Network management device, method and program

Abstract

A network management device according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a generation unit that generates a work plan for supplying power to communication equipment accommodated in part of a plurality of buildings accommodating pieces of communication equipment for when a condition assuming the occurrence of power outage in the plurality of buildings is applied; and a calculation unit that calculates time-series influence levels on communication due to the pieces of communication equipment accommodated respectively in the plurality of buildings for when a condition assuming completion of work on the communication equipment, indicated by the generated plan, is applied, and calculates an indicator to be used for determining a target to be preferentially subjected to actual work on the basis of the result of reducing the influence levels according to the shortness of time from the current time point until a timing at which the communication equipment should be subjected to the work indicated by the plan.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] FIELD Embodiments of the present invention relate to a network management device, method, and program. [Background technology]

[0002] In the event of a large-scale power outage, in order to maintain the supply of power to the communications equipment in a building (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a communications building or simply a building) that houses the communications equipment and provides communications to the outside world, a mobile power supply vehicle (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a power supply vehicle) can be deployed in the communications building (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a power outage building) that operates the communications equipment using an emergency battery (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a battery) in the event of a power outage.

[0003] At this time, the network (NW (network)) operations manager must decide on a deployment plan that indicates which telecommunications buildings to deploy available mobile power supply vehicles to, based on a comprehensive assessment of the "importance" and "urgency" of the telecommunications buildings.

[0004] The importance of the above corresponds to the magnitude of the impact on communication services when the emergency battery in a communication building runs out of power and the communication equipment housed in the building stops functioning. Since many networks have redundant configurations, the impact on communication services varies depending on the combination of communication buildings that stop functioning. Therefore, it is desirable to calculate the impact on communication services taking into account the network configuration, and to deploy a limited number of mobile power supply vehicles in combinations of buildings that will minimize this impact.

[0005] The "urgency" mentioned above refers to the shortness of time remaining before the emergency batteries in the communications building run out of power. In a communications building with a relatively short grace period before the emergency battery runs out, the communications equipment will stop functioning at a relatively earlier timing than in a communications building with a relatively long grace period, which could have an impact on communications services for a long period of time. Furthermore, after a certain amount of time has passed since the deployment plan was decided, power may be restored to the telecommunications building, making the deployment of a power supply vehicle unnecessary. Therefore, telecommunications buildings with a relatively long grace period before their emergency batteries run out are less likely to actually affect telecommunications services than telecommunications buildings with a relatively short grace period.

[0006] For this reason, it is desirable to prioritize communication buildings where the grace period until the remaining power of the emergency battery runs out is relatively short, and to deploy a limited number of power supply vehicles to those buildings.

[0007] To determine a deployment plan that takes the above-mentioned "importance" into consideration, there is technology that calculates the impact on communication services when some of the buildings experiencing a power outage or other failure are restored, and outputs a combination that has a relatively small impact and can be restored with a limited number of vehicles.

[0008] Considering the above-mentioned "urgency," when deciding on a deployment plan for a limited number of power supply vehicles, one possible method is to deploy power supply vehicles in order of the buildings that have a relatively short time left before their batteries run out, and then restore the buildings from failure. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0009] [Non-Patent Document 1] Syouhei Nishikawa, Masataka Sato, Kenji Murase, Kimihiko Fukami, Kenichi Tayama, "Study on Method of Identifying Service Influence on Device Hierarchy," THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS, INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS, IEICE Technical Report Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0010] The above-mentioned technology outputs a deployment plan that takes into consideration either the importance or urgency of the communication building, and is unable to output a deployment plan that takes these into consideration comprehensively.

[0011] Therefore, in order to comprehensively assess the importance and urgency of the telecommunications building and determine a deployment plan, the network operations manager will have to make the decision based on the two deployment plans output using conventional technology, and this requires the skills (experience) to do so.

