Method and apparatus for network link planning

• US 20030011846A1
• Filed: 05/17/2002
• Published: 01/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Tropic Networks, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tropic Networks, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Gholamhosseini, Masoud, Braun, Allen Jacob
• Application Number:
  US10/146,957
• Publication Number:
  US 20030011846A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/98
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0049 Crosstalk reduction; Noise; Power budget
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0083 Testing; Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0086 Network resource allocation, dimensioning or optimisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0083 Network planning or design; Modelling of planned or existing networks

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus to facilitate optimum use of network components. Using an intelligent engine, or link planning tool, network components are placed on links in a simulated network while keeping the amount of consumed power within a desired range. Based on provided customer network data, a minimum number of cards necessary to make the requested network is allocated. The simulated network includes card and shelf allocations, wiring, and slot assignment within shelves. An export database and at least one report are generated following execution of steps in the method. Examples of such a report are: shelf card inventory report; shelf card and fiber wiring report; equipment list; lightpath trace report; and simulation report. Each report is output in a format suitable for end-user use and consideration. The present invention can be applied to networks having different topologies, e.g. mesh networks, ring networks, or point-to-point networks.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for network link planning comprising the steps of:

a) obtaining data relating to a simulated optical network;

b) allocating and virtually wiring network components including one or more network cards, channel filter cards, band filter cards and shelves in the network based on said obtained data;

c) assigning slots for all cards in the network; and

d) generating at least one report based on said allocations, assignments and virtual wirings in the network.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein step b) further comprises allocating and virtually wiring network components including one or more interchange cards and amplifiers.

3. A method according to claim 2 wherein step b) further comprises allocating and virtually wiring network components selected from the group comprising optical service channel (OSC) filter cards, dispersion compensation module (DCM) cards, control cards and electrical cards.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein said obtained data are selected from the group comprising:

equipment name data;

rules data;

component characteristics data;

fiber topology data;

node topology data;

user card data;

lightpath topology data;

broadband amplifier location data; and

OSC location data.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein said obtained data comprises a network object model having a network object component model for each network component in the simulated network.

6. A method according to claim 5 wherein step a) comprises the step of populating said network object model from a pre-existing network object model.

7. A method according to claim 3 wherein one or more of said cards allocated and virtually wired in step b) are set cards.

8. A method according to claim 7 wherein the allocation and virtual wiring of set cards in step b) comprises the steps of:

a8) allocating at least one lightpath to fill any band having at least one lightpath not fulfilled;

b8) allocating an add channel filter card for any lightpath without its add channel filter card allocated and virtually wiring said add channel filter card into the network;

c8) allocating a drop channel filter card for any lightpath not having its drop channel filter card allocated and virtually wiring said drop channel filter card into the network;

d8) allocating an add band filter card for any lightpath without its add band filter card allocated and virtually wiring said add band filter card into the network;

e8) allocating a drop band filter card for any lightpath not having its drop band filter card allocated and virtually wiring said drop band filter card into the network; and

f8) allocating a network card for any lightpath not having its network card allocated and virtually wiring said network card into the network.

9. A method according to claim 8 wherein said step a8) comprises the step of marking said at least one allocated lightpath for future deletion.

10. A method according to claim 2 wherein the allocation and virtual wiring of interchange cards in step b) comprises the steps of:

a10) determining a group of input and output fibers having the most bands in common with each other and virtually wiring up a pass-through between said input and output fibers through a network node; and

b10) adding a set of band filters to interchange lightpaths between said input and output fibers for any node at which said input and output fibers are not virtually wired together.

11. A method according to claim 10 wherein step b10) comprises the steps of:

for each of M input fibers, storing a number of bands in common with each of N output fibers;

while at least one input fiber having no pass-through fiber assigned has a non-zero number of bands in common with an output fiber, performing the following steps a11-c11;

a11) determining an input fiber X with the greatest number of bands in common with an output fiber Y;

b11) designating X as a pass-through to Y;

c11) finding and removing all references in the input fibers to Y; and

for each input fiber, allocating at least one interchange card for each band that is not dropped or that is not on the pass-through.

12. A method according to claim 10 further comprising the step of adding, at specified locations, one or more network components selected from the group comprising:

broadband amplifiers, OSC filter cards, and DCM cards.

