Patent ID: 8452174

Claim:
A system comprising: an optical transmitter device to: generate an optical test signal that includes a scrambled polarization state, and output the test signal via an optical fiber associated with a network path that is transporting traffic associated with an optical network; and an optical receiver device to: receive the test signal from the optical transmitter device via the optical fiber, measure one or more polarization states associated with the test signal, determine, based on the one or more polarization states, a degree of polarization associated with the test signal, identify a quantity of differential group delay associated with the test signal based on the degree of polarization, output a notification that the optical fiber is available to carry high capacity traffic when the quantity of differential group delay is less than a threshold, where the high capacity traffic includes a data rate that is greater than a data rate threshold, and output a notification that the optical fiber is not available to carry the high capacity traffic when the quantity of differential group delay is not less than the threshold.