[0012] This invention has been made in light of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a network management device, method, and program that, when a communication failure occurs in a network configuration, can appropriately identify the target for recovery from the failure. [Means for solving the problem]

[0013] A network management device according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a generation unit that generates a plan for power supply work to communication equipment housed in some of a plurality of buildings housing the communication equipment when conditions are applied that assume a power outage has occurred in the plurality of buildings housing the communication equipment; and a calculation unit that calculates a time-series impact on communications by the communication equipment housed in each of the plurality of buildings when conditions are applied that assume the work has been performed on the communication equipment as indicated in the plan generated by the generation unit, and calculates an index used to determine the target for which the work should actually be performed as a priority based on the result of discounting the impact in accordance with the shortness of the time from the current time to the time indicated in the plan when the work needs to be performed on the communication equipment.

[0014] A network management method according to one embodiment of the present invention is a method performed by a network management device, and includes generating a plan for power supply work to communication equipment housed in some of a plurality of buildings when conditions are applied that assume a power outage has occurred in the plurality of buildings housing the communication equipment; calculating a time-series impact on communications by communication equipment housed in each of the plurality of buildings when conditions are applied that assume the work has been performed on the communication equipment as indicated in the generated plan; and calculating an index used to determine the target for which the work should actually be performed as a priority, based on the result of discounting the impact in accordance with the shortest time from the current time to the time indicated in the plan when the work needs to be performed on the communication equipment. [Effects of the Invention]

[0015] According to the present invention, when a communication failure occurs in a network configuration, it is possible to appropriately identify a target for recovery from this failure. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an application example of a network management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2]FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing operation by a network management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the location information of a power supply vehicle and a building that has experienced a power outage. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing, in a table format, an example of the current time and the predicted time of failure in each building. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of various parameters in a table format. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the calculation results of the deployment plan of power supply vehicles for a building. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the calculation results of the deployment plan of power supply vehicles for a building. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the calculation result of the total influence degree in a table format. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a network management device according to one embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the network management device calculates, in a time series, the degree of impact on communication services across the entire network caused by the communication equipment housed in each of the multiple buildings, which is due to a failure such as a power outage occurring in multiple buildings that house communication equipment, causing the normal power supply to the communication equipment housed in these buildings to be stopped and power supply from emergency batteries to be started (hereinafter, this may be referred to as "power supply from emergency batteries to the building"), and then assuming that a mobile power supply vehicle is deployed in some of the multiple buildings to start a continuous power supply to the communication equipment housed in the building as part of an effort to maintain or restore a continuous power supply to the communication equipment housed in the building, the degree of impact on communication services across the entire network caused by the communication equipment housed in each of the multiple buildings, which is due to the building that houses the remaining communication equipment that cannot be continuously supplied with power.

[0018] For example, assuming that mobile power supply vehicles are deployed in Buildings A, B, and C, which are some of multiple buildings that have experienced a power outage or other failure, the network management device calculates the impact on communication services one hour later, the impact on communication services two hours later, ..., and the impact on communication services T hours later as a time series of impact degrees.

[0019] The network management device applies a time discount rate γ, which is a discount rate according to the elapsed time, to each of the time-series influence rates calculated as above, and calculates the sum of these as the overall influence rate. Assuming that mobile power supply vehicles are deployed in Buildings A, B, and C, the total impact can be calculated using the following formula (1).

[0020] Total impact = Impact on communication services after 1 hour × Time discount rate γ 1 + Impact on communication services after 2 hours × time discount rate γ 2 +···+ Impact on communication services after T hours × time discount rate γ T ...Formula (1) The network management device calculates the above-mentioned overall impact for each combination of buildings to which a mobile power supply vehicle will be deployed, and outputs a plan to deploy power supply vehicles to building combinations with a relatively small overall impact.

[0021] This embodiment makes it possible to output a power supply vehicle deployment plan that takes into consideration the importance and urgency of the communication building in a comprehensive manner, thereby realizing a skill-less network operation manager.

