Abstract: Systems and methods for avoiding fiber damage of an optical fiber link are provided. A method, according to one implementation, includes monitoring optical signals transmitted along an optical fiber link from an output port of a first card to an input port of a second card. In response to detecting a fiber disconnection state when an amplifier of the first card is operating in a normal condition, the amplifier of the first card enters a forced Automatic Power Reduction (APR) condition. In addition to potentially reducing the risk of eye damage from laser light emitted from the optical fiber link, the forced APR condition is configured to allow for an uninterrupted debugging procedure. Also, the method includes returning the amplifier of the first card from the forced APR condition back to the normal operating condition after receiving an indication that the fiber disconnection state has cleared.

Abstract: Systems and methods for calibrating a Raman amplifier in a photonic line system of an optical network are provided. A method, according to one implementation, includes the step of setting the gain of a plurality of pump lasers of a Raman amplifier to a safe level. For example, the pump lasers are configured to operate at different wavelengths. Also, the Raman amplifier is connected to a fiber span having a specific fiber-type. The safe can be defined as a level that keeps adverse intermodulation effects below a predetermined threshold regardless of the specific fiber-type. In addition, the method includes the step of increasing the gain of the pump lasers without prior knowledge of the specific fiber-type of the fiber span while keeping the adverse intermodulation effects below the predetermined threshold.

Abstract: Systems and methods of optical restoration include, with a photonic service (14), in an optical network (10, 100), operating between two nodes (A, Z) via an associated optical modem (40) at each node, wherein each modem (40) is capable of supporting variable capacity, C1, C2, . . . , CN where C1>C2> . . . >CN, detecting a fault (16) on a home route of the photonic service (14) while the photonic service (14) operates at a home route capacity CH, CH is one of C1, C2, . . . , CN?1; downshifting the photonic service (14) to a restoration route capacity CR, CR is one of C2, C3 . . . , CN and CR<CH; switching the photonic service (14) from the home route to a restoration route (18) while the photonic service (14) operates at a restoration route capacity CR; and monitoring the photonic service (14) and copropagating photonic services during operation on the restoration route (18) at the restoration route capacity CR for an upshift of the photonic service (14).

Abstract: Systems and methods include, responsive for a requirement to calibrate a single span in a multi-span optical line system where the single span includes a from-end node and a to-end node, determining no other upstream node in the multi-span optical multiplex section is currently calibrating or faulted; responsive to no other upstream node currently calibrating or faulted, calibrating the from-end node with a new target launch power into a fiber associated with the single span; and calibrating the to-end node keeping target launch power into a fiber associated with an immediate downstream span from the single span uninterrupted from a previous calibration. The to-end node and the from-end node are each (1) an intermediate line amplifier or (2) a terminal node and an intermediate line amplifier, in the multi-span optical line system.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for creating a sequence of turn-up processes for amplifiers. A method, according to one implementation, includes determining when a fiber span is initially installed in an optical line system or when an Optical Line Failure (OLF) in the fiber span has recovered. The optical line system includes a first set of amplifiers deployed at an upstream node and a second set of amplifiers deployed at a downstream node, the upstream node connected to the downstream node via the fiber span. In response to determining that the fiber span is initially installed in the optical line system or that an ORL in the fiber span has recovered, the method also includes sending a flag from the upstream node to the downstream node to allow the first set of amplifiers to perform a first turn-up process before the second set of amplifiers perform a second turn-up process.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for controlling one or more optical amplifiers of a C+L band photonic line system (30) of a telecommunications network in which C-band signals and L-band signals may be transmitted. In one implementation, a method (130) may execute a traffic managing module (23). When executed, the traffic managing module (23) may be configured to enable a processing device (12) to calculate (132) a gain correction profile based on a difference between a saved baseline transmission profile (84) and a measured transmission profile (94) of a surviving band of a photonic line system (30) when another band of the photonic line system (30) is missing or impacted. The traffic managing module (23) may further be configured to enable the processing device (12) to apply (134) the gain correction profile to a respective optical amplifier (46) of the photonic line system (30) to compensate for the difference.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are provided for signaling the presence of a fault in a multi-band optical network or other communication system. In response to a detected fault in a multi-band communication system impacting a specific band of the multi-band communication system, a method, according to one implementation, may include a step of creating a fault signal corresponding to the detected fault. The method may also include the step of conveying the fault signal to at least one of an upstream controller and a downstream controller of the multi-band communication system to trigger an action for handling the fault on the specific band. The action may be handled independently of other actions associated with one or more other bands of the multi-band communication system.

Abstract: Systems and methods for resolving control conflicts in trunk protection links are provided. A method, in one implementation, includes identifying control conflicts among Network Elements (NEs) in an Optical Multiplex Section (OMS). The OMS may have a plurality of trunk protection links arranged in parallel and a plurality of Trunk Protection Switches (TPSs). Also, the trunk protection links and TPSs are configured to create a distributed 1:N trunk protection arrangement. The method also includes resolving the control conflicts by auto-negotiating a primary instance associated with enabling a first set of control actions to be conducted along a primary path in the OMS and auto-negotiating one or more follower instances associated with enabling a second set of control actions to be conducted along one or more secondary paths in the OMS subsequent to the first set of control actions.

Abstract: Differentiating traffic signals from filler channels in optical networks includes obtaining power measurements of optical spectrum on an optical section in the optical network; analyzing the power measurements to differentiate signal type between traffic signals and Amplified Stimulated Emission (ASE) channel holders; and applying appropriate treatment to the optical spectrum based on the signal type. The analyzing is performed locally without any notification from upstream nodes of the optical spectrum.

