Patent ID: 7715710

Claim:
A method for measuring signal power in a link in a communications network, said link transporting a plurality of carrier signals each carrier signal carrying a respective information signal where crosstalk among the carrier signals is present, the method comprising: selecting a specific carrier signal; modulating said specific carrier signal with an identifying signal to produce a composite signal, with a predefined power ratio of said identifying signal to the specific carrier signal; and at a monitoring point along said link detecting said identifying signal; obtaining a first measurement of power of the identifying signal; modifying power of said composite signal by a first factor; detecting said identifying signal; obtaining a second measurement of power of the identifying signal; and determining a first estimate of power of said specific carrier signal as a function of said first measurement, said second measurement, said first factor, and said predefined power ratio; wherein said first factor equals (1-α), where 0<α<1, and said first estimate is determined as: (the first measurement−the second measurement)/(α×R), where R is said predefined power ratio.