[0022] In this embodiment, the importance of the telecommunications building can be taken into account by calculating the time-series impact on the telecommunications service as described above, and the urgency of the telecommunications building can be taken into account by calculating and evaluating the total impact, which is the sum of the impact calculated over time and applying a time discount rate as described above.

[0023] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an application example of a network management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a network management device 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a user input unit 10, a deployment plan processing unit 20, a total impact calculation unit 30, a failure impact calculation unit 40, and a deployment plan output unit 50.

[0024] FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing operation by a network management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, the user input unit 10 accepts information input by the user (S10). FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the location information of a power supply vehicle and a building that has experienced a power outage. In S10, the user input unit 10 accepts input by the user of location information for the power supply vehicle (reference symbol a in FIG. 3) and location information for the power-failed building (reference symbol b in FIG. 3), for example, location information for power supply vehicles X, Y, and Z as shown in FIG. 3, and location information for the power-failed buildings A, B, C, and D. The location information is, for example, latitude and longitude.

[0025] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing, in a table format, an example of the current time and the predicted time of failure in each building. In S10, the user input unit 10 receives input of the current time and the predicted failure time, which is the time when a communication failure in each building is predicted to occur, by the user. The predicted failure time in a building is the time when the remaining battery power in the building where the power outage occurred is predicted to run out, that is, the timing when work related to recovery from the failure in the power supply to the communication equipment housed in the building needs to be performed.

[0026] In the example shown in Figure 4, it is shown that buildings A and B are expected to run out of battery power three hours from the current time, building C is expected to run out of battery power six hours from the current time, and building D is expected to run out of battery power eight hours from the current time.

[0027] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of various parameters in a table format. In S10, the user input unit 10 accepts input of various parameters by the user. These parameters may be stored as setting values ​​in a storage device (not shown), eliminating the need for user input.

[0028] As shown in Fig. 5, the various parameters include the time interval Δt for calculating the impact on communication services when a failure occurs, the number of times T to calculate the impact on communication services when a failure occurs, and the time discount rate γ. In the example shown in Fig. 5, this means that the total impact is calculated based on the impact for each hour from 1 hour to 10 hours later, that is, the impact for 10 times in the time series.

[0029] Next, the deployment plan processing unit 20 assumes that power supply vehicles have been deployed in some of the multiple buildings experiencing power outages and failures such as power outages, and calculates a deployment plan indicating to which buildings the power supply vehicles should be deployed, using, for example, an existing solver (S20).

[0030] For example, the deployment plan processing unit 20 can calculate a deployment plan that minimizes the total travel distance of each power supply vehicle under the constraint that "one power supply vehicle can be deployed to only one power outage building."

[0031] Combinations of power supply vehicles that cannot be deployed to buildings with power outages will not be used to calculate the overall impact.

[0032] 6 and 7 are diagrams showing an example of the results of calculation of a deployment plan for power supply vehicles in a building. In the example shown in Fig. 6, it is shown that three power supply vehicles X, Y, and Z cannot be deployed to all of the four power outage buildings A, B, C, and D that are the target for deployment, i.e., deployment is not possible. Note that, based on the above constraints, in the example shown in Fig. 6, the number of power outage buildings that are the target for deployment is greater than the number of available power supply vehicles, so it is obvious that deployment is not possible, and calculation of the deployment plan may be omitted.

[0033] 7 shows an example in which a plan for deploying three power supply vehicles X, Y, and Z one-to-one to three power outage buildings that are the deployment targets is calculated by the deployment plan processing unit 20. In this deployment plan, it is assumed that all power supply vehicles can arrive at the target buildings before their remaining battery power runs out.

[0034] Figure 7(a) shows a plan in which power supply vehicles X, Y, and Z are deployed one-to-one to buildings A, B, and C that will experience power outages, while Figure 7(b) shows a plan in which power supply vehicles X, Y, and Z are deployed one-to-one to buildings A, B, and D that will experience power outages.

