Optical communication system, monitoring device, and monitoring method

A monitoring apparatus in an optical communication system, wherein:

• the optical communication system includes
• a looped path in which an active trunk fiber and a standby trunk fiber are connected in a loop,
• a plurality of optical combining/splitting units provided on the active trunk fiber in series,
• a plurality of slave devices connected to the plurality of optical combining/splitting units, respectively, and
• a master device connected to the looped path and configured to perform optical communication with each of the plurality of slave devices;
• in a case where the active trunk fiber is normal, the standby trunk fiber is inactivated, and the active trunk fiber is used as a communication path of the optical communication;
• in a case where a failure occurs in the active trunk fiber, the standby trunk fiber is activated, and the standby trunk fiber is also usable as the communication path of the optical communication;
• each of the plurality of optical combining/splitting units includes
• an optical fiber through which an optical signal passes,
• an optical sensor configured to detect the optical signal passing through the optical fiber, and
• a transmitter configured to determine whether or not there is an abnormality in the optical communication on the basis of a detection state of the optical signal and transmit an abnormality notification including identification information of the optical combining/splitting unit to the monitoring apparatus in a case where there is the abnormality in the optical communication;
• and
• the monitoring apparatus includes
• a memory configured to store connection relationship information indicating a connection relationship between the plurality of optical combining/splitting units along the active trunk fiber, and
• a processor configured to, in a case where the processor receives the abnormality notification from at least one of the plurality of optical combining/splitting units, specify a failure position on the communication path on the basis of the identification information of each of the at least one optical combining/splitting unit that has transmitted the abnormality notification and the connection relationship information.

A monitoring method executed by a computer in an optical communication system, wherein:

• the optical communication system includes
• a looped path in which an active trunk fiber and a standby trunk fiber are connected in a loop,
• a plurality of optical combining/splitting units provided on the active trunk fiber in series,
• a plurality of slave devices connected to the plurality of optical combining/splitting units, respectively, and
• a master device connected to the looped path and configured to perform optical communication with each of the plurality of slave devices;
• in a case where the active trunk fiber is normal, the standby trunk fiber is inactivated, and the active trunk fiber is used as a communication path of the optical communication;
• in a case where a failure occurs in the active trunk fiber, the standby trunk fiber is activated, and the standby trunk fiber is also usable as the communication path of the optical communication;
• each of the plurality of optical combining/splitting units includes
• an optical fiber through which an optical signal passes,
• an optical sensor configured to detect the optical signal passing through the optical fiber, and
• a transmitter configured to determine whether or not there is an abnormality in the optical communication on the basis of a detection state of the optical signal and transmit an abnormality notification including identification information of the optical combining/splitting unit to the monitoring apparatus in a case where there is the abnormality in the optical communication;
• and
• the monitoring method includes
• a step of acquiring connection relationship information indicating a connection relationship between the plurality of optical combining/splitting units along the active trunk fiber,
• a step of receiving the abnormality notification from at least one of the plurality of optical combining/splitting units, and
• a step of specifying a failure position on the communication path on the basis of the identification information of each of the at least one optical combining/splitting unit that has transmitted the abnormality notification and the connection relationship information.