Power tilt compensation using automatic power balance control

1. A method for correcting power tilt in an optical signal, comprising:

tapping off a representative portion of an optical signal;

separating the representative portion into a first signal and a second signal, the first signal comprising a first wavelength band and the second signal comprising a second wavelength band different from the first wavelength band, wherein each wavelength band comprises more than one channel;

detecting a power level of the first signal;

detecting a power level of the second signal;

comparing the power levels of the first and second signals;

determining a power tilt for the optical signal based on the comparison; and

adjusting an amplifier gain based on the power tilt.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the method further comprises receiving the number of channels in the first and second wavelength bands; and

the step of determining the power tilt comprises determining the power tilt based at least in part on the number of channels in the first and second wavelength bands.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of determining the power tilt based at least in part on the number of channels comprises:

dividing the power level of the first signal by the number of channels in the first signal to determine an average power per channel of the first signal;

dividing the power level of the second signal by the number of channels in the second signal to determine an average power per channel of the second signal; and

comparing the average power per channel of the first and second signals to determine the power tilt.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of adjusting comprises communicating power tilt information to an automatic gain control module.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of adjusting further comprising:

receiving the power tilt information; and

in response to receiving the power tilt information, controlling the gain of at least one amplifier to compensate for the power tilt.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of adjusting further comprises:

receiving a signal power level measured after each of the amplifiers; and

determining the gain based on the power tilt information and the signal power level after each of the amplifiers.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the step of tapping comprises optically splitting the representative portion from the optical signal; and

the step of separating comprises:

splitting the signal into two signals; and filtering the first signal and the second signal to produce the desired wavelength bands.

8. A device, comprising:

an optical tap operable to extract a representative portion of an optical signal;

a splitter operable separate the representative portion of the optical signal into a first signal and a second signal, the first signal comprising a first wavelength band and the second signal comprising a second wavelength band different from the first wavelength band, wherein each wavelength band comprises more than one channel;

a first photodetector operable to detect a power level for the first signal;

a second photodetector operable to detect a power level for the second signal; and

a processor operable to:

compare the power levels for the first and second signals;

determine a power tilt for the optical signal based on the comparison; and

adjust an amplifier gain for the signal based on the power tilt.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein:

the device further comprises an interface operable to receive the number of channels in the first and second wavelength bands from a network manager; and

the processor determines the power tilt based at least in part on the number of channels in the first and second wavelength bands.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further operable to:

divide the power level of the first signal by the number of channels in the first signal to determine an average power per channel of the first signal; and

divide the power level of the second signal by the number of channels in the second signal to determine an average power per channel of the second signal; and

compare the average power per channel of the first and second signals to determine the power tilt.

11. The device of claim 8 , further comprising an automatic gain control module operable to control at least one amplifier gain medium to compensate for the power tilt.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the automatic gain control module is further operable to:

receive a signal power level measured after each of the amplifier gain media; and

determine the amplifier gain based on the power tilt information and the signal power level after each of the amplifier gain media.

13. The device of claim 12 , further comprising the amplifier gain media.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the amplifier gain media comprise erbium-doped fibers.

15. The device of claim 8 , wherein:

the splitter optically splits the optical signal into the first signal and the second signal; and

the monitor further comprises a first filter operable to filter the first signal to isolate the first wavelength band and a second filter operable to filter the second signal to isolate the second wavelength band.

16. A system, comprising:

means for tapping off a representative portion of an optical signal;

means for separating the representative portion into a first signal and a second signal, the first signal comprising a first wavelength band and a second signal comprising a second wavelength band different from the first wavelength band, wherein each wavelength band comprises more than one channel;

means for detecting a power level of the first signal;

means for detecting a power level of the second signal;

means for comparing the power levels of the first and second signals;

means for determining a power tilt for the optical signal based on the comparison; and

adjusting an amplifier gain based on the power tilt.

17. The system of claims 16 , further comprising:

means for dividing the power level of the first signal by the number of channels in the first signal to determine an average power per channel of the first signal;

means for dividing the power level of the second signal by the number of channels in the second signal to determine an average power per channel of the second signal; and

means for comparing the average power per channel of the first and second signals to determine the power tilt.

18. The system of claim 16 , further comprising means for communicating power tilt information to an automatic gain control module of an optical node.

19. The system of claim 18 , further comprising:

means for receiving the power tilt information; and

means for controlling the gain of at least one amplifier to compensate for the power tilt in response to receiving the power tilt information.

20. The system of claim 16 , further comprising:

means for receiving a signal power level measured after each of the amplifiers; and

means for determining the gain based on the power tilt information and the signal power level after each of the amplifiers.