Method And Apparatus For Alien Device Identification In Passive Optical Networks
AssigneeAlcatel-Lucent USA Inc.
InventorsJoseph L. Smith, Julia Ferguson
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Abstract
A manner of detecting the presence of alien devices, for example ONUs, that are transmitting upstream in an optical access network such as a PON. An alien detection device, for example a properly configured OLT, supports normal network operation and also monitors a selected performance characteristic. When the selected performance characteristic is evaluated to perform within satisfactory parameters, a protocol that includes a command to subscriber devices such as ONUs to go quiet, for example a rogue check, is executed and a signal detector monitored during the quiet period. An alarm may be generated if an alien device appears to be present.
Claims16
A method of alien device identification in an optical access network, comprising:
- monitoring at least one network performance metric;
- determining whether at least one network performance metric is within an acceptable range;
- executing a protocol that includes a command to quiet network ONUs subsequent to determining that the at least one network performance metric is within an acceptable range;
- and
- determining whether an optical signal detector is active during execution of the protocol.
Apparatus for identifying the presence of devices alien to an optical access network, comprising:
- a performance monitor configured to monitor network to measure performance relating to at least one performance characteristic;
- a performance evaluator configured to determine whether the at least one performance measurement is within acceptable parameters;
- an AD (alien detection) timer;
- a protocol module configured to execute a protocol comprising a command to silence subscriber devices registered in the optical access network;
- a network interface comprising a signal detector for determining when a device is transmitting upstream on the network;
- and
- a processor for controlling operation of the apparatus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.