公开(公告)号：US20020122220A1

公开(公告)日：2002-09-05

申请号：US09993645

申请日：2001-11-27

Applicant: WorldCom, INC.

Inventor： Niall Robinson ,  Charles Mao ,  Frank A. McKiel

IPC: H04B010/08 ,  H04B010/00

CPC classification number: H04B10/2569

Abstract: A method and apparatus performing fault management in an optical communications system including a polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensator. The method and apparatus utilizes a controller receiving notifications indicative of PMD in the system, as well as at least one indicator from a system device providing an indication of an attribute of the communication system. Such system devices include a receiver providing a Q factor and a bit error rate (BER) of an optical signal, and a signal-to-noise ratio meter providing an SNR of the optical signal. The method intelligently provides fault management by correlating the PMD notifications and system indicators to distinguish between fiber failure, PMD-related degradations, and failure of monitoring equipment itself.