Systems and methods for maintaining equipment of a passive optical network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11575432-B1
Application number	US-202217891879-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 19, 2022
Priority date	Aug 19, 2022
Publication date	Feb 7, 2023
Grant date	Feb 7, 2023

Abstract

Techniques for maintaining equipment of a PON include determining a current optical profile for each segment of a plurality of segments of a PON, and detecting that the current optical profile of a particular segment is outside of a designated operating range. Based on the detection, drifts over time of the optical profile of the segment and of optical profiles of one or more other segments that share respective common endpoints with the segment are determined and compared, and based on the comparison, a component of the PON (e.g., an endpoint or an optical fiber) is identified as requiring maintenance. Each segment's optical profile corresponds to characteristics of optical signals delivered over the segment (e.g., attenuation, changes in frequencies, changes in power outputs, etc.), and current optical profiles of the PON's segments may be repeatedly updated over time to continuously monitor for components that need maintenance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of maintaining equipment of a passive optical network (PON), the method comprising:
determining, for each segment of a plurality of segments of the PON, a respective, current optical profile based on a characteristic of optical signals delivered over the each segment;
detecting that the current optical profile of a particular segment of the plurality of segments is above or below a designated operating range of an optical profile of the PON; and
responsive to the detection:
determining a drift over time of the respective optical profile of the particular segment based on the current optical profile and one or more historical optical profiles of the particular segment;
determining a respective drift over time of the respective optical profile of each segment included in one or more other segments of the PON based on respective historical profiles of the each segment, the each segment sharing a respective common endpoint with the particular segment;
comparing the drift over time of the respective optical profile of the particular segment and respective drifts over time of the respective optical profiles of the one or more other segments of the PON;
identifying, based on the comparison, a component of the PON as requiring maintenance, the identified component being a specific segment endpoint or a specific optical fiber of the PON; and
transmitting, to at least one of a user interface or another computing device, an indication of the identified component of the PON requiring maintenance.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic of optical signals delivered over the each segment corresponds to attenuation of optical signals delivered over the each segment.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic of optical signals delivered over the each segment corresponds to changes in frequencies of optical signals delivered over the each segment.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic of optical signals delivered over the each segment includes changes in power outputs of optical signals delivered over the each segment.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the respective, current optical profile of the each segment is based on at least one of a density or a quantity of last mile termination units that are respectively disposed at different locations serviced by the each segment.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the component of the PON as requiring maintenance includes identifying one of a last mile termination unit or a secondary optical fiber optically connecting the last mile termination unit to a remainder of the PON as requiring maintenance.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the last mile termination unit is a downstream segment endpoint of the particular segment.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the last mile termination unit is a downstream segment endpoint of another particular segment.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the PON includes a distribution hub disposed between an optical line terminal (OLT) and a plurality of last mile termination units;
the distribution hub optically connects the OLT to each of the plurality of last mile termination units via a plurality of optical fibers; and
identifying the component of the PON as requiring maintenance includes identifying the distribution hub as requiring maintenance.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the PON includes a distribution hub disposed between an optical line terminal (OLT) and a plurality of last mile termination units;
the distribution hub optically connects the OLT to each of the plurality of last mile termination units via a plurality of optical fibers; and
identifying the component of the PON as requiring maintenance includes identifying the OLT as requiring maintenance.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein comparing the drift over time of the respective optical profile of the particular segment and the respective drifts over time of the respective optical profiles of the one or more other segments includes comparing at least one of respective magnitudes or respective rates of change of the respective optical profile of the particular segment and the respective drifts over time of the respective optical profiles of the one or more other segments.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether magnitudes of differences between the compared drifts over time are within one or more predefined tolerance ranges; and
identifying the component of the PON as requiring maintenance when the magnitudes of differences between the compared drifts over time are not within the one or more predefined tolerance ranges.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising repeatedly determining the respective, current optical profile of the each segment of the plurality of segments over time, and storing the repeatedly determined respective optical profiles of the each segment as additional historical optical profiles of the each segment.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising predicting a time-to-failure of the identified component of the PON, and providing an indication of the predicted time-to-failure of the identified component in conjunction with the notification that the identified component requires maintenance.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein predicting the time-to-failure of the identified component includes determining a time at which a respective optical profile of a segment including the identified component is predicted to be above an upper failure threshold or below a lower failure threshold corresponding to the component.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein predicting the time-to-failure of the identified component includes:
performing one or more statistical analyses on a set of historical data indicative of historical technical service incidents pertaining to a specific segment of the PON that includes the identified component and a set of characteristics of the specific segment to determine a subset of the set of characteristics of the specific segment having respective strengths of association with the historical technical service incidents greater than respective strengths of association of other characteristics included in the set of characteristics of the specific segment; and
predicting the time-to-failure of the identified component is based on the subset of the set of characteristics of the specific segment and current values of the subset of the set of characteristics of the specific segment.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the set of characteristics of the specific segment includes one or more of: an administrative state, an operational state, a primary service state, a type of equipment, an equipment identifier, an optical distance between an upstream segment endpoint and a downstream segment endpoint of the specific segment, an indication of error correction, a time of installation of the specific segment, the characteristic of optical signals delivered over the specific segment, another characteristic of optical signals delivered over the specific segment; or another characteristic of the specific segment.

18. A system for maintaining equipment of a passive optical network (PON), the system comprising:
one or more processors and one or more memories; and
computer-executable instructions stored on the one or more memories that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
determine, for each segment of a plurality of segments of the PON, a respective, current optical profile based on a characteristic of optical signals

Assignees

• Frontier Communications Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Valdez John
• Pauling Bryan

Classifications

• H04B10/0795

  Performance monitoring; Measurement of transmission parameters · CPC title

• H04B10/0793 Primary

  Network aspects, e.g. central monitoring of transmission parameters · CPC title

• H04B10/0791

  Fault location on the transmission path · CPC title

• H04B10/0771 Primary

  Fault location on the transmission path · CPC title

• H04B10/674

  using a variable optical attenuator · CPC title