Importance

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Abstract

The present invention includes various novel systems and methods for dynamically modifying WDM transmission and receive steps (individually or in combination), including encoding client signals, mapping them to subchannels within or across ITU channels, modulating them onto subcarrier frequencies, and multiplexing them together for optical transmission. By dynamically modifying one or more of these processing steps over time (as well as encrypting underlying client signals), additional security is provided at the physical (optical) layer of an optical network, thereby greatly enhancing overall network security. Tunable lasers are employed to generate respective subcarrier frequencies, which represent subchannels of an ITU channel to which client signals are mapped. Client circuits are divided and combined with one another before being mapped to individual subchannels within and across ITU channels, thereby facilitating desired optical routing, switching, concatenation and protection of the client circuits mapped to those subchannels across the nodes of a WDM network.

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First Claim