Africa ONE: the Africa Optical Network

Author

Marra, William C. ; Schesser, Joel

Author_Institution

AT&T Bell Labs., Holmdel, NJ, USA

Volume

34

Issue

2

fYear

1996

fDate

2/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

50

Lastpage

57

Abstract

Describes the architecture of the Africa Optical Network (Africa ONE) that will encircle the entire continent of Africa with an undersea fiber optic ring network. Using a combination of wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) multiplex and cross-connect equipment, Africa ONE brings together a unique blend of technology to achieve network robustness. The article traces the need for this regional network and how it fits into the global undersea communications network. Also the authors describe the network elements that make up the transmission topology, the methodology used for interconnecting each African country to this network, protection and restoration of the network, and the network management system. Africa-ONE is a 40,000 km trunk and branch network that is planned to be ready for service in 1999. The present article presents the architecture of the undersea portion of the Africa-ONE project

Keywords

multiplexing equipment; optical communication equipment; optical fibre networks; submarine cables; synchronous digital hierarchy; telecommunication network management; telecommunication network reliability; wavelength division multiplexing; Africa ONE; Africa Optical Network; architecture; country; cross-connect equipment; global undersea communications network; multiplex equipment; network management system; network robustness; protection; regional network; restoration; synchronous digital hierarchy; transmission topology; undersea fiber optic ring network; wavelength-division multiplexing; Africa; Communication networks; Continents; Network topology; Optical fiber networks; Optical fibers; Protection; Robustness; Synchronous digital hierarchy; Wavelength division multiplexing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Communications Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0163-6804

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/35.481244

Filename

481244