Optical fiber status detection method, optical supervisory unit, and station

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10547378-B2
Application number	US-201715830792-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 4, 2017
Priority date	Apr 14, 2016
Publication date	Jan 28, 2020
Grant date	Jan 28, 2020

Abstract

An optical fiber status detection method includes: alternately sending, by a first station, an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) pulse and optical supervisory channel (OSC) data to a second station on a same channel, where the second station is a neighboring station of the first station; and receiving, by the first station, reflection light returned by the OTDR pulse by using an optical fiber between the first station and the second station, and obtaining an OTDR probe value according to the reflection light.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical fiber status detection method, comprising:
receiving, by a first station, an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) probe instruction delivered by a network management system;
in response to receiving the OTDR probe instruction from the network management system, alternately sending, by the first station, an OTDR pulse and optical supervisory channel (OSC) data to a second station on a same channel, wherein a pattern of alternately sending the OTDR pulse and the OSC data is based on the OTDR probe instruction, wherein the second station is a neighboring station of the first station, and wherein the first station is an Optical Terminal Multiplexer (OTM) station;
receiving, by the first station, reflection light returned by the OTDR pulse by using an optical fiber between the first station and the second station; and
obtaining, by the first station, an OTDR probe value according to the reflection light.

2. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the OTDR probe instruction comprises a quantity N of OTDR probe values that are to be obtained during an OTDR probe, and wherein N is a positive integer.

3. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising:
after the receiving, by the first station, the OTDR probe instruction delivered by the network management system and before the alternately sending, by the first station, the OTDR pulse and the OSC data to the second station on the same channel:
determining, by the first station according to the quantity N of OTDR probe values and a preset quantity n of OTDR pulses sent for a single time, that OTDR pulse sending is to be performed for M times;
wherein the alternately sending, by the first station, the OTDR pulse and the OSC data to the second station on the same channel comprises one of:
inserting, by the first station, one time of OTDR pulse sending between two adjacent OSC data frames until the M times of OTDR pulse sending are completed in a wavelength division multiplexing system using time division multiplexing (TDM) transmission; or
inserting, by the first station, at least one time of OTDR pulse sending between two adjacent OSC data packets until the M times of OTDR pulse sending are completed in a wavelength division multiplexing system using data packet transmission.

4. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising:
after the determining, by the first station, that the OTDR pulse sending is to be performed for M times and before the alternately sending, by the first station, the OTDR pulse and the OSC data to the second station on the same channel:
sending, by the first station, an OTDR probe start instruction to the second station, wherein the OTDR probe start instruction instructs the second station to switch from a receiving state of receiving the OSC data to a silent state of waiting for the OTDR probe.

5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:
after the first station sends the OTDR pulse to the second station and before the first station sends the OSC data to the second station:
sending, by the first station, a preset physical layer recovery message to the second station, wherein the preset physical layer recovery message instructs the second station to switch from the silent state of waiting for the OTDR probe to the receiving state of receiving the OSC data; and
in response to determining that a preset physical layer recovery acknowledgment message fed back by the second station is received, sending, by the first station, the OSC data to the second station.

6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:
after the sending, by the first station, the preset physical layer recovery message to the second station:
sending, by the first station, the OSC data to the second station in response to determining that the preset physical layer recovery acknowledgment message fed back by the second station is not received during a preset duration.

7. An optical supervisory apparatus, comprising at least: an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR), an optical supervisory channel (OSC) circuit, and a switching controller, wherein:
the OTDR is configured to send an OTDR pulse, and obtain an OTDR probe value according to received reflection light returned by the OTDR pulse by using an optical fiber between a first station and a second station, wherein the optical supervisory apparatus is located on the first station, the second station is a neighboring station of the first station, and the first station is an Optical Terminal Multiplexer (OTM) station;
the OSC circuit is configured to send first OSC data to the second station and receive second OSC data sent by the second station; and
the switching controller is configured to control the OTDR and the OSC circuit to perform alternate sending of the OTDR pulse and the first OSC data in response to receiving, by the optical supervisory apparatus, an OTDR probe instruction from a network management system, and forward the second OSC data sent by the second station to the OSC circuit, wherein a pattern of alternately sending the OTDR pulse and the first OSC data is based on the OTDR probe instruction.

8. The optical supervisory apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the optical supervisory apparatus further comprises a buffer, and the buffer is configured to buffer OSC data generated when the OTDR sends the OTDR pulse.

9. The optical supervisory apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the optical supervisory apparatus further comprises an optical-to-electrical converter, and the optical-to-electrical converter is configured to convert the OTDR pulse to a first optical signal, convert an electrical signal corresponding to the first OSC data to a second optical signal, and convert a received optical signal corresponding to the second OSC data to a corresponding electrical signal.

10. A station, comprising at least an optical supervisory apparatus, the optical supervisory apparatus comprising at least: an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR), an optical supervisory channel (OSC) circuit, and a switching controller, wherein:
the OTDR is configured to send an OTDR pulse, and obtain an OTDR probe value according to received reflection light returned by the OTDR pulse by using an optical fiber between the station and a second station, wherein the optical supervisory apparatus is located on the station, the second station is a neighboring station of the station, and the station is an Optical Terminal Multiplexer (OTM) station;
the OSC circuit is configured to send first OSC data to the second station and receive second OSC data sent by the second station; and
the switching controller is configured to control the OTDR and the OSC circuit to perform alternate sending of the OTDR pulse and the first OSC data in response to receiving, by the station, an OTDR probe instruction from a network management system, and forward the second OSC data sent by the second station to the OSC circuit, wherein a pattern of alternately sending the OTDR pulse and the first OSC data is based on the OTDR probe instruction.

11. The station according to claim 10 , wherein the optical supervisory apparatus further comprises a buffer, and the buffer is configured to buffer OSC data generated when the OTDR sends the OTDR pulse.

12. The station according to claim 10 , wherein the optical supervisory apparatus further comprises an optical-to-electrical converter, and the optical-to-electrical converter is configured to convert the OTDR pulse to a first optical signal, convert an electrical signal corresponding to the first OSC data to a second optical signal, and convert a received optical signal corresponding to the second OS

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Chang Tianhai
• He Rui
• Liu Hao

Classifications

• H04B10/071 Primary

  using a reflected signal, e.g. using optical time domain reflectometers [OTDR] · CPC title

• H04J14/08

  Time-division multiplex systems · CPC title

• H04B10/0771

  Fault location on the transmission path · CPC title

• H04B10/25

  Arrangements specific to fibre transmission · CPC title

• H04J14/0275

  using an optical service channel · CPC title