CzechLight Family Device Granted US Patent

Prague, 26 June 2017 Researchers of the CESNET Association in the area of optical technologies have developed a design that is now patent-protected. The US Patent Office has issued a patent for a device in the CzechLight family of advanced photonic solutions for transmission and processing of optical signals, which the Association’s experts have been developing for a long time.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has registered patent document No. 9,654,215 Spectrally flexible device for bidirectional transmissions of optical signals sensitive to timing on 16 May this year. The patent was granted two years after the submission of the Czech application, which is a very short time. In fact, it was registered in the United States before it was in the Czech Republic.

The patent-protected device enables long-distance transmission of highly accurate and stable optical signals over hundreds or thousands of kilometres and, notably, making use of spectral bands that are not in use in telecommunications fibres for the time being.

The CzechLight family of devices, to which this solution belongs, enables attainment of optimum configuration of the optical network layer using application of the concepts NIL (Nothing in Line) and CEF (Customer Empowered Fibre). This technology also makes it possible to efficiently share the capacity of optical fibres using SDN (Software Defined Networking) for the layer L0 and to offer other advanced services such as lambda services and photonic services. Lambda services are based on transmission of an optical signal via fully transparent wave multiplex channels between endpoints. Photonic services enable purely optical transmission without conversion to an electric signal. They are thus designed for the most demanding applications.

CESNET is now looking for entities interested in manufacturing and deployment of the CzechLight family devices.

The CESNET Association was founded by Czech universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in 1996. It is engaged in research and development in information and communication technologies and builds and develops the CESNET national e-infrastructure for research and education. Thanks to its research activities and accomplishments, it represents the Czech Republic in important international projects, particularly in building the pan-European GÉANT network project or grid projects (EGI.eu), and actively participates in their implementation. CESNET places great emphasis on the security of network operations, services and user protection.

Last change: 27.6.2017