Patent attributes
Technology for fiber parameter identification in an optical communications network is described. One or more C-matrices are calculated from one or more corresponding signals received at a receiver from a transmitter over a link in the optical communications network, where each C-matrix comprises a plurality of C-coefficients representative of nonlinear noise in the received signal. A combination of chromatic dispersion (CD) pre-compensation applied at the transmitter and CD post-compensation applied at the receiver may substantially compensate for a net CD of the link. The one or more C-matrices are used to identify one or more fiber parameter estimates of the link, such as one or more fiber types, one or more nonlinear coefficients, or one or more dispersion coefficients. A controller of the optical communications network may use the identified fiber parameters estimates to control a state of the network to achieve an objective, such as improved network performance.