Loopback test system for network integrated equipment racks

An equipment rack, comprising

• a frame;
• an optical shuffle device including a housing secured the frame, a plurality of network-side optical interfaces, at least one spare optical interface, and a plurality shuffle optical waveguides each coupled to one of the network-side optical interfaces and extending at least partially within the housing, wherein:
• the plurality of shuffle optical waveguides defines multiple subsets of the shuffle optical waveguides for each of the network-side optical interfaces, and
• each spare optical interface of the at least one spare optical interface is operatively coupled to a respective one of the network-side optical interfaces by one of the subsets of the shuffle optical waveguides that are associated with the respective network-side optical interface;
• one or more servers secured to the frame, wherein the one or more servers include a plurality of server ports that are each operatively coupled to a respective one of the subsets of the shuffle optical waveguides;
• a loopback test system coupled to the optical shuffle device, wherein the loopback test system comprises:
• a plurality of loopback optical interfaces that includes a plurality of network loopback optical interfaces and at least one spare loopback optical interface;
• a plurality of first loopback optical waveguides each having one end operatively coupled to one of the network loopback optical interfaces and another end operatively coupled to another of the network loopback optical interfaces;
• a plurality of second loopback optical waveguides each having opposite ends operatively coupled to one of the network loopback optical interfaces that is different than any of the network loopback optical interfaces to which the first loopback optical waveguides are operatively coupled such that each second loopback optical waveguide is configured to receive optical signals from the network loopback optical interface to which the second loopback optical waveguide is operatively coupled and direct the optical signals back to the same network loopback optical interface;
• and
• a plurality of third loopback optical waveguides each having one end operatively coupled to a spare loopback optical interface of the at least one spare loopback optical interface and another end operatively coupled to one of the network loopback optical interfaces to which at least one of the second loopback optical waveguides is operatively coupled;
• wherein the loopback test system is coupled to the optical shuffle device by each of the network loopback optical interfaces being coupled to a respective one of the network-side optical interfaces and each spare loopback optical interface of the at least one spare loopback optical interface being coupled to a respective spare optical interface of the at least one spare optical interface;
• and
• wherein the first, second, and third loopback optical waveguides are arranged in the network loopback optical interfaces and the at least one spare loopback optical interface so that each subset of the shuffle optical waveguides that is operatively coupled to one of the server ports is cross-connected through the loopback test system to another subset of the shuffle optical waveguides that is operatively coupled to another of the server ports, with at least one of the cross-connections passing through the at least one spare loopback optical interface and two of the network loopback optical interfaces.

A loopback test system for testing optical connectivity of an equipment rack that includes an optical shuffle device and at least one server, wherein the optical shuffle device has a plurality of network-side optical interfaces, at least one spare optical interface, and a plurality shuffle optical waveguides each coupled to one of the network-side optical interfaces and extending at least partially within the optical shuffle device, wherein the plurality of shuffle optical waveguides defines multiple subsets of the shuffle optical waveguides for each of the network-side optical interfaces, and wherein the at least one server includes a plurality of server ports that are each operatively coupled to a respective one of the subsets of the shuffle optical waveguides, the loopback test system comprising:

• a plurality of loopback optical interfaces including network loopback optical interfaces each configured to couple to a respective one of the network-side optical interfaces of the optical shuffle device, the plurality of loopback optical interfaces further including at least one spare loopback optical interface each configured to couple to a respective spare optical interface of the at least one spare optical interface;
• and
• a plurality of loopback optical waveguides each operatively coupled to two of the loopback optical interfaces, wherein the plurality of loopback optical waveguides is configured so that when the loopback test system is operatively coupled to the optical shuffle device, each subset of the shuffle optical waveguides that is operatively coupled to one of the server ports is cross-connected through the loopback test system to a respective other subset of the shuffle optical waveguides that is operatively coupled to another of the server ports, with at least one of the cross-connections passing through the at least one spare loopback optical interface and two of the network loopback optical interfaces.