Bi-directional optical cross-connect device

Abstract

An optical cross-connect device is disclosed for enabling first and second optical networks to communicate with each other using forward and backward optical signals each comprising a plurality of channels. The device includes: a first ring section having first to fourth ports, the first ring section is configured to: transmit an optical signal input to a high-order port of the ring section from the high-order port of the ring section to the high-order port Adjacent low-order port output. The first and third ports of the first ring section are connected to the first optical network. The second ring section has first to fourth ports, and the second ring section is configured to transmit an optical signal input to a high-order port of the ring section from a low-order port adjacent to the high-order port of the ring section. output. The first reflective part is connected to the respective second ports of the first and second ring parts, and is adapted to selectively reflect each channel of the incoming forward optical signal or allow the channel to pass through, while the second reflective part is connected to the first respective fourth ports of the first and second ring sections, and are adapted to selectively reflect each channel of the incoming backward optical signal or allow channels to pass through.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to optical cross-connect (OXC) equipment for connecting optical networks. Background technique [0002] Recently, practical application of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology for transmitting optical signals of different wavelengths through a single optical fiber has been realized. In addition, larger amounts of data can now be transferred at higher than known speeds. Furthermore, with the development of certain optical component technologies, it has been possible to optically set or exchange propagation paths for optical signals. Therefore, the actual optical network structure based on WDM technology can be realized at present. For such a WDM optical network, a bidirectional OXC device is used, which includes a main unit and an optical switch with a pair of wavelength division multiplexers / demultip...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0019] However, as mentioned above, the conventional OXC device 130 using multiple WDMs and multiple 2×2 space switches has the problem that the manufacturing cost of the OXC device 130 is high due to the expensive WDM

Further, the OXC device 130 needs a complex switching process because it needs to implement allocation, switching and multiplexing operations as soon as an input channel is switched

In addition, because although the number of processable channels can be increased with the increase of the number of assigned ports, in some cases, it is necessary to completely replace the existing WDM with a suitable new WDM suitable for use, the channel expansion of the OXC device 130 poor sex

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