Switching technology may be incorporated into various systems, components, and/or architectures in a fiber optic network to promote network reconfigurability and design flexibility. A signal access unit comprises an input, an output, an access port, a switch arrangement including a switch, and a controller. The switch optically couples the input to the output and not to the access port when in a first configuration, and optically couples the access port to at least one of the input and the output without optically coupling the input and the output together when in a second configuration. The controller is configured to receive an indication of a selected wavelength and to operate the switch arrangement to change the switch between the first and second configurations based on the indication of the selected wavelength.

A controller for an optical network includes a network interface configured to communicate to one or more nodes in an optical network that includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links; a processor communicatively coupled to the network interface; and memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to obtain information related to a plurality of services that require spectrum assignment with each service given a time-constraint T for restoration to a restoration path and each service on its home route given a margin-constraint X dB for transients caused by restoring channels, classify each of the plurality of services in terms of viable paths in the optical network, restoration speed each viable path can tolerate, and re-tunability, and assign a home route and a restoration route, a restoration speed, and spectrum for each of the plurality of services based on priority.

Devices, computer-readable media and methods are disclosed for selecting paths in reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) networks using machine learning. In one example, a method includes defining a feature set for a proposed path through a wavelength division multiplexing network, wherein the proposed path traverses at least one link in the network, and wherein the at least one link connects a pair of reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers, predicting an optical performance of the proposed path, wherein the predicting employs a machine learning model that takes the feature set as an input and outputs a metric that quantifies predicted optical performance, and determining whether to deploy a new wavelength on the proposed path based on the predicted optical performance of the proposed path.

Devices, computer-readable media and methods are disclosed for determining reachability for a wavelength connection in a telecommunication network. For example, a processor deployed in a telecommunication network may calculate a fiber loss on a link in the telecommunication network using optical power measurements and determine that a destination node of a wavelength connection is not reachable via a path that includes the link based upon the fiber loss of the link that is calculated. In one example, the determining is based upon a number of links in the path, an effective fiber loss for each link in the path, a penalty for nodes in the path, and an acceptable loss value. The processor may further perform a remedial action in response to determining that the destination node of the wavelength connection is not reachable via the path.

A software-defined network multi-layer controller (SDN-MLC) may communicate with multiple layers of a telecommunication network. The SDN-MLC may have an optimization algorithm that helps manage, in near real-time, the multiple layers of the telecommunication network.

A system for photonic computing, preferably including an input module, computation module, and/or control module, wherein the computation module preferably includes one or more filter banks and/or detectors. A photonic filter bank system, preferably including two waveguides and a plurality of optical filters optically coupled to one or more of the waveguides. A method for photonic computing, preferably including controlling a computation module, controlling an input module, and/or receiving outputs from the computation module.

A photonic device configured to perform matrix vector multiplication operations at high frequencies is provided. The vector being multiplied by the matrix is defined by vector components at specific wavelengths. The device includes a first waveguide and a second waveguide. A series of tunable microring resonators (MRRs) are coupled to the first waveguide and to a respective series of passive delay rings (PDRs), which are coupled to the second waveguide. Each MRR/PDR pair defines a tunable matrix component (tunable weight) for a respective wavelength component of the vector. A series of controllable delay elements (CDEs) such as all-pass filters are coupled to the first waveguide, upstream from the tunable MRRs. Any tuning dependent group delay caused by the MRR/PDR pairs can be compensated by controlling the CDEs such that each wavelength components has substantially a same delay as the other wavelength components.

An optical device having an amplifier and a controller is described. The amplifier is configured to amplify an optical signal in at least one of the C-Band or the L-Band. The controller includes a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium. The non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable code that when executed by the processor causes the processor to: select a target tilt and gain setting from a plurality of target tilt and gain settings stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium based on the type of fault event message responsive to a fault event message affecting the C-band or the L-Band. The selected and pre-calculated target tilt and gain settings are applied to the amplifier.

An optical network and a method are described. In the method, an orchestrator of an optical communication system receives an operation to execute, the operation being to activate or deactivate a service within a transmission signal of the optical communication system, the optical communication system having a span and an amplifier coupled to and supplying optical signals into each span. Network status data for each span within the optical communication system is retrieved, and the list of operations is analyzed with the network status data including existing data traffic on the fiber optic line to select a subset of the list of operations to execute that maintains the transmission signal below a bit error rate threshold. The orchestrator issues one or more signals to cause the one or more service within the subset of the list of operations to be activated or deactivated on the optical communication system.

A system for photonic computing, preferably including an input module, computation module, and/or control module, wherein the computation module preferably includes one or more filter banks and/or detectors. A photonic filter bank system, preferably including two waveguides and a plurality of optical filters optically coupled to one or more of the waveguides. A method for photonic computing, preferably including controlling a computation module, controlling an input module, and/or receiving outputs from the computation module.