, respectively utilized to control outputs of the first optical amplifier, the DGEQ, and the second optical amplifier.