Patent ID: 7272308

Claim:
A method of determining a channel power of a multiplexed optical signal having a plurality of channels wherein one or more unique dithers are each impressed upon a respective channel of the plurality of channels, the method comprising: determining at a designated co-location point of a plurality of co-location points a channel power of the plurality of channels and a fractional power of each one of the one or more unique dithers present upon each one of the plurality of channels; determining power transfer coefficients based upon both the fractional power and the channel power of the plurality of channels; determining, at least one other co-location point, the power of the one or more unique dithers; summing respective contributions to the channel power of at least one of the plurality of channels, at the at least one other co-location point; and determining the respective contributions to the channel power, at the at least one other co-location point, from the power transfer coefficients and the power of the one or more unique dithers at the at least one other co-location point.