System and methods for distribution of heterogeneous wavelength multiplexed signals over optical access network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017366267-A1
Application number	US-201715590464-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 9, 2017
Priority date	Jun 20, 2016
Publication date	Dec 21, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An optical network communication system includes an optical hub, an optical distribution center, at least one fiber segment, and at least two end users. The optical hub includes an intelligent configuration unit configured to monitor and multiplex at least two different optical signals into a single multiplexed heterogeneous signal. The optical distribution center is configured to individually separate the at least two different optical signals from the multiplexed heterogeneous signal. The at least one fiber segment connects the optical hub and the optical distribution center, and is configured to receive the multiplexed heterogeneous signal from the optical hub and distribute the multiplexed heterogeneous signal to the optical distribution center. The at least two end users each include a downstream receiver configured to receive one of the respective separated optical signals from the optical distribution center.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An optical network communication system, comprising:
an optical hub including an intelligent configuration unit configured to monitor and multiplex at least two different optical signals into a single multiplexed heterogeneous signal; an optical distribution center configured to individually separate the at least two different optical signals from the multiplexed heterogeneous signal; at least one fiber segment connecting the optical hub and the optical distribution center, the at least one fiber segment configured to receive the multiplexed heterogeneous signal from the optical hub and distribute the multiplexed heterogeneous signal to the optical distribution center; and at least two end users, each including a downstream receiver configured to receive one of the respective separated optical signals from the optical distribution center.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the intelligent configuration unit comprises a processor and a memory, and an optical multiplexer.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the intelligent configuration unit further comprises an optical multiplexer.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the intelligent configuration unit further comprises at least one of a control interface and a communication interface to receive from and send information to an optical multiplexer.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical distribution center comprises a node optical demultiplexer configured to demultiplex the multiplexed heterogeneous signal.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical hub comprises at least two downstream transmitters, each configured to transmit one of the at least two different optical signals, respectively.

7 . The system of claim 6 ,
wherein each of the at least two end users further includes an upstream transmitter, wherein the optical distribution center further comprises a node optical multiplexer, and wherein the optical hub further comprises at least two upstream receivers configured to receive a different optical signal from different ones of the transmitters of the at least two end users, respectively.

8 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the intelligent configuration unit is further configured to multiplex the at least two different optical signals from the at least two downstream transmitters.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least two different optical signals include two or more of an analog signal, an intensity modulated direct detection signal, a differential modulated signal, and a coherent signal.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least two end users comprise at least two of a customer device, customer premises, a business user, and an optical network unit.

11 . The system of claim 1 , further configured to implement coherent dense wavelength division multiplexing with a passive optical network architecture.

12 . The system of claim 11 ,
wherein the at least two end users include at least N subscribers, and wherein the system comprises at least two fiber segments for each N subscribers.

13 . The system of claim 1 , further configured to implement wavelength filtering and injection locking.

14 . The system of claim 13 ,
wherein the at least two end users include at least N subscribers, and wherein the system comprises at least three fiber segments for each 2N subscribers.

15 . A method of distributing heterogeneous wavelength signals over a fiber segment of an optical network, comprising the steps of:
monitoring at least two different optical carriers from at least two different transmitters, respectively; analyzing one or more characteristics of the fiber segment; determining one or more parameters of the at least two different optical carriers; and assigning a wavelength spectrum to each of the at least two different optical carriers according to the one or more analyzed fiber segment characteristics and the one or more determined optical carrier parameters.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising, after the step of assigning, multiplexing the at least two different optical carriers to the fiber segment according to the respective assigned wavelength spectra.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the at least two different optical carriers include two or more of an analog signal, an intensity modulated direct detection signal, a differential modulated signal, and a coherent signal.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the fiber segment characteristics include one or more of fiber type, fiber length, implementation of amplification and/or loss devices, implementation of wavelength filters or splitters, and fiber distribution network topology.

19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the optical carrier parameters include one or more of individual carrier optical power levels, aggregate carrier power, number of optical carriers, signal wavelength, wavelength spacing among carriers, modulation format, modulation bandwidth, carrier configurability, channel coding/decoding, polarization multiplexing, forward error correction, and carrier tenability.

20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of assigning comprises the substeps of:
first, placing fixed wavelength optical signals along a wavelength spectrum; second, place substantially robust optical signals having relatively high noise tolerance closely adjacent the fixed wavelength optical signals along the wavelength spectrum; and third, place optical signals having relatively higher signal to noise ratios within areas of relatively low noise along the wavelength spectrum, such that the substantially robust optical signals are positioned between the optical signals having relatively higher signal to noise ratios and the fixed wavelength optical signals.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the step of assigning further comprises the substep of calculating a noise level of placed signals after at least one of the first, second, and third substeps.

22 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the fixed wavelength optical signals comprise analog optical signals.

23 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the optical signals having relatively high noise tolerance comprise one or more of NRZ and QPSK optical signals.

24 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the optical signals having relatively higher signal to noise ratios comprise one or more of PAM4, PAM8, 16QAM, and 64QAM optical signals.

25 . An optical distribution center apparatus, comprising:
an input optical interface for communication with an optical hub; an output optical interface for communication with one or more end user devices configured to process optical signals; a wavelength filter for separating a downstream heterogeneous optical signal from the input optical interface into a plurality of downstream homogenous optical signals; and a downstream optical switch for distributing the plurality of downstream homogeneous optical signals from the wavelength filter to the output optical interface in response to a first control signal from the optical hub.

26 . The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the wavelength filter comprises at least one of a wavelength division multiplexing grating and a cyclic arrayed waveguide grating.

27 . The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the downstream optical switch is an N×N optical switch configured to associate particular ones of the plurality of downstream homog

Assignees

• Cable Television Laboratories Inc

Inventors

• Campos Luis Alberto
• Jia Zhensheng

Classifications

• H04J14/0257

  Wavelength assignment algorithms · CPC title

• H04J14/0282 Primary

  WDM tree architectures · CPC title

• H04B10/25754 Primary

  Star network topology · CPC title

• H04B10/25753 Primary

  Distribution optical network, e.g. between a base station and a plurality of remote units · CPC title

• H04J14/0291

  Shared protection at the optical multiplex section (1:1, n:m) · CPC title