US Patent 9143229 Method and apparatus for estimating optical power

A method of monitoring optical power in an optical channel includes directing a portion of a broadband optical signal propagating through an optical channel to an optical input of an electrically controllable tunable optical filter. The portion of the broadband optical signal is filtered with the electrically controllable tunable filter to select an optical channel for optical power monitoring. The selected optical channel is detected and an electrical signal that represents the selected optical channel is generated. An optical power of the selected optical channel is estimated from the electrical signal that represents the selected optical channel by performing an iterative deconvolution of the selected optical channel signal with a predetermined response function of the electrically controllable tunable optical filter.