Optical Transport Network Fault Isolation via Factory Baselines
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The deployment and monitoring of optical transport networks are inefficient, with traditional methods requiring lengthy on-site assembly and reactive troubleshooting, leading to inconsistent network quality and labor-intensive fault isolation.
Innovation Solution
The construction of optical transport networks in a specialized factory, where equipment is racked, provisioned, and tested before shipment, with a performance baseline established for proactive monitoring and remedial actions triggered by user-defined rules, utilizing a controller to identify and isolate faults within the network hierarchy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional on-site assembly and reactive monitoring methods are used, then network deployment flexibility is maintained, but deployment timelines are lengthy (up to 12 months) and network quality is inconsistent
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by establishing performance baselines during factory construction before deployment. The system proactively monitors and identifies faults before they cause service degradation, eliminating the need for lengthy on-site troubleshooting and enabling rapid deployment while ensuring consistent network quality through pre-validation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements self-service through automated fault identification and isolation capabilities. The network automatically monitors its own performance, detects anomalies, and isolates faults without human intervention, replacing the traditional manual troubleshooting process and significantly reducing deployment and maintenance time.
2Productivity
If reactive monitoring is used where operators only diagnose problems after data loss or bandwidth decrease, then operational simplicity is maintained, but fault isolation becomes labor-intensive and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring system performs self-service by automatically detecting performance degradation, identifying the root cause, and isolating faults without requiring operator intervention. This transforms reactive manual troubleshooting into proactive automated diagnosis, dramatically improving fault isolation efficiency while maintaining operational simplicity through centralized management.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback loops that monitor network performance metrics, compare them against established baselines, and automatically trigger fault isolation procedures when anomalies are detected. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables rapid response to issues while simplifying operator tasks to monitoring and approval functions.
3Device complexity
If traditional manual troubleshooting methods are used, then operational simplicity is maintained, but the process involves testing many pieces of equipment individually making it labor-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The system automates the complex task of troubleshooting by having network elements self-diagnose and self-report their status. Instead of operators manually testing equipment, the system automatically collects performance data, identifies anomalies, and isolates faults, reducing operational complexity while dramatically improving troubleshooting efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical troubleshooting processes with automated electronic monitoring and analysis systems. Performance data is automatically collected, analyzed, and acted upon by software algorithms, substituting human operators' manual testing with automated computational analysis, thereby improving efficiency without excessive complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments providing improved systems and methods deploying, monitoring, and troubleshooting optical physical layer networks are needed. A baseline may be created and performance data is extracted. The performance data is compared against user-defined rules to determine an appropriate action. In one embodiment, networks are first constructed in a specialized network factory, where they are racked, provisioned, audited, and tested by relevant experts in each technology. In another embodiment, a method isolates a problem in an optical transport network. When a problem is identified, the layers are repeatedly evaluated to identify the device operating at the lowest layer where an error occurs. That device is identified as being likely faulty.