Abstract: A reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) system includes a transponder aggregator section with one or more transponder aggregators; N input ports and N output ports, each coupled to the transponder aggregators and to a cross-connect module having a variable optical splitter or variable optical coupler (VOS/VOC); and a controller to set the VOS/VOC into one of a Multicast & Select configuration and a Route & Combine configuration.

Abstract: A communication system includes a primary module with: first trunk and branch input and output ports, each coupled to first in/out couplers, the first in/out couplers coupled to first circulators, and the circulators in turn coupled to first central couplers; second trunk branch input and output ports, each coupled to second in/out couplers, each of second in/out couplers coupled to second circulators; and first and second bidirectional wavelength-selective switches (WSSes) coupled to the first central couplers.

Abstract: The present method is for generating a 4-level optical signal and it includes providing a continuous wave CW optical source; modulating the CW optical source with a first intensity modulator driven by a binary electrical signal a n Gbits/s to generate an optical signal; employing a second intensity modulator as a pulse carving modulator that is driven by an RF signal at n GHz thereby generating a 4 level optical signal for subsequent detection by a receiver.

Abstract: A generic centralized, software-defined networking configuration for connecting network is defined as a generic multi-layer topology network entities interconnected either vertically or horizontally regardless of the employed network topology/graph). This centralized configuration enables establishment of a connection between any two networking entities by 1) bypassing intermediate protocol layers and 2) eliminating any handshaking between peer elements of the same layer. The centralized software-defined controller notifies in parallel all involved network entities along a connection path to take all necessary actions (i.e. reconfiguration) to establish the new connection. The centralized controller has authority to control only entities that are software-defined SD.

Abstract: A network apparatus used in an optical network is disclosed. The network apparatus includes one or more first tunable and temperature controlled (TTC) lasers, one or more transmitters each of which is connected to one of said one or more TTC lasers, one or more second TTC lasers, one or more digital signal processing (DSP) transponders (TPNDs) each of which is connected to one of said one or more second TTC lasers, one or more receivers, and a controller to control said one or more transmitters and said one or more DSP TPNDs, wherein said one or more transmitters defragment an optical access spectrum, and said one or more DSP TPNDs exploit a newly available spectrum. Other apparatuses, systems, and methods also are disclosed.

Abstract: A reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) unit includes a first optical circulator coupled to a first terminal; a second optical circulator coupled to a second terminal; a third optical circulator coupled to a third terminal; a fourth optical circulator coupled to a fourth terminal; a first wavelength-selective switch (WSS), coupled to the first, second, and third optical circulators; a second WSS coupled to the first, second, and fourth optical circulators, wherein the first and second WSSes are bidirectional operated; a first 1:2 coupler positioned between the first circulator and the first and second WSSes; a second 1:2 coupler positioned between the second circulator and the first and second WSSes.

Abstract: A joint-optimization method addresses the generalized routing and wavelength assignment problem with variable number of combined 1+1 dedicated and shared connections. The inventive method enables a solution in time that is polynomial of the input size. Thus, the time complexity of the joint-optimization method is significantly less than that of existing methods.

Abstract: We propose an efficient procedure, namely disjoint pair procedure based cloud service embedding procedure that first maps working and backup virtual nodes over physical nodes while balancing computational resources of different types, and finally, maps working and backup virtual links over physical routes while balancing network spectral resources using the disjoint pair procedure.

Abstract: A hybrid electro-optical data center system includes multiple tiers. A bottom tier has one or more bottom tier instances, with each bottom tier instance including one or more racks, an electro-optical switch corresponding to each rack, and a first bottom tier optical loop providing optical connectivity between the electro-optical switches of the respective bottom tier instance. At least one server within each rack is electrically connected to the respective electro-optical switch and at least one super-server within each rack is electrically and optically connected to the respective electro-optical switch. A top tier includes electro-optical switches, each electrically connected to an electro-optical switch in a respective bottom tier instance, a first top tier optical loop providing optical connectivity between the electro-optical switches of the top tier, and one or more optical add/drop modules providing optical connectivity between the first bottom tier optical loop and the first top tier optical loop.

Abstract: Methods and systems for embedding VI demands in a software-defined network include mapping virtual nodes over physical nodes in a network topology. An auxiliary graph including virtual links between physical nodes that have a residual capacity sufficient to meet a virtual infrastructure demand is constructed. Virtual links over physical links are mapped to maximize use of existing optical channels and to minimize switching of a virtual link between a wavelength division multiplexing layer and an IP layer. New optical channels with a maximum spectral efficiency are established. A set of potential solutions for embedding a set of virtual infrastructure demands is determined. A solution is selected from the set of potential solutions that maximizes a weighted average of spectrum needed to support the set of virtual infrastructure demands and a cost of provisioning the virtual infrastructure demands.

