Optical communication system, optical network management apparatus and optical network management method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9166727-B2
Application number	US-201113137985-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 22, 2011
Priority date	Sep 29, 2010
Publication date	Oct 20, 2015
Grant date	Oct 20, 2015

Abstract

An optical communication system includes a plurality of wavelength selective switches arranged on an optical network; and an optical network management apparatus configured to manage and control the optical network. In response to a path establishing request, the optical network management apparatus determines power consumption of each path that satisfies the path establishing request in the optical network based upon a wavelength being used at a connection port of each of the wavelength selective switches, selects a route based upon the determined power consumption of each of the path, and sets the selected route in the optical network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical communication system comprising:
a plurality of wavelength selective switches arranged on an optical network; and
an optical network management apparatus configured to manage and control the optical network,
wherein in response to a path establishing request, the optical network management apparatus determines power consumption of each of paths that satisfies the path establishing request in the optical network based upon a wavelength being used at a connection port of each of the wavelength selective switches, selects a route based upon the determined power consumption of each of the paths, and sets the selected route in the optical network,
wherein each of the wavelength selective switches has a movable reflector having mirrors arranged corresponding to a plurality of wavelengths available in the optical network, the movable reflector being configured to change inclination angles of the mirrors to guide a light beam of the corresponding wavelength to one of first and second output ports of the wavelength selective switch, the first output port corresponding to a first inclination angle and the second output port corresponding to a second inclination angle smaller than the first inclination angle, and
wherein the optical network management apparatus controls the wavelength selective switches so as to connect adjacent wavelength selective switches using the second output port and allocates a longest wavelength among the available wavelengths for optical communication.

2. The optical communication system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the wavelength selective switches has:
inclination angle controllers, each provided corresponding to one of the available wavelengths and configured to output a voltage signal for controlling the inclination angle of the associated mirror; and
driving voltage amplifiers, each provided corresponding to one of the inclination angle controllers and configured to generate a driving voltage by amplifying the voltage signal and apply the driving voltage to the movable reflector,
wherein the optical network management apparatus controls a first group of wavelength selective switches through which traffic passes so as to bring the inclination angle controllers corresponding to all the available wavelengths in a WAKE state, and bring the driving voltage amplifiers corresponding to unused wavelengths in a SLEEP state, while bringing the driving voltage amplifier corresponding to the wavelength currently used for the optical communication in the WAKE state, and
the optical network management apparatus controls a second group of wavelength selective switches through which traffic does not pass so as to bring the inclination angle controllers corresponding to all the available wavelengths in the WAKE state and bring the driving voltage amplifiers corresponding to all the available wavelengths in the SLEEP state.

3. The optical communication system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the wavelength selective switches has:
inclination angle controllers, each provided corresponding to one of the available wavelengths and configured to output a voltage signal for controlling the inclination angle of the associated mirror; and
driving voltage amplifiers, each provided corresponding to one of the inclination angle controllers and configured to generate a driving voltage by amplifying the voltage signal and apply the driving voltage to the movable reflector,
wherein the optical network management apparatus controls a first group of wavelength selective switches through which traffic passes so as to bring the inclination angle controllers corresponding to all the available wavelengths in a WAKE state, and bring the driving voltage amplifiers corresponding to unused wavelengths in a SLEEP state, while bringing the driving voltage amplifier corresponding to the wavelength currently used for the optical communication in the WAKE state, and
the optical network management apparatus controls a second group of wavelength selective switches through which traffic does not pass so as to bring the inclination angle controllers and the driving voltage amplifiers corresponding to all the available wavelengths in the SLEEP state.

4. The optical communication system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the wavelength selective switches has:
inclination angle controllers, each provided corresponding to one of the available wavelengths and configured to output a voltage signal for controlling the inclination angle of the associated mirror; and
driving voltage amplifiers, each provided corresponding to one of the inclination angle controllers and configured to generate a driving voltage by amplifying the voltage signal and apply the driving voltage to the movable reflector,
wherein the optical network management apparatus controls a first group of wavelength selective switches through which traffic passes so as to bring the inclination angle controllers and the driving voltage amplifiers corresponding to unused wavelengths in a SLEEP state, while bringing the inclination angle controller and the driving voltage amplifier corresponding to the wavelength currently used for the optical communication in a WAKE state, and
the optical network management apparatus controls a second group of wavelength selective switches through which traffic does not pass so as to bring the inclination angle controllers and the driving voltage amplifiers corresponding to all the available wavelengths in the SLEEP state.

5. The optical communication system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the wavelength selective switches has:
inclination angle controllers, each provided corresponding to one of the available wavelengths and configured to output a voltage signal for controlling the inclination angle of the associated mirror; and
driving voltage amplifiers, each provided corresponding to one of the inclination angle controllers and configured to generate a driving voltage by amplifying the voltage signal and apply the driving voltage to the movable reflector,
wherein the optical network management apparatus controls a first group of wavelength selective switches through which traffic passes so as to bring the inclination angle controllers and the driving voltage amplifiers corresponding to unused wavelengths in a SLEEP state, while bringing the inclination angle controller and the driving voltage amplifier corresponding to the wavelength currently used for the optical communication in a WAKE state, and
the optical network management apparatus controls a second group of wavelength selective switches through which traffic does not pass so as to bring the inclination angle controllers and the driving voltage amplifiers corresponding to the unused wavelengths in the SLEEP state, while bringing the inclination angle controller corresponding to the wavelength currently used for the optical communication in the WAKE state.

6. The optical communication system according to claim 1 , wherein the optical network management apparatus compares a first power consumption cost value determined from a first combination of a currently allocated port and a currently allocated wavelength with a second power consumption cost value determined from a second combination of an unused port and an unused wavelength, and
wherein if the first power consumption cost value is greater than the second power consumption cost value, the optical network management apparatus changes from the first combination to the second combination to allocate the unused port and the unused wavelength of the second combination to the optical network.

7. An optical network management apparatus comprising:
a processor configured to manage and control an optical network in which a plurality of wave

Assignees

• Yamashita Shinji
• Fujitsu Ltd

Inventors

• Yamashita Shinji

Classifications

• H04Q11/0005

  Switch and router aspects · CPC title

• H04J14/0284 Primary

  WDM mesh architectures · CPC title

• H04J14/0212

  using optical switches or wavelength selective switches [WSS] · CPC title