13. A method according to claim 10 further comprising the step of:

re-ordering cards in the network so as to distribute a link margin, thereby reducing the need for amplifiers.

14. A method according to claim 13 wherein said step of reordering said cards in the network comprises the steps of:

observing an available margin for the lowest margin lightpath at each filter; and

swapping filters where the positive margin available in one filter is sufficient to convert a negative margin filter to a positive margin filter.

15. A method according to claim 13 wherein said step of reordering said cards in the network comprises the step of:

determining whether there is an ordering between remaining filters that will distribute any available margin so as to reduce a need for large, expensive amplifiers in favor of simpler, less expensive amplifiers.

16. A method according to claim 13 wherein said step of reordering said cards in the network comprises the step of:

determining which wavelengths are lit up on fiber and components of the network.

17. A method according to claim 13 wherein said step of reordering said cards in the network comprises the step of:

calculating and storing the power and standard deviation of a plurality of lightpaths at a plurality of points in the network.

18. A method according to claim 17 wherein said step of calculating and storing comprises calculating and storing the power and standard deviation of every lightpath at every point in the network.

19. A method according to claim 2 wherein, when an incremental set of lightpaths is needed, the allocation and virtual wiring of amplifiers in step b) comprises the step of:

virtually wiring existing network components so that such virtual wiring can only be broken at designated points.

20. A method according to claim 2 wherein, in an iteration through all the lightpaths, the allocation and wiring of amplifiers in step b) comprises the step of:

for each lightpath, adding a set amount to a global margin when amplifiers have been added or removed.

21. A method according to claim 20 wherein each lightpath is examined in sequence in such iteration.

22. A method according to claim 2 wherein the allocation and virtual wiring of amplifiers in step b) comprises the steps of:

calculating possible power ranges at every card port passed through by a particular lightpath; and

adding a drop amplifier if the following conditions are satisfied;

a22) one or more of said power ranges falls below an acceptable lower bound at any port where such lower bound is specified;

b22) a drop amplifier does not already exist in the lightpath; and

c22) an input power range at a proposed drop amplifier location is between a minimum input bound and a maximum input bound.

23. A method according to claim 22 wherein said step of calculating possible power ranges is performed using a statistical deviation method and extra global margin currently available.

24. A method according to claim 22 wherein said condition c22) is replaced by the condition:

c24) an input power range at a proposed drop amplifier location is above a maximum input bound and at least one electrical variable optical attenuator is adjusted so as to render the power range to an acceptable level.

25. A method according to claim 2 wherein the allocation and virtual wiring of amplifiers in step b) comprises the steps of:

calculating possible power ranges at every card port passed through by a particular lightpath; and

adding an add amplifier if the following conditions are satisfied;

a25) one or more of said power ranges falls below an acceptable lower bound at any port where such lower bound is specified;

b25) an add amplifier does not already exist in the lightpath; and

c25) the addition of an add amplifier would not saturate a receiver.

26. A method according to claim 25 further comprising the step of removing any inline amplifier that is saturated.

27. A method according to claim 2 wherein the allocation and virtual wiring of amplifiers in step b) comprises the steps of:

calculating possible power ranges at every card port passed through by a particular lightpath;

determining a location in the lightpath where the power range was last within an inline amplifier'"'"'s input bounds when at least one of said power ranges falls below an acceptable lower bound at any port where such lower bound is specified;

determining that a legitimate inline amplifier insertion point exists;

removing any amplifier downstream from said insertion point; and

adding an inline amplifier at said insertion point.

28. A method according to claim 27 wherein, if a legitimate inline amplifier insertion point is not initially found, at least one upstream electrical variable optical attenuator is adjusted so as to create such legitimate inline amplifier insertion point.

29. A method according to claim 27 wherein said inline amplifier'"'"'s input bounds include global margin.

30. A method according to claim 27 wherein the steps in claim 27 are performed if one or more of said power ranges falls below an acceptable lower bound at any port where such lower bound is specified, and if one of the following conditions is satisfied:

an add amplifier already exists in the lightpath;

or

addition of an add amplifier would saturate the receiver.

31. A method according to claim 1 wherein said report is selected from the group comprising:

generated network database;

shelf card inventory report;

equipment list;

shelf card and fiber wiring report;

lightpath trace report; and

simulation report.

32. A method according to claim 1 wherein said simulated optical network is a mesh network.

33. A method according to claim 1 wherein said simulated optical network comprises at least one electronic network component.

