Adaptive Hybrid Optical Control Plane Determination of Lightpaths in a DWDM Network

• US 20110013908A1
• Filed: 07/17/2009
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Piciaccia, Stefano, Gazzola, Maurizio, Bianchi, David, Galimberti, Gabriele Maria
• Granted Patent: US 8,295,701 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/48
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0258 Wavelength identification or labelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0267 Optical signaling or routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0269 using tables for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0271 Impairment aware routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0275 using an optical service channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/42 Centralised routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/62 Wavelength based optical switching H04Q11/0062
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0062 Network aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0073 Provisions for forwarding or routing, e.g. lookup tables

Abstract

Techniques and a control architecture (apparatus and logic) are provided for an adaptive hybrid DWDM-aware computation scheme. The architecture is one that is a hybrid of a centralized control scheme and a distributed control scheme that performs adaptive physical impairment computations for an optical network. A central control server is connected to multiple client control devices each of which resides in a node in a dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) optical network, wherein each client control device is part of an optical control plane associated with the optical network. The control server obtains data for path route analysis from the client control devices. The control server then determines optical feasibility of at least one path route from a source node to a destination node from optical parametric information based on the data obtained from multiple client control devices and without real-time communication between the central control server and the multiple client control devices while performing the optical feasibility computations.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

connecting a central control server to multiple client control devices each of which resides in a node in a dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) optical network, wherein each client control device is part of an optical control plane associated with the optical network, and obtaining data for path route analysis from the client control devices;

at the central control server, determining optical feasibility of at least one path route from a source node to a destination node from optical parametric information based on the data obtained from multiple client control devices and without real-time communication between the central control server and the multiple client control devices during said determining; and

storing data pertaining to optical feasibility determined for the at least one path route.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining comprises determining information comprising optical power, optical noise, wavelength and optical tilt with respect to at least one path route.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining comprises calculating whether an optical signal along said path route from said from said source node to said destination node meets predetermined signal criteria from said optical parametric information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining comprises obtaining optical parametric information for each node along said path route between said source node and said destination node, and determining optical feasibility of said path route from a given node to a next node in said path route between said source node and said destination node from said optical parametric information.

5. The method of claim 1, and further comprising transmitting from the central control server to each client control device the data pertaining to the optical feasibility including optical starting parameters.

6. The method of claim 5, and further comprising receiving and storing at each client control device the data pertaining to the optical feasibility including optical starting parameters which each client control device uses for a subsequent path route determination.

7. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

connect a central control server to multiple client control devices each of which resides in a node in a dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) optical network, wherein each client control device is part of an optical control plane associated with the optical network, and obtain data for path route analysis from the client control devices;

determine optical feasibility of at least one path route from a source node to a destination node from optical parametric information based on the data obtained from multiple client control devices and without real-time communication between the central control server and the multiple client control devices; and

store data pertaining to optical feasibility determined for the at least one path route.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the instructions stored in the memory that cause the processor to determine the optical feasibility comprise instructions that cause the processor to determine information comprising optical power, optical noise, wavelength and optical tilt with respect to at least one path route.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the instructions stored in the memory that cause the processor to determine the optical feasibility comprise instructions that cause the processor to calculate whether an optical signal along said path route from said from said source node to said destination node meets predetermined signal criteria from said optical parametric information.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the instructions stored in the memory that cause the processor to determine the optical feasibility comprise instructions that cause the processor to obtain optical parametric information for each node along said path route between said source node and said destination node, and determine optical feasibility of said path route from a given node to a next node in said path route between said source node and said destination node from said optical parametric information.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, and further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to transmit to each client control device the data pertaining to the optical feasibility including optical starting parameters to enable each client control device to use the optical starting parameters for a subsequent path route determination.

12. Logic encoded in one or more tangible media for execution and when executed operable to:

connect a central control server to multiple client control devices each of which resides in a node in a dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) optical network, wherein each client control device is part of an optical control plane associated with the optical network, and obtain data for path route analysis from the client control devices;

at the central control server, determine optical feasibility of at least one path route from a source node to a destination node from optical parametric information based on the data obtained from multiple client control devices and without real-time communication between the central control server and the multiple client control devices; and

store data pertaining to optical feasibility determined for the at least one path route.

13. The logic of claim 12, wherein the logic that determines the optical feasibility comprises logic that is configured to determine information comprising optical power, optical noise, wavelength and optical tilt with respect to at least one path route.

14. The logic of claim 13, wherein the logic that determines the optical feasibility comprises logic that is configured to calculate whether an optical signal along said path route from said from said source node to said destination node meets predetermined signal criteria from said optical parametric information.

15. The logic of claim 14, wherein the logic that that determines the optical feasibility comprises logic that is configured to obtain optical parametric information for each node along said path route between said source node and said destination node, and determines optical feasibility of said path route from a given node to a next node in said path route between said source node and said destination node from said optical parametric information.

16. The logic of claim 14, and further comprising logic that is configured to send to each client control device the data pertaining to the optical feasibility including optical starting parameters to enable each client control device to use the optical starting parameters for a subsequent path route determination.