Side channel communication for an optical coherent transceiver

1. A method for optimizing parameters between two optical coherent transceivers connected via an optical link, the method comprising:

operating the two optical transceivers using a set of parameters;

determining performance based on the set of parameters; and

inputting information into a side channel communication to update the set of parameters; wherein the side channel communication is encoded by a side channel forward error correction encoder at a higher level of redundancy, and with higher error correction, than non-side channel communications sent over the optical link.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the information is used to optimize available bandwidth between the two optical coherent transceivers.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the inputting information into the side channel communication includes iteratively changing the set of configurations to increase spectral efficiency of the optical link.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the information in the side channel is sent from a near end optical transmitter of the optical transmitters to a far end optical transmitter of the optical transmitters to optimize the setting of the far end optical transmitter.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending the information in the side channel from a near end optical transmitter of the optical transmitters to a far end optical transmitter of the optical transmitters;

determining derivative information at the far end optical transmitter useful to the near end optical transmitter;

sending the derivative information back to the near end optical transmitter through inputting further information into the side channel; and

using the derivative information at the near end optical transmitter to optimize the near end optical transmitter.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the side channel communication is constructed using parts of packets transmitted across the optical link.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the side channel communication comprises a portion of the bandwidth of the optical link.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the side channel communication is created by modulating the amplitude of a signal sent across the optical link.

9. A system for optimizing parameters between two optical coherent transceivers connected via an optical link, the system comprising:

two optical transceivers;

an optical link; and

logic enabled to:

operate the two optical transceivers using a set of parameters;

determine performance based on the set of parameters; and

input information into a side channel communication to update the set of parameters; wherein the side channel communication is encoded by a side channel forward error correction encoder at a higher level of redundancy, and with higher error correction, than non-side channel communications sent over the optical link.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the information is used to optimize the availability bandwidth between the two optical coherent transceivers.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the inputting information into the side channel communication includes iteratively changing the set of configurations to increase spectral efficiency of the optical link.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the information in the side channel is sent from a near end optical transmitter of the optical transmitters to a far end optical transmitter of the optical transmitters to optimize the setting of the far end optical transmitter.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the logic further comprising:

sending the information in the side channel from a near end optical transmitter of the optical transmitters to a far end optical transmitter of the optical transmitters;

determining derivative information at the far end optical transmitter useful to the near end optical transmitter;

sending the derivative information back to the near end optical transmitter through inputting further information into the side channel; and

using the derivative information at the near end optical transmitter to optimize the near end optical transmitter.

14. An apparatus for optimizing parameters between two optical coherent transceivers connected via an optical link, the apparatus comprising:

a first optical transceiver; and

logic enabling the optical transceiver to:

determine performance of a second optical receiver; wherein the second optical transceiver uses a set of parameters; and

input information into a side channel communication between the first optical transceiver and the second optical transceiver to update the set of parameters for the second transceiver; wherein the side channel communication is encoded by a side channel forward error connection encoder at a higher level of redundancy, and with higher error correction, than non-side channel communications sent over the optical link.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the information is used to optimize available bandwidth between the first optical coherent transceiver and the second optical transceiver.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the inputting information into the side channel communication includes iteratively changing the set of configurations to include spectral efficiency of an optical link.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the information in the side channel is sent from the first optical transmitter to the second optical transmitter to optimize the setting of the second optical transceiver.

18. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the side channel communication is constructed using parts of packets transmitted across an optical link.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the side channel communication comprises a portion of the bandwidth of an optical link.

20. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the side channel communication is created by modulating the amplitude of a signal sent across an optical link.