[0035] Figure 7(c) shows a plan in which power supply vehicles X, Y, and Z are deployed one-to-one to buildings A, C, and D that are experiencing power outages, respectively, and Figure 7(d) shows a plan in which power supply vehicles X, Y, and Z are deployed one-to-one to buildings B, C, and D that are experiencing power outages, respectively.

[0036] Here, an example of a plan has been shown in which, under the above constraints, three power supply vehicles are deployed one-to-one to three target buildings that will experience power outages. However, under the above constraints, if the number of available power supply vehicles is equal to or greater than the number of target buildings, the deployment plan processing unit 20 may calculate a plan in which, for example, two of the three available power supply vehicles are deployed one-to-one to two target buildings that will experience power outages.

[0037] The failure impact calculation unit 40 acquires information on the combination of buildings calculated by the deployment plan processing unit 20 as the deployment destination of the power supply vehicle in the deployment plan via the overall impact calculation unit 30 or directly from the deployment plan processing unit 20. For this combination, the failure impact is calculated for each predetermined evaluation item. The calculated failure impact is weighted and summed to calculate the impact on the communication service after a predetermined time has elapsed from the current time, at the time interval when input is accepted by the user input unit 10, i.e., the time-series impact. This impact can be calculated based on the failure status at that time using known techniques, such as the priority calculation technique described in PCT / JP2021 / 022172. The evaluation item is, for example, the number of users affected by a failure of a predetermined communication service.

[0038] Based on this calculated impact, the overall impact calculation unit 30 uses the current time when input was received by the user input unit 10, the predicted time when the remaining battery charge of each power outage building will reach 0, and the various parameters mentioned above to calculate an overall impact, which is an index used to determine the targets for which the above work will actually be performed as a priority, for each combination of buildings calculated by the deployment plan processing unit 20 as the deployment destination in the power supply vehicle deployment plan, according to the following equation (2) (S30).

[0039]

number

[0040] I t : Impact on communication services after t hours γ: Time discount rate (0≦γ≦1)

[0041] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the calculation result of the total influence degree in a table format. Figure 8 shows an example of the overall impact on communication services provided by communication equipment housed in multiple buildings consisting of buildings A, B, C, D, and other buildings, when it is assumed that a power supply vehicle is deployed for each of multiple combinations of three buildings out of buildings A, B, C, and D, which are candidates for deployment of a power supply vehicle (here, four pattern combinations). In the example shown in Figure 8, the overall impact calculation unit 30 calculates the overall impact when it is assumed that power supply vehicles are deployed in each of buildings A, B, and D as the lowest overall impact compared to the overall impacts when it is assumed that power supply vehicles are deployed in each of other types of combinations of buildings.

[0042] Next, the deployment plan output unit 50 determines the combination associated with the lowest overall impact of the overall impacts calculated by the overall impact calculation unit 30 for each of the multiple combinations of buildings to be deployed as the priority deployment destination for the power supply vehicle, in other words, determines the power supply equipment housed in each of the relevant buildings as the target for actually carrying out the above-mentioned work with priority, and outputs a plan for deploying the power supply vehicle to the above-mentioned determined deployment destination.

[0043] When the total impact has been calculated by the total impact calculation unit 30 as shown in FIG. 8, the deployment plan output unit 50 can output a plan for preferentially deploying power supply vehicles to the deployment targets "Building A, Building B, and Building D" associated with the lowest total impact of "108.8," taking into consideration both the importance and urgency described above.

[0044] FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the network management device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 9, the network management device 100 according to the above embodiment is configured, for example, by a server computer or a personal computer, and has a hardware processor 111A such as a CPU. A program memory 111B, a data memory 112, an input / output interface 113, and a communication interface 114 are connected to this hardware processor 111A via a bus 115.

