Hi there, Community friends!
This time, I will share with you about the Gain Locking and Power Locking. Hope you like it!
Gain Locking
In gain locking mode, the gain of single-wavelength signals remains constant, and is irrelevant to the input optical power or number of wavelengths.
On a properly running network, the working mode of optical amplifier (OA) boards is generally set to gain locking.
In gain locking mode, wavelength adding, wavelength dropping, or optical signal fluctuation on a single or multiple wavelengths has no impact on the optical power of other channels. Therefore, the gain locking mode can be used to prevent bit errors caused by sudden wavelength power changes when wavelengths are changed in a capacity expansion scenario.
We have this useful function with AGC (automatic gain control).The AGC function ensures that channel gain is not affected by wavelength adding or dropping or optical power fluctuation of the WDM system, and therefore guarantees normal service running in the WDM system.
The AGC function locks the gain of a single channel using forward and backward feedback control loops. When an optical amplifier (OA) works in gain locking mode and the input optical power fluctuates, the AGC function automatically starts without requiring configuration on the NMS. In this manner, the output optical power of the OA changes according to the input optical power and channel gain remains the same.
Power Locking
In power locking mode, the total output optical power of an OA board remains constant, and the total output optical power is irrelevant to the input optical power. The power change of a single wavelength affects the downstream and will cause a power change on other wavelengths, especially when there are only a few wavelengths.
The multiplexed-wavelength optical power of a node on an optical link has impact only on its downstream node but will not be further forwarded. This facilitates fault locating.
If a system cannot be fully loaded with services, dummy light needs to be configured to fill in blank channels for future capacity expansion. In this scenario, the first OA board needs to be set to the power locking mode.
That's all, I welcome everyone to leave a message and exchange in the comment area!