36. A system according to claim 35 wherein said means for allocating and virtually wiring said network components is adapted to allocate and virtually wire one or more network components selected from the group comprising:

interchange cards;

amplifiers;

optical service channel (OSC) filter cards;

dispersion compensation module (DCM) cards;

control cards; and

electrical cards.

37. A system according to claim 35 wherein said obtained data are selected from the group comprising:

equipment name data;

rules data;

component characteristics data;

fiber topology data;

node topology data;

user card data;

lightpath topology data;

broadband amplifier location data; and

OSC location data.

38. A system according to claim 35 wherein said obtained data comprises a network object model having a network object component model for each network component in the simulated network.

39. A system according to claim 38 wherein said means for obtaining data relating to a simulated optical network further comprises:

means for importing a pre-existing network object model; and

means for populating said network object model from said pre-existing network object model.

40. A system according to claim 36 wherein one or more of said cards allocated and virtually wired by said means for allocating and virtually wiring said network components are set cards.

41. A system according to claim 38 further comprising means for allocating and virtually wiring such set cards, said means for allocating and virtually wiring such set cards being adapted to perform the following steps:

a41) allocating at least one lightpath to fill any band having at least one lightpath not fulfilled;

b41) allocating an add channel filter card for any lightpath without its add channel filter card allocated and virtually wiring said add channel filter card into the network;

c41) allocating a drop channel filter card for any lightpath not having its drop channel filter card allocated and virtually wiring said drop channel filter card into the network;

d41) allocating an add band filter card for any lightpath without its add band filter card allocated and virtually wiring said add band filter card into the network;

e41) allocating a drop band filter card for any lightpath not having its drop band filter card allocated and virtually wiring said drop band filter card into the network; and

f41) allocating a network card for any lightpath not having its network card allocated and virtually wiring said network card into the network.

42. A system according to claim 41 wherein said means for allocating and virtually wiring such set cards is further adapted to perform the step of marking said at least one allocated lightpath for future deletion.

43. A system according to claim 36 wherein said means adapted for allocation and virtual wiring of interchange cards is further adapted to perform the following steps:

a43) determining a group of input and output fibers having the most bands in common with each other and virtually wiring up a pass-through between said input and output fibers through a network node; and

b43) adding a set of band filters to interchange lightpaths between said input and output fibers for any node at which said input and output fibers are not virtually wired together.

44. A system according to claim 43 wherein said means adapted for allocation and virtual wiring of interchange cards is further adapted to perform the following steps as part of step b43):

for each of M input fibers, storing a number of bands in common with each of N output fibers;

while at least one input fiber having no pass-through fiber assigned has a non-zero number of bands in common with an output fiber, performing the following steps a44-c44;

a44) determining an input fiber X with the greatest number of bands in common with an output fiber Y;

b44) designating X as a pass-through to Y;

c44) finding and removing all references in the input fibers to Y; and

for each input fiber, allocating at least one interchange card for each band that is not dropped or that is not on the pass-through.

45. A system according to claim 43 further comprising means for adding, at specified locations, one or more network components selected from the group comprising:

broadband amplifiers, OSC filter cards, and DCM cards.

46. A system according to claim 41 further comprising means for re-ordering cards in the network so as to distribute a link margin, thereby reducing the need for amplifiers.

47. A system according to claim 46 wherein said means for reordering said cards in the network further comprises:

means for observing an available margin for the lowest margin lightpath at each filter; and

means for swapping filters where the positive margin available in one filter is sufficient to convert a negative margin filter to a positive margin filter.

48. A system according to claim 46 wherein said means for reordering said cards in the network further comprises:

means for determining whether there is an ordering between remaining filters that will distribute any available margin so as to reduce a need for large, expensive amplifiers in favor of simpler, less expensive amplifiers.

49. A system according to claim 46 wherein said means for reordering said cards in the network further comprises:

means for determining which wavelengths are lit up on fiber and components of the network.

50. A system according to claim 46 wherein said means for reordering said cards in the network further comprises:

means for calculating and storing the power and standard deviation of a plurality of lightpaths at a plurality of points in the network.

51. A system according to claim 50 wherein said means for calculating and storing comprises means for calculating and storing the power and standard deviation of every lightpath at every point in the network.