[0045] The communication interface 114 includes, for example, one or more wireless communication interface units, and enables transmission and reception of information to and from a communication network NW. As the wireless interface, for example, an interface that adopts a low-power wireless data communication standard such as a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) is used.

[0046] An input device 200 and an output device 300 that are attached to the network management device 100 and used by users or the like are connected to the input / output interface 113 . The input / output interface 113 takes in operation data input by a user or the like via an input device 200 such as a keyboard, touch panel, touchpad, or mouse, and outputs the output data to an output device 300, which may include a display device using a liquid crystal or organic electroluminescence (EL) display, for display. Note that the input device 200 and the output device 300 may be devices built into the network management device 100, or may be input devices and output devices of other information terminals that can communicate with the network management device 100 via the network NW.

[0047] The program memory 111B is a non-transitory tangible storage medium that is a combination of a non-volatile memory that can be written to and read from at any time, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD), and a non-volatile memory such as a read only memory (ROM), and stores programs necessary to execute various control processes, etc., according to one embodiment.

[0048] The data memory 112 is a tangible storage medium that is a combination of, for example, the above-mentioned nonvolatile memory and a volatile memory such as RAM (Random Access Memory), and is used to store various data acquired and created during various processing steps.

[0049] The network management device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention can be configured as a data processing device having a software-based processing function unit. The storage device used as a work memory or the like by the network management device 100 can be configured by using the data memory 112 shown in Fig. 9. However, these configured storage areas are not essential components within the network management device 100, and may be areas provided in an external storage medium such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, or in a storage device such as a database server located in the cloud.

[0050] The processing function unit can be realized by having the hardware processor 111A read and execute a program stored in the program memory 111B. Note that the processing function unit may also be realized in various other forms, including an integrated circuit such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).

[0051] The methods described in each embodiment may be stored as a program (software means) that can be executed by a computer on a recording medium such as a magnetic disk (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, etc.), an optical disk (e.g., a CD-ROM, a DVD, an MO, etc.), or a semiconductor memory (e.g., a ROM, a RAM, a flash memory, etc.), or may be transmitted and distributed via a communication medium. The program stored on the medium also includes a configuration program that configures the software means (including not only execution programs but also tables and data structures) that the computer executes. The computer that realizes this device reads the program stored on the recording medium and, in some cases, configures the software means using the configuration program, and executes the above-described processing by having the operation controlled by this software means. The term "recording medium" as used herein is not limited to a storage medium for distribution, but also includes a storage medium such as a magnetic disk or semiconductor memory installed inside the computer or in a device connected via a network.

[0052] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made in the implementation stage without departing from the spirit of the invention. Furthermore, the embodiments may be implemented in appropriate combinations, in which case the combined effects can be obtained. Furthermore, the above-described embodiments include various inventions, and various inventions can be extracted by combining selected elements from the disclosed elements. For example, if the problem can be solved and the desired effect can be obtained even if some elements are deleted from all elements shown in the embodiments, the configuration from which these elements are deleted can be extracted as an invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0053] 100...Network management device 10...User input section 20...Deployment planning processing unit 30...Total impact calculation section 40...Fault Impact Calculation Unit 50...Deployment plan output section

Claims

1. a generation unit that generates a plan for power supply work to communication equipment housed in some of the plurality of buildings when a condition assuming that a power outage has occurred in the plurality of buildings housing the communication equipment is applied; calculating a time-series impact on communications by the communication equipment housed in each of the plurality of buildings when conditions assuming that the work on the communication equipment is performed, as indicated in the plan generated by the generation unit, are applied; a calculation unit that calculates an index used to determine a target for which the work is actually performed with priority, based on a result of discounting the impact level in accordance with the shortness of the time from the current time until the timing indicated in the plan when the work needs to be performed on the communication equipment; and A network management device comprising:

