Patent attributes
An optical switch configuration is disclosed that gives the appearance of a logical cut in a fiber optic line. The inputs to the optical switch are redundant so that if a fiber event occurs on one input, the optical switch can switch to the other input. In the case where both paths of an optical fiber have fiber events, router convergence is delayed. One mechanism to mitigate a prolonged fiber degradation is to dampen the optical power on the output optical fiber of the optical switch, such that it creates a loss of light and appears as a clean cut of the optical fiber. Another solution uses optical switches to inject an alternate light source onto the output optical fiber, wherein the alternate light source is of a wavelength to be filtered out giving an appearance of a clean cut of the optical fiber.