Patent Document ID: 20070166032
Application ID: 11328810
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for the performance analysis of fiber optic networks, the method comprising: given a fiber optic network of interest, applying geographic segmentation to the fiber optic network by separating the fiber optic network into a predetermined number of individual non-overlapping segments defined by one or more optical add/drop placements; given a plurality of impairments of interest, applying impairment segmentation to the plurality of impairments such that each of the plurality of impairments is treated separately; calculating each of the plurality of impairments using a predetermined method selected to achieve a predetermined minimum required accuracy; applying one or more concatenation rules to compute an overall impairment experienced by a signal that traverses more than one segment; and applying one or more impairment scaling rules to estimate changes in configuration that lead to improved fiber optic network performance.