Abstract: Automatic optical link calibration systems and methods include an optical node with an Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer (OADM) multiplexer including a channel holder source; an optical amplifier connected to the OADM multiplexer and to a fiber span; an Optical Channel Monitor (OCM) configured to monitor optical spectrum before and after the optical amplifier; and a controller configured to obtain data associated with the fiber span including measurements from the OCM, determine settings of the channel holder source needed to meet a target launch power profile for the fiber span, and configure the channel holder source based on the determined settings.

Abstract: Systems and methods include receiving first power snapshot from a receiving end of a foreign controlled link of the one or more foreign controlled optical links when there are no faults thereon; responsive to obtaining second power snapshot from the receiving end of the foreign controlled link, detecting a fault on one of at least one channel and part of the spectrum traversing the foreign controlled link; correlating the second power snapshot with the first power snapshots; and raising an indication of fault for the foreign controlled link based on the correlating.

Abstract: Systems and methods include, responsive to provisioning a media channel (52) on a degree, wherein the media channel (52) is a contiguous portion of optical spectrum supporting N channels, N is greater than 1, causing allocation of optical filter bandwidth in an optical multiplexing/demultiplexing device for M channels (56) in the media channel (50), where M is less than N; causing provisioning of the M channels (56) in the media channel (50); and causing configuration of channel holders in the media channel from a channel holder source (20) for a part of the portion of the optical spectrum unoccupied by the M channels (56).

Abstract: Optical line amplifiers with on-board controllers and supervisory devices for controlling optical line amplifiers are provided for controlling bootstrap or power-up procedures when optical line amplifiers are initially installed in an optical communication network. The controllers may include non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to store computer logic having instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processing devices to block an input to one or more gain units of the line amplifier and cause the line amplifier to operate in an Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) mode. In response to a detection of a valid power level of the line amplifier, the instructions can further cause the one or more processing devices to switch the line amplifier from the ASE mode to a regular mode and unblock the input to the one or more gain units of the line amplifier to allow operation of the line amplifier in the regular operating mode.

Abstract: Systems and methods include, responsive to a request for capacity change of X channels, X is an integer >1, on an optical section (14) and at an Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (OADM) node (12) in an optical network (10), dividing optical spectrum on the optical section into M slots, M is an integer >1, such that the capacity change of X channels takes a maximum of N steps, N is an integer >1; and performing the capacity change of X channels in up to the N steps in an interleaved manner that changes a subset of the X channels in each of the N steps. For each step, the performing can include a maximum of M/N slots of the M slots with spacing between each of the M/N slots not used for the capacity change in a corresponding step. The spacing can be f, (N+f), (2N+f), . . . , M over the optical spectrum, where f is each step, f=1, 2, . . . , N.

Abstract: Systems and methods for avoiding fiber damage of an optical fiber link are provided. A method, according to one implementation, includes monitoring optical signals transmitted along an optical fiber link from an output port of a first card to an input port of a second card. In response to detecting a fiber disconnection state when an amplifier of the first card is operating in a normal condition, the amplifier of the first card enters a forced Automatic Power Reduction (APR) condition. In addition to potentially reducing the risk of eye damage from laser light emitted from the optical fiber link, the forced APR condition is configured to allow for an uninterrupted debugging procedure. Also, the method includes returning the amplifier of the first card from the forced APR condition back to the normal operating condition after receiving an indication that the fiber disconnection state has cleared.

Abstract: Systems and methods for conducting various types of Connection Validation (CV) are provided for reducing the overall CV scan time of regular CV scans.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are provided for signaling the presence of a fault in a multi-band optical network or other communication system. In response to a detected fault in a multi-band communication system impacting a specific band of the multi-band communication system, a method, according to one implementation, may include a step of creating a fault signal corresponding to the detected fault. The method may also include the step of conveying the fault signal to at least one of an upstream controller and a downstream controller of the multi-band communication system to trigger an action for handling the fault on the specific band. The action may be handled independently of other actions associated with one or more other bands of the multi-band communication system.

Abstract: Systems and methods of optical restoration include, with a photonic service (14), in an optical network (10, 100), operating between two nodes (A, Z) via an associated optical modem (40) at each node, wherein each modem (40) is capable of supporting variable capacity, C1, C2, . . . , CN where C1>C2> . . . >CN, detecting a fault (16) on a home route of the photonic service (14) while the photonic service (14) operates at a home route capacity CH, CH is one of C1, C2, . . . , CN?1; downshifting the photonic service (14) to a restoration route capacity CR, CR is one of C2, C3 . . . , CN and CR<CH; switching the photonic service (14) from the home route to a restoration route (18) while the photonic service (14) operates at a restoration route capacity CR; and monitoring the photonic service (14) and copropagating photonic services during operation on the restoration route (18) at the restoration route capacity CR for an upshift of the photonic service (14).

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for re-calibrating an in-service Optical Multiplex Section (OMS) while it is operating in an optical system. A method, according to one implementation, includes a step of analyzing a state of at least one component of the in-service OMS in an optical network, whereby the at least component may include, among other things, one or more fiber spans. Based on a need to re-calibrate the at least one component of the OMS, the method also includes the step of transitioning the OMS from an in-service mode to a maintenance mode to prepare the OMS for re-calibration. At this point, a re-calibration procedure can be performed. In response to completing the re-calibration procedure, the method includes the step of transitioning the OMS from the maintenance mode back to the in-service mode.

Abstract: Systems and methods include receiving first power snapshot from a receiving end of a foreign controlled link of the one or more foreign controlled optical links when there are no faults thereon; responsive to obtaining second power snapshot from the receiving end of the foreign controlled link, detecting a fault on one of at least one channel and part of the spectrum traversing the foreign controlled link; correlating the second power snapshot with the first power snapshots; and raising an indication of fault for the foreign controlled link based on the correlating.