Patent ID: 8660437

Claim:
A WDM optical communication network comprising: an optical transmitter for generating a modulated optical signal for transmission over a fiber optic link including: a first laser for producing a first optical signal at a first wavelength corresponding to a first communication channel; a first input coupled to the first laser for directly modulating the first laser with an RF signal to produce a first modulated optical signal; and a controller coupled to the first laser for periodically varying the first wavelength around a first center wavelength over a first wavelength range of less than 2.0 nm; a fiber optic link having opposing first and second ends, said first end coupled to an output of the optical transmitter; and an optical receiver disposed remotely from the transmitter and coupled to the second end of the fiber optic link to receive and detect a received modulated optical signal, said receiver including: a detector for converting the received modulated optical signal into a corresponding modulated electrical signal; a processor coupled to the detector for analyzing the modulated electrical signal to determine, based on a plurality of signals transmitted by the optical transmitter and that vary around the center wavelength, a link transmission curve representing optical power versus wavelength, and for generating a wavelength control signal based on the link transmission curve; and a communications interface to transmit the wavelength control signal to the remote transmitter to shift an operating wavelength of the first laser toward a transmission peak of the link transmission curve.