PHOTONIC LINK INFORMATION COLLECTION AND ADVERTISEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20130177311A1
• Filed: 02/17/2012
• Published: 07/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Original Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Inventors: Trnkus, Marian, Blair, Loudon T., Ong, Lyndon Y., Prakash, Anurag, Chhillar, Mohit
• Granted Patent: US 8,818,198 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/28
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/021 Reconfigurable arrangements, e.g. reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers [ROADM] or tunable optical add/drop multiplexers [TOADM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0227 Operation, administration, maintenance or provisioning [OAMP] of WDM networks, e.g. media access, routing or wavelength allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0254 Optical medium access
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0268 Restoration of optical paths, e.g. p-cycles
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0272 Transmission of OAMP information
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0273 using optical overhead, e.g. overhead processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0275 using an optical service channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0282 WDM tree architectures

Abstract

Photonic link information collection and advertisement systems and methods enable photonic nodes (e.g., optical amplifiers) to operate within a control plane system in a distributed and real-time manner. For example, the photonic nodes may not require full control plane protocol stacks at each photonic node. In particular, the systems and methods provide a distributed discovery method for photonic links without requiring full participation in the control plane at the photonic nodes. Additionally, the systems and methods include network databases with amplifier configuration information in a control plane enabled network.

Claims

1. A network, comprising:

a plurality of network elements operating a control plane therebetween;

a plurality of links interconnecting the plurality of network elements; and

at least one optical amplifier disposed on at least one of the plurality of links;

wherein each of the at least one optical amplifier is configured with a photonic link discovery task, the photonic link discovery task is configured to provide photonic layer data for the at least one optical amplifier and associated links to the control plane.

2. The network of claim 1, further comprising:

network databases at each of the plurality of network elements, wherein the network databases comprise amplifier configuration information received from the control plane in addition to topological data;

wherein the amplifier configuration information is applied to path computation providing performance estimates of paths in the network.

3. The network of claim 1, wherein the photonic link discovery task is configured to collect information in a single sequence for a fiber, Optical Multiplex Sections, and Optical Transmission Sections for each of the at least one of the plurality of links.

4. The network of claim 3, wherein the information comprises hierarchical shared link risk information, and wherein the information is input to one of t planning system and a path computation system.

5. The network of claim 4, wherein the information comprises any of amplifier type, fiber types, amplifier gains settings, and power levels, and wherein the one of the planning system and the path computation system is configured to compute a path and associated wavelengths in the network based on the information.

6. The network of claim 1, wherein the at least one optical amplifier operates the control plane in a reduced fashion from the plurality of network elements;

and

wherein the reduced fashion comprises the at least one optical amplifier operating a reduced control plane protocol stack.

7. The network of claim 6, wherein the reduced fashion comprises the at least one optical amplifier avoiding direct peering in the control plane.

8. The network of claim 6, further comprising:

a plurality of terminal or reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexers communicatively coupled to the plurality of network elements;

wherein the plurality of terminal or reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexers each comprise a link management task configured to collect the photonic layer data for optical amplifiers communicatively coupled thereto.

9. The network of claim 8, wherein the reduced fashion comprises the plurality of network elements participating in flooding of routing information with the at least one optical amplifier participating in sharing the routing information with the plurality of terminal or reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexers communicatively coupled thereto.

10. The network of claim 8, wherein each of the at least one of the plurality of links comprises an Optical Multiplex Section with Optical Transmission Sections between optical amplifiers.

11. The network of claim 9, wherein the photonic link discovery task is configured to discover photonic layer data for each associated Optical Transmission Section, and the link management task is configured to initiate the discovery of the photonic layer data for each associated Optical Transmission Section and process the photonic layer data for each associated Optical Transmission Section.

12. The network of claim 11, wherein the photonic link discovery task is configured to operate an append and forward configuration which appends current photonic layer data in an ordered relationship with previously added photonic layer data such that the link management task receives a list of the photonic layer data in the ordered relationship.

13. The network of claim 10, wherein the plurality of terminal or reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexers are configured to forward the photonic layer data for an associated Optical Multiplex Section via the control plane.

14. The network of claim 8, further comprising:

a path computation element associated with the control plane, the path computation element configured to receive the photonic layer data;

wherein the path computation element is configured to utilize the photonic layer data as a constraint in path computation.

15. The network of claim 14, further comprising:

one of a network planning system and a management system communicatively coupled to any of the path computation element or one of the plurality of network elements, the network planning system or the management system configured to receive the photonic layer data;

wherein the one of the network planning system and the management system is configured to utilize the photonic layer data as a constraint in path computation.

16. The network of claim 10, wherein local add and drop links of the plurality of terminal or reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexers comprise Optical Multiplex Sections that are included in the photonic layer data.

17. A method, comprising:

operating a control plane in a network comprising a first node communicatively coupled to a second node through a photonic link;

operating at least one optical amplifier on the photonic link;

determining photonic link data of the photonic link using the at least one optical amplifier; and

providing topology messages through the control plane, the topology messages comprising the photonic link data, wherein the topology messages are sent between the second node, the first node, and a plurality of additional nodes with minimal participation of the at least one optical amplifier.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

initiating a message at the first node, the message comprising photonic link data associated with the first node;

transmitting the message to the one or more optical amplifiers from the first node;

at each of the at least one optical amplifier, appending photonic link data associated with each particular optical amplifier in an ordered manner; and

receiving the message at the second node with the photonic link data for the photonic link.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

at the second node, communicating the photonic link data for the photonic link via the control plane.

20. An optical amplifier controller, comprising:

a communication interface communicatively coupled to a plurality of components;

memory; and

a processor, the communication interface, the memory, and the processor are communicatively coupled therebetween;

wherein the processor is configured to;

provide operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning functions for the plurality of components;

discover link data associated with a photonic link communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of components;

process link discovery messages and add the discovered link data thereto;

communicate the link discovery messages to a distributed control plane for use therein while minimally participating in direct peering in the distributed control plane.