Systems and methods for protecting optical networks from rogue optical network terminals

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9350447-B1
Application number	US-201213530841-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 22, 2012
Priority date	Jun 22, 2012
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A communication system comprises a passive optical network (PON) having an optical line terminal (OLT) coupled to a plurality of optical network terminals (ONTs) through a power splitter. Each ONT is coupled to the power splitter via a subscriber line. A switch is coupled to each subscriber line, and all of the switches are coupled to a control element. A power element is configured to receive optical signals communicated by the PON and to convert the optical signals into electrical power for use by the control element. The OLT is configured to detect a rogue ONT and to communicate with the control element for opening the switch that is coupled to the subscriber line of the rogue ONT, thereby optically isolating the rogue ONT from the rest of the PON.

First claim

Now, therefore, the following is claimed:

1. An optical network, comprising:
a power splitter coupled to a first optical fiber;
a plurality of optical fibers coupled to the power splitter;
a plurality of optical network terminals (ONTs) respectively coupled to the plurality of optical fibers and configured to transmit a plurality of optical data signals across the plurality of optical fibers;
a plurality of switches, wherein each switch is coupled to a respective one of the plurality of optical fibers between the power splitter and a respective one of the ONTs;
an optical line terminal (OLT) coupled to the first optical fiber and configured to communicate with the ONTs via the first optical fiber, the power splitter, and the plurality of optical fibers, the OLT configured to detect rogue behavior from at least one of the ONTs, the OLT further configured to transmit control data based on a detection of the rogue behavior by the OLT;
a control element coupled to the switches, the control element configured to receive the control data from the OLT and to selectively control the switches based on the control data such that at least one of the switches optically isolates the at least one of the ONTs from the OLT in response to the detection of the rogue behavior from the at least one of the ONTs;
a plurality of power splitters, each of the plurality of power splitters coupled to a respective one of the plurality of optical fibers; and
a power element coupled to each of the plurality of power splitters and configured to receive the plurality of optical data signals from the plurality of power splitters, each of the received optical data signals from a respective one of the plurality of power splitters, the power element configured to convert the received plurality of optical data signals into an electrical power signal for powering the control element and the switches.

2. The optical network of claim 1 , wherein the power element is coupled to the first optical fiber and is configured to receive an optical signal from the first optical fiber.

3. The optical network of claim 1 , further comprising a filter coupled to the first optical fiber between the OLT and the power splitter, wherein the power element is coupled to the filter and is configured to receive an optical signal from the filter.

4. The optical network of claim 1 , wherein the OLT is configured to transmit a downstream optical data signal across the first optical fiber and each of the plurality of optical fibers to the ONTs, and wherein the OLT is configured to modulate the downstream optical data signal with the control data.

5. The optical network of claim 1 , wherein the control element based on the control data is configured to serially transition the switches to a new state for enabling the OLT to identify which of the ONTs is exhibiting the rogue behavior.

6. The optical network of claim 1 , wherein the control element is configured to transition at least one of the switches to a new state based on the control data, and wherein the OLT is configured to identify which of the ONTs is exhibiting the rogue behavior based on the transition of the at least one switch to the new state.

7. The optical network of claim 6 , wherein the OLT is configured to identify which of the ONTs is exhibiting the rogue behavior based on a change to the rogue behavior detected by the OLT in response to the transition of the at least one switch to the new state.

8. The optical network of claim 1 , wherein the OLT is configured to modulate an optical signal with data, thereby forming a downstream optical data signal, and to transmit the downstream optical data signal across the first optical fiber to the ONTs, wherein the OLT is configured to transmit the control data across the first optical fiber at a data rate lower than a data rate of the downstream optical data signal.

9. The optical network of claim 8 , wherein the OLT is configured to modulate the downstream optical data signal with the control data.

10. The optical network of claim 1 , wherein the OLT is configured to modulate an optical signal with data, thereby forming a downstream optical data signal, wherein the OLT is configured to modulate the downstream optical data signal with the control data thereby affecting a frequency, amplitude, or phase of a portion of the downstream optical data signal carrying the data used to modulate the optical signal, and wherein the OLT is configured to transmit the modulated downstream optical data signal across the first optical fiber to the ONTs.

11. The optical network of claim 1 , wherein the OLT is configured to modulate an optical signal with data, thereby forming a downstream optical data signal, wherein the OLT is configured to modulate the downstream optical data signal with the control data such that the control data is superimposed on the data used to modulate the optical signal, and wherein the OLT is configured to transmit the modulated downstream optical data signal across the first optical fiber to the ONTs.

12. The optical network of claim 1 , wherein the power element has a capacitive element for storing energy from each of the plurality of power splitters.

13. The optical network of claim 12 , wherein each of the switches is a latching switch.

14. An optical network, comprising:
a power splitter coupled to the first optical fiber;
a plurality of optical fibers coupled to the power splitter;
a plurality of optical network terminals (ONTs) respectively coupled to the plurality of optical fibers and configured to transmit a plurality of optical data signals across the plurality of optical fibers;
an optical line terminal (OLT) coupled to the first optical fiber and configured to communicate with the ONTs via the first optical fiber, the power splitter, and the plurality of optical fibers, the OLT configured to detect rogue behavior from at least one of the ONTs, the OLT further configured to transmit control data in response to a detection of the rogue behavior by the OLT;
means for selectively isolating a respective one of the ONTs from the OLT based on the control data received from the OLT, the selectively isolating means coupled to each of the plurality of optical fibers between the power splitter and a respective one of the ONTs;
a plurality of power splitters, each of the plurality of power splitters coupled to a respective one of the plurality of optical fibers; and
a power element coupled to each of the plurality of power splitters and configured to receive the plurality of optical data signals from the plurality of power splitters, the power element configured to convert the received optical data signals from the plurality of power splitters into an electrical power signal for powering the means for selectively isolating.

15. A method for use in an optical network, comprising:
transmitting a downstream optical data signal from an optical line terminal (OLT);
splitting the downstream optical data signal via a power splitter coupled to a plurality of optical fibers such that the downstream optical data signal propagates across a plurality of optical fibers to a plurality of optical network terminals (ONTs) coupled to the plurality of optical fibers;
detecting rogue behavior from one of the ONTs via the OLT;
transmitting control data from the OLT based on the detecting;
selectively controlling a plurality of switches based on the control data such that at least one of the ONTs is optically isolated from the OLT in response to the detecting, each of the plurality of switches coupled to a respective one of the plurality of optical fibers;
splitting, via

Assignees

• Detwiler Thomas
• Sandstrom Leif J
• Adtran Inc

Inventors

• Detwiler Thomas
• Sandstrom Leif J

Classifications

• H04B10/077 Primary

  using a supervisory or additional signal · CPC title

• H04J14/0282

  WDM tree architectures · CPC title

• H04B10/272

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

• H04B10/0793 Primary

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