Devices and methods for mesh-based fault detection in passive optical networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12368985-B1
Application number	US-202418910995-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Oct 9, 2024
Priority date	Apr 16, 2024
Publication date	Jul 22, 2025
Grant date	Jul 22, 2025

Abstract

A PON system includes both a PON via which optical services are delivered and a wireless network overlaying the PON. The wireless network may be a self-organizing wireless mesh network, and may generally operate as a logical signaling pathway via which information regarding optical states/statuses of PON components and/or related information is delivered from the field to back-end servers of the PON system. Accordingly, the system may include multiple in-common nodes (e.g., OLTs, LMTUs, etc.) which are included in both the PON and the wireless network. Based on optical information received via the wireless network, the servers can localize the physical location of a PON fault to a particular geographical region of multiple regions serviced by the PON (in some cases narrowing the fault's physical location to a particular span, FDH, or optical terminal), and may dispatch a technician directly to the localized physical location to address the fault.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A last mile termination unit of a passive optical network (PON), the last mile termination unit comprising:
an optical interface at which an optical fiber of the PON is received;
a communication interface via which content of an optical signal received at the last mile termination unit via the optical interface is provided for display at a user interface; and
one or more processors, one or more memories, and computer-executable instructions stored on the one or more memories and executable, by the one or more processors, to cause the last mile termination unit to:
monitor, via a wireless transceiver and a self-organizing wireless mesh network overlaying the PON, respective statuses of wireless connectivity, within the self-organizing wireless mesh network, of one or more nodes of the self-organizing wireless mesh network,
the one or more nodes including the last mile termination unit and at least one other last mile termination unit of the PON,
the wireless transceiver communicatively connecting the last mile termination unit to one or more servers via the self-organizing wireless mesh network; and

transmit, towards the one or more servers via the wireless transceiver and the self-organizing wireless mesh network, and via a route based on the monitored respective statuses of wireless connectivity of the one or more nodes, an indication of a respective status of optical connectivity, with the PON, of one or more last mile termination units of the PON.

2. The last mile termination unit of claim 1 , wherein the one or more last mile termination units include the last mile termination unit.

3. The last mile termination unit of claim 1 , wherein the last mile termination unit is a first last mile termination unit, and the one or more last mile termination units include a second last mile termination unit.

4. The last mile termination unit of claim 1 , wherein the one or more nodes further include at least one of: another last mile termination unit, an Optical Line Terminal (OLT), a Fiber Distribution Hub (FDH), a Fiber Distribution Terminal (FDT), or a Network Interface Device (NID) of the PON.

5. The last mile termination unit of claim 1 , wherein the last mile termination unit is further configured to transmit, via the self-organizing wireless mesh network, an indication of a current status of wireless connectivity of the last mile termination unit within the self-organizing wireless mesh network.

6. The last mile termination unit of claim 5 , wherein at least one of:
the transmission of the indication of the current status of wireless connectivity of the last mile termination unit within the self-organizing wireless mesh network is a broadcast transmission; or
the last mile termination unit transmits the indication of the current status of wireless connectivity of the last mile termination unit within the self-organizing wireless mesh network at least one of: periodically, on demand, or upon detecting a change in the current status of wireless connectivity of the last mile termination unit within self-organizing the self-organizing wireless mesh network.

7. The last mile termination unit of claim 5 , wherein the last mile termination unit is further configured to transmit an indication of at least some of the respective statuses of wireless connectivity, within the self-organizing wireless mesh network, of at least some nodes included in a plurality of nodes of the self-organizing wireless mesh network, the plurality of nodes including the one or more nodes.

8. The last mile termination unit of claim 1 , wherein the last mile termination unit is further configured to, upon detecting a loss of optical connectivity of the last mile termination unit with the PON, transmit, via the wireless transceiver and the self-organizing wireless mesh network towards the one or more servers, an indication of the detected loss of optical connectivity of the last mile termination unit with the PON.

9. The last mile termination unit of claim 8 , wherein the PON supports a plurality of optical wavelength bands, and the indication of the detected loss of optical connectivity of the last mile termination unit with the PON is further indicative of a specific optical wavelength band of the plurality of optical wavelength bands with which the last mile termination unit has lost optical connectivity.

10. The last mile termination unit of claim 1 , wherein:
the last mile termination unit is a first last mile termination unit;
the first last mile termination unit obtains a status of optical connectivity, with the PON, of a second last mile termination unit via a message received via the wireless transceiver and a direct wireless link between the last mile termination unit and the second last mile termination unit; and
the first last mile termination unit transmits, towards the one or more servers and responsive to the reception of the message, an indication of the status of optical connectivity of the second last mile termination unit.

11. The last mile termination unit of claim 1 , wherein:
the last mile termination unit is a first last mile termination unit;
the first last mile termination unit obtains a status of optical connectivity, with the PON, of a second last mile termination unit via a message received via the wireless transceiver and a direct wireless link between the last mile termination unit and a third last mile termination unit disposed in between the second last mile termination unit and the last mile termination unit; and
the first last mile termination unit transmits, towards the one or more servers and responsive to the reception of the message, an indication of the status of optical connectivity of the second last mile termination unit.

12. The last mile termination unit of claim 11 , wherein the transmission of the indication of the status of optical connectivity of the second last mile termination unit further indicates a routing of the status of optical connectivity of the second last mile termination unit via the third last mile termination unit and the last mile termination unit.

13. The last mile termination unit of claim 1 , wherein the last mile termination unit does not have optical connectivity with the PON via the optical interface and the optical fiber.

14. The last mile termination unit of claim 1 , wherein the wireless transceiver is included in or communicatively connected to the last mile termination unit.

15. A method at a last mile termination unit of a passive optical network (PON), the last mile termination unit being a node of a self-organizing wireless mesh network overlaying the PON, and the method comprising:
receiving, from the PON and via an optical interface of the last mile termination unit, an optical signal including content of an optical-based service provided by the PON;
providing the content of the optical-based service to a user interface, the user interface and the last mile termination unit both disposed at a location serviced by the PON;
monitoring, via a wireless transceiver and the self-organizing wireless mesh network, respective statuses of wireless connectivity, within the self-organizing wireless mesh network, of one or more nodes of the self-organizing wireless mesh network,
the one or more nodes including the last mile termination unit and at least one other last mile termination unit of the PON,
the wireless transceiver communicatively connecting the last mile termination unit to one or more servers via the self-organizing wireless mesh network; and

transmitting, towards the one or more servers via the wireless transceiver and the self-organizi

Assignees

• Frontier Communications Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Valdez John
• Wongbar Soms
• Pauling Bryan

Classifications

• H04B10/272

  Star-type networks {or tree-type networks} · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title

• H04Q11/0067 Primary

  Provisions for optical access or distribution networks, e.g. Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network (GE-PON), ATM-based Passive Optical Network (A-PON), PON-Ring · CPC title