An apparatus includes a reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) having an input port to receive a first optical signal from a second device. The ROADM also includes a first wavelength selective switch (WSS), in optical communication with the input port, to convert the first optical signal into a second optical signal, a loopback, in optical communication with the first WSS, to transmit the second optical signal, and a second WSS, in optical communication with the loopback, to convert the second optical signal to a third optical signal and direct the third optical signal back to the second device via the input port.

Provided are techniques, devices and systems that enable updating of a reportable parameter table database when a reconfigured optical communication path is formed by switching performed by a branching unit in an undersea optical communication transmission system. A processor may obtain system attributes of each respective segment of a number of segments of the reconfigured optical communication path from a first end point to a second endpoint. The system attributes of each respective segment of the number of segments may be evaluated from the first end point to the second endpoint of the reconfigured optical communication path. A reportable parameter table may be generated based on the evaluated system attributes that includes a listing of operational and structural parameters of system from the first endpoint to the second endpoint of the reconfigured optical communication path.

Various example embodiments for supporting dynamic control of network topologies are presented. Various example embodiments for supporting dynamic control of network topologies may be configured to support dynamic control of a network topology for a network of routers supporting a set of servers (e.g., a web scale network, a datacenter network, or the like). Various example embodiments for supporting dynamic control of network topologies may be configured to support dynamic control of a network topology based on integration of tunable optical ports into routers and connection of the tunable optical ports to optical buses. Various example embodiments for supporting dynamic control of network topologies may be configured to support dynamic control of a network topology based on dynamic configuration of tunable optical ports of routers to support communication over optical buses according to the network topology.

A device for a network switch comprises N input ports, and an electrical block including a plurality of electrical switches configured to route signals in an electrical domain. Each electrical switch includes M input ports, and the device further comprises an optical block coupled to the electrical block. The optical block is configured to route signals in an optical domain. A configuration of the optical block and a configuration of the electrical block are based on at least a number of the N input ports.

An optical local area network includes a passive optical distribution fabric interconnecting a plurality of nodes including a first node and a plurality of remaining nodes, a hub that includes the first node and a control module, and a client network adapter coupled to each of the remaining nodes for responding to the control module. The control module controls timing for each of the client network adapters to transmit signals over the passive optical distribution fabric and distribution of signals to each of the nodes.

An optical routing system for free space optical communication is disclosed. The system has a transmitter and a receiver that use free space optical communication, and includes an optical path based on waveguide where an optical signal is routed from the proximity of the transmitter to the proximity of the destination. This system has advantages in terms of mitigating line-of-sight issues, as well as potentially reducing the overall coupling loss that would be otherwise incurred due to beam divergence of free space propagation for long distance.

A procedure to solve the DFOS placement problem that uses a genetic algorithm to achieve a global optimization of sensor placement. First, our procedure according to aspects of the present disclosure defines a fitness function that counts the number of DFOS sensors used. Second, the procedure uses a valid DFOS placement assignment to model an individual in the genetic algorithm. Each individual consists of N genes, where N is the number of nodes in the given network infrastructure, e.g., N=|V|. Each gene has two genomes: (1) a list of 0s and/or 1s, in which is represent the network nodes that are equipped with DFOS sensors, and 0s represent the nodes that are not equipped with DFOS sensors; (2) a list of sensing fiber routes. An individual that has smallest number of is in their genes will be considered as the strongest individual. Thirdly, the procedure randomly generates a population of individuals. After a certain number of generations of population, the strongest individual in the last generation will be the global optima for the DFOS placement assignment.

An optical routing system for free space optical communication is disclosed. The system has a transmitter and a receiver that use free space optical communication, and includes an optical path based on waveguide where an optical signal is routed from the proximity of the transmitter to the proximity of the destination. This system has advantages in terms of mitigating line-of-sight issues, as well as potentially reducing the overall coupling loss that would be otherwise incurred due to beam divergence of free space propagation for long distance.

A computer network system configured with disaggregated inputs/outputs. This system can be configured in a leaf-spine architecture and can include a router coupled to a network source, a plurality of core switches coupled to the router, a plurality of aggregator switches coupled to each of the plurality of core switches, and a plurality of rack modules coupled to each of the plurality of aggregator switches. The plurality of rack modules can each include an I/O appliance with a downstream aggregator module, a plurality of server devices each with PCIe interfaces, and an upstream aggregator module that aggregates each of the PCIe interfaces. A high-speed link can be configured between the downstream and upstream aggregator modules via aggregation of many serial lanes to provide reliable high speed bit stream transport over long distances, which allows for better utilization of resources and scalability of memory capacity independent of the server count.

An optically-switch data network includes an optical data bus, an optical wavelength bus, and multiple nodes connected by the optical data bus and the optical wavelength bus. A first node determines that it has communication information to transmit to a second node, and determines if a first subscription signal is present on the optical wavelength bus. The first subscription signal includes a target frequency. If the first subscription signal is not present on the optical wavelength bus, the first node injects an optical communication signal onto the optical data bus. The optical communication signal includes the communication information and a carrier wave. The carrier wave includes the target frequency. The second node receives the optical communication signal using the optical data bus. If the first subscription signal is present on the optical wavelength bus, injection of the optical communication signal onto the optical data bus is postponed.