AbNET, a fault-tolerant fiber optic communication system

The design of a fiber optic communication network originally intended for monitoring and control in power distribution systems is discussed. By appropriate choice of protocols, a fault-tolerant system can be built that operates in any arbitrary network configuration. The network, called AbNET, is a packet-based distributed protocol system. Flooding is used for maximum failure tolerance. Hierarchical (master-slave) polling controls access to the system. This supports many data acquisition and control applications. The protocols allow multiple adjacent masters to share resources. A service reports the network´s configuration to the master, where changes can be logged, and action taken if needed. The system is transparent to the user, and maintains no record of the clients it serves. It is fast enough for many industrial control applications. Only a small number of fiber cables is needed for a high reliability system