52. A system according to claim 36 wherein, when an incremental set of lightpaths is needed, the means adapted for allocation and virtual wiring of amplifiers is further adapted to perform the step of:

virtually wiring existing network components so that such virtual wiring can only be broken at designated points.

53. A system according to claim 36 wherein, in an iteration through all the lightpaths, the means adapted for allocation and virtual wiring of amplifiers is further adapted to perform the step of:

for each lightpath, adding a set amount to a global margin when amplifiers have been added or removed.

54. A system according to claim 53 wherein each lightpath is examined in sequence in such iteration.

55. A system according to claim 36 wherein the means adapted for allocation and virtual wiring of amplifiers is further adapted to perform the steps of:

calculating possible power ranges at every card port passed through by a particular lightpath; and

adding a drop amplifier if the following conditions are satisfied;

a55) one or more of said power ranges falls below an acceptable lower bound at any port where such lower bound is specified;

b55) a drop amplifier does not already exist in the lightpath; and

c55) an input power range at a proposed drop amplifier location is between a minimum input bound and a maximum input bound.

56. A system according to claim 55 wherein said means adapted for allocation and virtual wiring of said amplifiers is further adapted for calculating possible power ranges based on a statistical deviation method and extra global margin currently available.

57. A system according to claim 55 wherein said condition c55) is replaced by the condition:

c57) an input power range at a proposed drop amplifier location is above a maximum input bound and at least one electrical variable optical attenuator is adjusted so as to render the power range to an acceptable level.

58. A system according to claim 36 wherein the means adapted for allocation and virtual wiring of amplifiers is further adapted to perform the steps of:

calculating possible power ranges at every card port passed through by a particular lightpath; and

adding an add amplifier if the following conditions are satisfied;

a58) one or more of said power ranges falls below an acceptable lower bound at any port where such lower bound is specified;

b58) an add amplifier does not already exist in the lightpath; and

c58) the addition of an add amplifier would not saturate a receiver.

59. A system according to claim 58 further comprising means for removing any inline amplifier that is saturated.

60. A system according to claim 36 wherein the means adapted for allocation and virtual wiring of amplifiers is further adapted to perform the steps of:

calculating possible power ranges at every card port passed through by a particular lightpath;

determining a location in the lightpath where the power range was last within an inline amplifier'"'"'s input bounds when at least one of said power ranges falls below an acceptable lower bound at any port where such lower bound is specified;

determining that a legitimate inline amplifier insertion point exists;

removing any amplifier downstream from said insertion point; and

adding an inline amplifier at said insertion point.

61. A system according to claim 60 wherein said means adapted for allocation and virtual wiring of amplifiers is further adapted to adjust at least one upstream electrical variable optical attenuator if a legitimate inline amplifier insertion point is not initially found, so as to create such legitimate inline amplifier insertion point.

62. A system according to claim 60 wherein said inline amplifier'"'"'s input bounds include global margin.

63. A system according to claim 60 further comprising means adapted to perform the steps in claim 60 if one or more of said power ranges falls below an acceptable lower bound at any port where such lower bound is specified, and if one of the following conditions is satisfied:

an add amplifier already exists in the lightpath;

or

addition of an add amplifier would saturate the receiver.

64. A system according to claim 35 wherein said report is selected from the group comprising:

generated network database;

shelf card inventory report;

equipment list;

shelf card and fiber wiring report;

lightpath trace report; and

simulation report.

65. A system according to claim 35 wherein said simulated optical network is a mesh network.

66. A system according to claim 35 wherein said simulated optical network comprises at least one electronic network component.

67. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable memory storing statements and instructions for use in the execution in a computer of the method of claim 1.

68. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave and representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to calculate network costs in an automated manner by performing the steps of the method of claim 1.

34. A system for network link planning comprising:

means for obtaining data relating to a simulated optical network;

means for allocating and virtually wiring network components including one or more network cards, channel filter cards, band filter cards and shelves in the network based on said obtained data;

means for assigning slots for all cards in the network; and

means for generating at least one report based on said allocations, assignments and virtual wirings in the network.

35. A computerized system for network link planning comprising:

means for obtaining data relating to a simulated optical network;

means for allocating and virtually wiring network components including one or more network cards, channel filter cards, band filter cards and shelves in the network based on said obtained data;

means for assigning slots for all cards in the network; and

means for generating at least one report based on said allocations, assignments and virtual wirings in the network.