Actively monitored optical fiber panel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016277103-A1
Application number	US-201514660350-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 17, 2015
Priority date	Mar 17, 2015
Publication date	Sep 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An optical fiber panel unit includes multiple fiber input ports, each configured to connect to a different one of multiple optical fibers. Each fiber input port includes a connector port configured to connect to a respective fiber panel optical path, an optical tap and a photo-detector. The optical tap is configured to couple to the respective optical path. The photo-detector couples to the optical tap to detect optical signals carried over the respective optical path, and to produce electrical signals that correspond to the detected optical signals. A telemetry circuit analyzes the electrical signals that correspond to the detected optical signals of each respective optical path, and determines at least one of a loss of signal (LOS) or loss of light (LOL) at each of the fiber input ports based on the analysis of the electrical signals.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An optical fiber panel unit, comprising:
a plurality of fiber input ports, each configured to connect to a different one of multiple optical fibers, wherein each fiber input port comprises:
a connector port configured to connect to a respective fiber panel optical path,
an optical tap configured to couple to the respective optical path, and
a photo-detector coupled to the optical tap and configured to:
detect optical signals carried over the respective optical path, and
produce electrical signals that correspond to the detected optical signals; and

a telemetry circuit configured to:
analyze the electrical signals that correspond to the detected optical signals of each respective optical path, and determine at least one of a loss of signal (LOS) or loss of light (LOL) at each of the fiber input ports based on the analysis of the electrical signals.

2 . The optical fiber panel unit of claim 1 , wherein the different one of multiple optical fibers connects the optical fiber panel unit to a central office (CO) Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (OADM).

3 . The optical fiber panel unit of claim 2 , wherein the Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer comprises a Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (ROADM).

4 . The optical fiber panel unit of claim 1 , wherein the different one of multiple optical fibers connects the optical fiber panel unit to a central office (CO).

5 . The optical fiber panel unit of claim 1 , wherein the telemetry circuit further includes a first port connected to an Internet Protocol (IP) network and wherein the telemetry circuit is further configured to:
send a first report including any determined LOS or LOL at each of the fiber input ports to a network administration node.

6 . The optical fiber panel unit of claim 5 , wherein the telemetry circuit further includes a second port connected to an Internet Protocol (IP) network and wherein the telemetry circuit is further configured to:
send a second report including any determined LOS or LOL at each of the fiber input ports to a customer network manager node.

7 . The optical fiber panel unit of claim 1 , wherein the optical fiber panel unit is located at a central office (CO) in a network is configured to connect between an Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer and a customer location.

8 . The optical fiber panel unit of claim 1 , wherein the optical fiber panel unit is located at a customer location and is configured to connect between an optical fiber link and one or more customer site equipment.

9 . The optical fiber panel unit of claim 1 , wherein the telemetry circuit further includes an optical port connected to a fiber link that connects to another fiber panel unit at another location in an optical network and wherein the telemetry circuit is further configured to:
send a report, via the optical port to the other fiber panel unit, including a status of the optical fiber panel unit and any determined LOS or LOL at each of the fiber input ports.

10 . A method, comprising:
tapping, within a fiber panel comprising a first plurality of fiber input connector ports and a second plurality of fiber output connector ports, multiple optical paths connected to the plurality of fiber input connector ports and supplying a tapped optical output from each of the multiple optical paths to a respective photodetector; detecting, at each respective photodetector, the tapped optical output to generate electrical signals corresponding to optical signals received via the first plurality of fiber input connector ports and carried via the multiple optical paths; analyzing, using telemetry circuitry within the fiber panel, the electrical signals to determine performance characteristics associated with each one of the plurality of fiber input connector ports; and sending, via a fiber panel connection to an external network device, one or more reports that include the determined performance characteristics with each one of the plurality of fiber input connector ports.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein sending the one or more reports comprises sending the one or more reports via an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the external network device comprises a network administration node and wherein the one or more reports identify equipment connected to each of the ports.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the fiber panel is disposed at a Central Office (CO) within an optical network.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the fiber panel is disposed at a customer location within an optical network.

15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the performance characteristics comprise at least one of a loss of light (LOL) or loss of signal (LOS) associated with each one of the plurality of fiber input connector ports.

16 . An optical fiber panel unit, comprising:
a plurality of fiber input ports, each configured to connect to a different one of multiple optical fibers connected to a Central Office (CO) in an optical network, wherein each fiber input port includes a connector connected to a respective fiber panel optical path that carries optical signals within the optical fiber panel unit; a network connector port configured to connect to an external network; and a telemetry circuit configured to:
analyze optical input received via each of the plurality of fiber input ports and carried via the respective fiber panel optical path,
determine performance characteristics associated with each fiber input port of the plurality of fiber input ports of the optical fiber panel unit based on the analysis of the optical input, and
send, via the network connector port, one or more reports that include the performance characteristics associated with each fiber input port of the plurality of fiber input ports of the optical fiber panel unit.

17 . The optical fiber panel unit of claim 16 , wherein the performance characteristics comprise a loss of light (LOL) and a loss of signal (LOS) associated with the optical input of each fiber input port of the optical fiber panel unit.

18 . The optical fiber panel unit of claim 16 , further comprising:
a plurality of fiber output ports, wherein each fiber output port includes a connector port connected to the respective fiber panel optical path that carries the optical signals within the fiber panel unit.

19 . The optical fiber panel unit of claim 18 , wherein at least one of the plurality of fiber output ports connects to site equipment at a customer location and wherein the one or more reports identifies the site equipment.

20 . The optical fiber panel unit of claim 16 , wherein the optical fiber panel unit is located at a customer location and wherein one or more of the plurality of fiber input ports is configured to connect to the CO via a respective one of the multiple optical fibers.

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Johnson Iv Raymond
• Peterson Jr Daniel L

Classifications

• H04J14/021

  Reconfigurable arrangements, e.g. reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers [ROADM] or tunable optical add/drop multiplexers [TOADM] · CPC title

• H04B10/0795 Primary

  Performance monitoring; Measurement of transmission parameters · CPC title

• G02B6/4286

  Optical modules with optical power monitoring · CPC title

• H04B10/0793

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