Technology for simulating and/or controlling communication optical networks

• US 8,873,951 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2011
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ECI Telecom Limited (Shaul Shani)
• Original Assignee: ECI Telecom Limited (Shaul Shani)
• Inventors: Gutin, Michael, Velder, Alexander, Tourgeman, Lior
• Primary Examiner(s): Payne, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): KRETZER, CASEY L
• Application Number:
  US13/169,303
• Publication Number:
  US 20120002966A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,219 Days
• Field of Search: 398/37, 359/333, 359/337.1, 359/349
• US Class Current: 398/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/02216 by gain equalization
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0284 WDM mesh architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0062 Network aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0079 Operation or maintenance aspects

Abstract

A technique for controlling power of a network node in an optical mesh network, comprising: determining a number of optical paths ingressing or expected to ingress the node, determining capacity or expected capacity of each of the paths; calculating for each of the paths a virtual input power P_virtual, based on estimation of relative capacity of a specific path with respect to total capacity of all the paths; applying to the network node a power control mechanism, while utilizing a corresponding virtual input power P_virtual as input power of any of the paths.

Claims

1. A method for controlling power of a network element in an optical mesh network, comprising:

setting a plurality of optical paths to be optical paths that ingress said network element;

estimating a capacity of traffic to be conveyed along each of said plurality of optical paths;

calculating for each of said plurality of optical paths, a virtual input power P_virtual based on estimation of its relative capacity of traffic to be conveyed there-along with respect to a total capacity of traffic to be conveyed along all of said plurality of optical paths; and

adjusting by a power controller, output power of at least one of said plurality of optical paths egressing from said network element, wherein said output power adjustment is determined based upon the virtual input power P_virtual of the respective optical path.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of determining an output power P_out for each active channel of each of said plurality of optical paths at the network element egress, wherein the determination of the P_out for each active channel is based upon the P_virtual of a respective optical path, a number of channels in said respective optical path, spectral allocation, and the noise level at said network element.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining P_virtual of an optical path ingressing said network element, as being substantially close to the value derived from the following equation:

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of calculating the P_virtual for each of said plurality of optical paths comprises:

determining parameters of each optical path, comprising at least capacity of traffic to be conveyed along the respective optical path, expressed by a number of active channels thereat;

determining the maximal possible capacity of traffic to be conveyed from said network element, as being the maximal allowed number of channels; and

ensuring that a total number of channels for all available paths associated with the network element does not exceed the maximal possible capacity of traffic to be conveyed from said network element.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network element is an optical amplifier, and the method further comprising:

using at least one calculated P_virtual to determine a Gain of the optical amplifier.

7. A software product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer implementable instructions and/or data for carrying out the method according to claim 1.

6. An Element Management System (EMS) configured to control a network element in an optical mesh network, the EMS accommodating a power controller being capable of performing at least the following operations:

calculating P_virtual for each of a number of incoming optical paths, each optical path having its given capacity of traffic to be conveyed there-along determined at least by a number of active channels NOC (NOC);

simulating operation of the network element by utilizing the P_virtual calculated for each of said incoming optical paths, so as to obtain a predetermined desired output power per optical channel P_out, and one or more required parameters of the network element; and

performing power control on the network element, based on the simulation results.