A passive protected self-healing mesh network architecture and applications

The self-healing mesh network architecture using digital cross-connect systems (DCSs) is a crucial part of an integrated network restoration system. The conventional DCS self-healing networks using logical channel protection may require a large amount of spare capacity for network components (such as DCSs) and may not restore services fast enough (e.g., within 2 s). The authors propose a passive protected DCS self-healing network (PPDSHN) architecture using a passive protection cross-connect network for network protection. For the PPDSHN architecture, network restoration is performed in the optical domain and is controlled by electronic working DCS systems. Some case studies have suggested that the proposed PPDSHN architecture may restore services within a two-second objective with less equipment cost than the conventional DCS self-healing network architecture in high-demand metropolitan areas for local exchange carrier networks. The proposed PPDSHN architecture may apply to not only the centralized and distributed control DCS network architectures, but also asynchronous, SONET and ATM DCS networks. Transparency of line rates and transmission formats makes the PPDSHN network even more attractive when network evolution is a key concern of network planning