diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/optical/json/OchSignalCodec.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/optical/json/OchSignalCodec.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fba4fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/optical/json/OchSignalCodec.java
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2016 Open Networking Laboratory
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.onosproject.net.optical.json;
+
+import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkArgument;
+
+import org.onosproject.net.ChannelSpacing;
+import org.onosproject.net.GridType;
+import org.onosproject.net.OchSignal;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ObjectNode;
+import com.google.common.annotations.Beta;
+
+// TODO define common interface for JsonCodec for annotation?
+// unlike existing JsonCodec, this use-case requires that encode/decode is
+// reversible.  (e.g., obj.equals(decode(encode(obj))))
+/**
+ * JSON codec for OchSignal.
+ */
+@Beta
+public abstract class OchSignalCodec {
+
+    // TODO should probably use shared mapper across optical codecs.
+    private static final ObjectMapper MAPPER = new ObjectMapper();
+
+    /**
+     * Creates an instance of {@link OchSignal} from JSON representation.
+     *
+     * @param obj JSON Object representing OchSignal
+     * @return OchSignal
+     * @throws IllegalArgumentException - if JSON object is ill-formed
+     * @see OchSignalCodec#encode(OchSignal)
+     */
+    public static OchSignal decode(ObjectNode obj) {
+        final GridType gridType;
+        final ChannelSpacing channelSpacing;
+        final int spacingMultiplier;
+        final int slotGranularity;
+
+        String s;
+        s = obj.get("channelSpacing").textValue();
+        checkArgument(s != null, "ill-formed channelSpacing");
+        channelSpacing = Enum.valueOf(ChannelSpacing.class, s);
+
+        s = obj.get("gridType").textValue();
+        checkArgument(s != null, "ill-formed gridType");
+        gridType = Enum.valueOf(GridType.class, s);
+
+        JsonNode node;
+        node = obj.get("spacingMultiplier");
+        checkArgument(node.canConvertToInt(), "ill-formed spacingMultiplier");
+        spacingMultiplier = node.asInt();
+
+        node = obj.get("slotGranularity");
+        checkArgument(node.canConvertToInt(), "ill-formed slotGranularity");
+        slotGranularity = node.asInt();
+
+        return new OchSignal(gridType, channelSpacing, spacingMultiplier, slotGranularity);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns a JSON Object representation of this instance.
+     *
+     * @return JSON Object representing OchSignal
+     */
+    public static ObjectNode encode(OchSignal j) {
+        ObjectNode obj = MAPPER.createObjectNode();
+        obj.put("channelSpacing", j.channelSpacing().toString());
+        obj.put("gridType", j.gridType().toString());
+        obj.put("slotGranularity", j.slotGranularity());
+        obj.put("spacingMultiplier", j.spacingMultiplier());
+        return obj;
+    }
+
+}