2. The generation unit generating a plan that specifies some of the buildings that house communication equipment and that are to be targeted for work related to maintaining or restoring power supply to the communication equipment when a condition is applied that assumes that a power outage has occurred in the buildings that house the communication equipment and that power supply to the communication equipment has started from emergency power supply equipment; The calculation unit calculate a time-series impact on communications by the communication equipment housed in each of the plurality of buildings after the current time when conditions are applied that assume that work related to maintaining or restoring the power supply to the communication equipment housed in the building where the work is to be performed, as indicated in the plan generated by the generation unit; The index is calculated based on a result of discounting the degree of influence in accordance with the time from the current time to the timing when the power supply from the emergency power supply equipment will be stopped if the work is not performed. The network management device according to claim 1 .

3. The generation unit generating a plan that determines which of the plurality of buildings will be used as a deployment location for a vehicle equipped with power supply equipment for the communication equipment housed in the vehicle, when a condition is assumed that a power outage has occurred in the plurality of buildings; The calculation unit calculate a time-series impact on communications by the communication equipment housed in each of the plurality of buildings when conditions are applied that assume that work related to power supply by power supply equipment mounted on a vehicle installed in the communication equipment housed in the building that is the target of the work, as indicated in the plan generated by the generation unit, is performed; The index is calculated based on a result of discounting the impact level depending on the shortness of the time from the current time to the time when the work related to the power supply to the communication equipment housed in the building that is the target of the work needs to be performed. The network management device according to claim 1 .

4. The generation unit generating a plan that determines the building where the vehicle will be deployed, as a plan that minimizes the travel distance of the vehicle to the building where the vehicle will be deployed; The network management device according to claim 3 .

5. The generation unit generating a plan for power supply work to the communication equipment housed in each of a plurality of types of combinations of some of the plurality of buildings when a condition assuming that a power outage has occurred in the plurality of buildings housing the communication equipment is applied, for each of the plurality of types of combinations; The calculation unit calculating, for each of the plurality of types of buildings, a time-series impact on communications by communication equipment housed in each of the plurality of types of combinations of the partial plurality of buildings when conditions assuming that the work on the communication equipment is performed as indicated in the plan generated by the generation unit are applied; calculating the index for each of the combinations of the plurality of types of the plurality of buildings based on a result of discounting the impact level in accordance with the shortness of the time from the current time until the timing indicated in the plan at which the work needs to be performed on the communication equipment; a determination unit that determines, as a target for which the work is actually performed with priority, the communication equipment accommodated in each of the combinations of the plurality of buildings that has the smallest impact on the communication among the calculated indices; The network management device according to claim 1 .

6. 1. A method performed by a network management device, comprising: generating a plan for power supply work to communication equipment housed in some of the buildings when a condition assuming that a power outage has occurred in the buildings housing the communication equipment is applied; calculating a time-series impact on communications through communication facilities housed in each of the plurality of buildings when conditions assuming that the work on the communication facilities indicated in the generated plan is performed are applied; and calculating an index used to determine a target for which the work is actually to be performed with priority, based on a result of discounting the impact level in accordance with the shortness of the time from the current time until the timing indicated in the plan when the work needs to be performed on the communication equipment; A network management method comprising:

7. The generating step comprises: generating a plan that specifies some of the buildings in which work related to maintaining or restoring power supply to the communication equipment housed therein will be carried out when a condition is applied in which it is assumed that a power outage has occurred in the buildings housing the communication equipment and power supply to the communication equipment has started from emergency power supply equipment; The calculating step includes: Calculating a time-series impact on communications by the communication facilities housed in each of the plurality of buildings after the current time when conditions are applied that assume that work related to maintaining or restoring the power supply to the communication facilities housed in the building where the work is to be performed, as indicated in the generated plan; calculating the index based on a result of discounting the degree of impact in accordance with the time from the current time to the timing at which power supply by the emergency power supply equipment will be stopped if the work is not performed, The network management method according to claim 6.

8. A network management processing program that causes a processor to function as each of the units of the network management device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

Images