Abstract: A method implemented in a network apparatus used in a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical network is disclosed. The method includes (a) finding K-shortest routes between each node pair (s, d), where s, d?V and |V|?K, where V is a set of reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM) nodes, (b) selecting unconsidered node pair (s, d), (c) selecting unconsidered route k between nodes s and d out of the K-shortest routes, (d) finding a bit map of route k by performing bit-wise logical AND operation on bit vectors of fibers along route k, (e) selecting unconsidered line rate l out of offered set L of line rates, and (f) finding a probability ?ls,d,k of provisioning a connection with line rate l. Other apparatuses, systems, and methods also are disclosed.

Abstract: A communication system enabling a switching procedure for a multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO OFDM) based flexible rate intra-data center network DCN, includes a MIMO OFDM DCN with optical burst switching OBS capability, an optical burst switching OBS procedure for influencing the MIMO OFDM DCN, and a centralized control configuration coupled to the MIMO OFDM DCN and enabling a software defined network SDN configuration in the communication system.

Abstract: A method implemented in a network apparatus used in a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical network is disclosed. The method includes (a) selecting unconsidered virtual link (VL) (i,j) with a maximum cost, a cost being requested line rate rij on VL(i,j)×shortest distance between nodes i and j, (b) selecting unconsidered route k out of K-shortest routes between nodes i and j of VL(i,j), (c) determining a bit map of unconsidered route k, (d) finding a modulation format that supports requested line rate rij with minimum spectrum ? r ij s z ? , where Sz is spectral efficiency with which the modulation format transmits a channel, (e) finding ? r ij s z ? consecutive spectrum slots at M lowest wavelengths in the bit map of selected route k, and (f) determining fragmentation factor Fkm after provisioning a channel at each wavelength m on selected route k, where 1?m?M. Other apparatuses, systems, and methods also are disclosed.

Abstract: A software-defined (SD) optical network is disclosed. An SD optical line terminal (OLT) includes a global SD controller, one or more SD OLT drivers connected to the global SD controller, and an underlying hardware component connected to each of said one or more SD OLT drivers. An SD optical network unit (ONU) includes a local SD controller, one or more SD optical network unit (ONU) drivers connected to the local SD controller, and an underlying hardware component connected to each of said one or more SD ONU drivers, wherein the local SD controller manages said one or more SD ONU drivers by issuing commands communicated to said one or more SD ONU drivers, and wherein each of said one or more SD ONU drivers implements a required function on the underlying hardware component. Other apparatuses, systems, and methods also are disclosed.

Abstract: An optical transceiver including a multi-direction variable transmitter including multiple outputs with different subcarriers being directed to different ones of the outputs to go to different directions in a network, and a multi-direction variable receiver for receiving multiple inputs thereby enabling transmission direction in a network with the transceiver at subcarrier granularity and avoiding entire super-channel granularity and enabling unused subcarriers to be utilized for traffic in other directions or destinations and making switching granularity finer for flexibility in the network.

Abstract: An optical amplifier that uses software-defined optical networking (SDON) technology, with a centralized controller and flexible physical hardware (the adaptive amplifier here) to optimize the power distribution among different WDM channels in the amplifier. It considers the detailed information for each channel through the information from centralized controller. It is suitable for both single line rate and mixed line rate system, and is suitable for a wavelength division multiplexing WDM system with the same signal type or different signal types.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a QoS-aware unified protocol that is applicable in the control plane of software defined networks, which can bring following benefits and includes optical burst switching protocol mainly requires four key operations; burst assembling, burst routing, burst scheduling, and control packet signaling protocols.

Abstract: An optical network includes receiving inter-rack traffics from transmitter racks, converting by transmitters the inter-rack traffics to respective wavelength division multiplexing WDM optical signals, receiving and routing by a cyclic interleaver the optical signals from the transmitters to output ports in a cyclic manner, converting respective routed optical signals from the cyclic interleaver into respective electrical signals, and demodulating OFDM formats from respective converted optical signals containing signals for respective receiver racks.

Abstract: A hybrid electro-optical data center system includes multiple tiers. A bottom tier has one or more bottom tier instances, with each bottom tier instance including one or more racks, an electro-optical switch corresponding to each rack, and a first bottom tier optical loop providing optical connectivity between the electro-optical switches of the respective bottom tier instance. At least one server within each rack is electrically connected to the respective electro-optical switch and at least one super-server within each rack is electrically and optically connected to the respective electro-optical switch. A top tier includes electro-optical switches, each electrically connected to an electro-optical switch in a respective bottom tier instance, a first top tier optical loop providing optical connectivity between the electro-optical switches of the top tier, and one or more optical add/drop modules providing optical connectivity between the first bottom tier optical loop and the first top tier optical loop.

Abstract: A switching system includes one or more line card for input processing, forwarding, queuing, and scheduling data, the line card having a tunable laser to select a wavelength according to the packets' destination for a given burst of packets, so that the burst is switched to a desired destination and sent all-optically to a connected interface; an all-optical switch fabric coupled to the line card to perform wavelength switching; and a centralized arbitrator that resolves the contention from different input ports.