
7.2.5 Optical Supervisory Channel
In some optical networks, a separate wavelength may be allocated to carry
management and control inform ation. Unlike the service-bearing data channels
which might travel transparently through a node, an optical supervisory channel
(OSC) might be electro-optically terminated, processed, and regenerated at each
adjacent node [11–13]. Figure 7.8 shows an example of a wavelength-selective
crossconnect (XC) and the processing of an OSC [11]. Since the OSC wavelength
may not fall within the amplifier gain bandwidth, OSC signals might be demulti-
plexed and detected without propagation through an optical amplifier. After ...