Radio frequency identification overlay network for fiber optic communication systems

A method of automatically monitoring the connectivity of fiber optic links with fiber optic terminals, the links being configured to form part of a distributed optical communications system connecting network elements, including a plurality of patch-panel ports, using a system of a multiplicity of distributed RFID readers, arrayed and multiplexed RFID antennas, different RF transmissive lines associated with the fiber optic cables, RFID tag elements associated with the fiber optic terminals, and at least one processor unit under remote software control, comprising the steps of:

• deploying a multiplicity of the RFID readers with multiplexed reader coils at the patch-panel ports and with RFID tag elements corresponding to fiber optic ports of network elements;
• separately establishing both optical and RF connectivity between at least a fraction of the patch-panel ports with the multiplexed reader coils to distant RFID tags at the network elements employing the RF transmissive lines associated with the different fiber optic cables;
• transmitting the RFID digital identifier at a signal in the kilohertz range along the RF transmissive lines associated with a chosen fiber optic cable having a connection to a particular distant network element port associated with the tag element;
• sensing an RFID digital identifier passively generated at the chosen network element by the RFID tag element thereat and returned to the RFID antenna;
• demultiplexing the passively generated identifiers that are returned for coupling to the processor;
• and
• employing software resident in the at least one processor unit to determine the link connectivity for a distributed multiplicity of links.

For a fiber optic communication network having a plurality of circuits in which a network management server operates a cross-connect circuit to communicate selectively from a cross connect terminal with different ones of a plurality of network elements via individual circuits, a radio frequency identification (RFID) overlay system for mapping the physical interconnections in the network to determine the status of the network elements therein, comprising:

• a plurality of individual pairs of RF transmission lines, each of said pairs extending along a different fiber optic line from a first end at the cross-connect terminal to a different network element at a second end thereof, the transmission lines each comprising distributed capacitance along their length and first and second terminal inductor elements individually at the first and second ends thereof to transfer signals applied thereto between the transmission line ends at a selected frequency;
• a cross connect terminal circuit at the network management system comprising a multiplexer and a plurality of third reader inductor elements, coupled to the multiplexer, each reader inductor being in close coupling relation to the first inductor element of a different one of the transmission line pairs, the multiplexer being responsive to command signals from the management server to selectively couple a tag signal to a selected one of the reader inductors such that a responsive transmission along the coupled transmission line pair transfers the tag signal to the inductor element at the second end thereof;
• a plurality of network responder elements distributed individually throughout the plurality of network elements and each including an RFID tag sensor comprising a fourth inductor in close signal coupling operative relationship to the adjacent one of the second inductors, the RFID tag sensor also including an RFID transceiver emitting an element identified signal in response to an RFID signal received at the associated fourth inductor, the transceiver being coupled to return the element identifier signal to the cross connect terminal via the sequence of inductors and the associated transmission line;
• and
• the cross connect terminal circuit also comprises an RFID reader circuit coupled to receive acknowledgement signals returned from any of the plurality of responder elements, whereby the current status of the network can be mapped.