Communication/power network having out-of-band time and control signaling
First Claim
1. A communication network capable of installation on the seafloor and comprising a plurality of network nodes being interconnected by fiber optic cable, and each having optical transceivers for coupling to an optical fiber cable having data channels carrying data packets among the plurality of network nodes and having one or more control and time channels for carrying control and time signals, and an out-of-band communications module for coupling to the optical fiber cable to utilize the control and time data signals transmitted separately from the data packets, to provide the distribution of in-band data packets among network nodes and the distribution of out-of-band timing and control signals to said plural network nodes.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The systems and methods provide an out-of-band time and control signal distribution network that may be employed in conjunction with a large scale area network. The network is capable of installation on the seafloor and comprises a plurality of network nodes being interconnected by fiber optic cable, and each having optical transceivers for coupling to an optical fiber cable having data channels carrying data packets among the plurality of network nodes and having one or more control and time channels for carrying control and time signals, and an out-of-band communications module for coupling to the optical fiber cable to utilize the control and time data signals transmitted separately from the data packets, to provide the distribution of in-band data packets among network nodes and the distribution of out-of-band timing and control signals to said plural network nodes.
46 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A communication network capable of installation on the seafloor and comprising
a plurality of network nodes being interconnected by fiber optic cable, and each having optical transceivers for coupling to an optical fiber cable having data channels carrying data packets among the plurality of network nodes and having one or more control and time channels for carrying control and time signals, and an out-of-band communications module for coupling to the optical fiber cable to utilize the control and time data signals transmitted separately from the data packets, to provide the distribution of in-band data packets among network nodes and the distribution of out-of-band timing and control signals to said plural network nodes.
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19. A communication network, comprising
a master node having a data packet generator, control and time distribution circuits for generating control and time signals, and a NIST-traceable time source, a steering module to allow operation in mesh, bus, ring, or star architectures, an optical transceiver for transmitting and receiving data as optical signals over an optic channel, and a plurality of network nodes arranged into a selected network configuration, and further having an optical transceiver for coupling to an optical channel carrying data packets among the plurality of network nodes and having a control and time channel for carrying control and time signals, and an out-of-band communications module for coupling to the optical fiber cable to detect the control and time signals transmitted separately from the data packets, to thereby provide the distribution of in-band data packets among network nodes and the distribution of out-of-band time and control signals to said plural network nodes.
Specification