One embodiment described herein provides a system for distributed fiber sensing. The system can include a plurality of network elements (NEs) in an optical transport network (OTN) and a control-and-management module coupled to the NEs. A respective network element (NE) can include a first wavelength coupler configured to separate an optical supervisory channel (OSC) signal from a data-carrying signal received from a fiber span, a polarization-measurement unit configured to perform a polarization measurement on the OSC signal, and a transmitter configured to transmit an outcome of the polarization measurement to the control-and-management module, thereby facilitating distributed fiber sensing based on the outcome of the polarization measurement.

One embodiment described herein provides a system for distributed fiber sensing. The system can include a plurality of network elements (NEs) in an optical transport network (OTN) and a control-and-management module coupled to the NEs. A respective network element (NE) can include a first wavelength coupler configured to separate an optical supervisory channel (OSC) signal from a data-carrying signal received from a fiber span, a polarization-measurement unit configured to perform a polarization measurement on the OSC signal, and a transmitter configured to transmit an outcome of the polarization measurement to the control-and-management module, thereby facilitating distributed fiber sensing based on the outcome of the polarization measurement.

A performance monitor configured to unify at least two different signal-quality estimates into a single performance metric such that a systematic error associated with the performance metric can be approximately constant or smaller than a specified fixed limit over a significantly wider range of data-link conditions than that of a conventional performance metric of similar utility. In an example embodiment, the performance metric can be based on a weighted sum of two different SNR estimates, obtained from an error count of the receiver's FEC decoder and from a constellation scatter plot generated using the receiver's symbol decoder, respectively. Different weights for the weighted sum may be selected for different data-link conditions, e.g., using SNR thresholding, analytical formulas, or pre-computed look-up tables. The performance metric may be supplied to a control entity and considered thereby as a factor in a possible decision to trigger protective switching and/or a transponder-mode change.

A performance monitor configured to unify at least two different signal-quality estimates into a single performance metric such that a systematic error associated with the performance metric can be approximately constant or smaller than a specified fixed limit over a significantly wider range of data-link conditions than that of a conventional performance metric of similar utility. In an example embodiment, the performance metric can be based on a weighted sum of two different SNR estimates, obtained from an error count of the receiver's FEC decoder and from a constellation scatter plot generated using the receiver's symbol decoder, respectively. Different weights for the weighted sum may be selected for different data-link conditions, e.g., using SNR thresholding, analytical formulas, or pre-computed look-up tables. The performance metric may be supplied to a control entity and considered thereby as a factor in a possible decision to trigger protective switching and/or a transponder-mode change.

The present invention is directed to data communication systems and methods thereof. According to various embodiments, the present invention provides a communication with a reconfigurable forward-error-correction (FEC) module. The FEC module processes data received from two or more communication lanes, and depending on the mode of operation, the FEC module can combine data from the two or more communication lanes and perform error correction on the combined data, or the FEC module can processes data from the two communications lanes separately and perform error correction independently for the each of the data communication lanes. There are other embodiments as well.

The present invention is directed to data communication systems and methods thereof. According to various embodiments, the present invention provides a communication with a reconfigurable forward-error-correction (FEC) module. The FEC module processes data received from two or more communication lanes, and depending on the mode of operation, the FEC module can combine data from the two or more communication lanes and perform error correction on the combined data, or the FEC module can processes data from the two communications lanes separately and perform error correction independently for the each of the data communication lanes. There are other embodiments as well.

A multilayer photonic device is described, including an input region configured to receive an input signal, a multilayer stack optically coupled with the input region to receive the input signal, and an output region optically coupled with the multilayer stack to output an output signal. The multilayer stack can include a first metastructured dispersive region disposed in a first patterned layer of the multilayer stack and a second metastructured dispersive region disposed in a second patterned layer of the multilayer stack and optically coupled with the first metastructured dispersive region. The first metastructured dispersive region and the second metastructured dispersive region can together structure the multilayer stack to generate the output signal in response to the input signal.

A multilayer photonic device is described, including an input region configured to receive an input signal, a multilayer stack optically coupled with the input region to receive the input signal, and an output region optically coupled with the multilayer stack to output an output signal. The multilayer stack can include a first metastructured dispersive region disposed in a first patterned layer of the multilayer stack and a second metastructured dispersive region disposed in a second patterned layer of the multilayer stack and optically coupled with the first metastructured dispersive region. The first metastructured dispersive region and the second metastructured dispersive region can together structure the multilayer stack to generate the output signal in response to the input signal.

A method and an apparatus for predicting a fault of an optical circuit includes determining a classification threshold of an operating parameter based on a classification sample set corresponding to the operating parameter of optical circuit and predicting, based on comparison results between the classification threshold and a plurality of measured values in a sequence, whether a fault occurs in the future on the optical circuit corresponding to the sequence.

A method and an apparatus for predicting a fault of an optical circuit includes determining a classification threshold of an operating parameter based on a classification sample set corresponding to the operating parameter of optical circuit and predicting, based on comparison results between the classification threshold and a plurality of measured values in a sequence, whether a fault occurs in the future on the optical circuit corresponding to the sequence.