US-20260129322-A1 - NODE FOR A MULTI-PLANE OPTICAL NETWORK

US20260129322A1US 20260129322 A1US20260129322 A1US 20260129322A1US-20260129322-A1

Abstract

A node for a multi-plane optical network is optically connectable, for each node of at least two other nodes of the multi-plane optical network through respectively two or more optical links to the other node. The node includes one or more wavelength selective switches (WSSs) having a set of ports. The node receives, with a port, an optical signal from an optical link of a first other node. The one or more WSSs provide at least a frequency sub-band of the optical signal from the port through another port to another optical link of the first other node or a second other node. The optical link and the another optical link are associated with one plane and one other plane of the multi-plane optical network, respectively.

Inventors

Gabriel Charlet
Yvan Pointurier

Assignees

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251231

Claims (17)

1 . A node for a multi-plane optical network, wherein the node is optically connectable, for each other node of at least two other nodes of the multi-plane optical network, through respectively two or more optical links to the other node, the node comprising: one or more wavelength selective switches (WSSs) comprising a set of ports, wherein the node is configured to: receive, with a port of the set of ports, an optical signal from an optical link of the respectively two or more optical links of a first other node of the at least two other nodes, wherein the optical link is associated with one plane of the multi-plane optical network, and provide, by the one or more WSSs, at least a frequency sub-band of the optical signal from the port through another port of the set of ports to another optical link of the respectively two or more optical links of the first other node or a second other node of the at least two other nodes, wherein the another optical link is associated with one other plane of the multi-plane optical network.
2 . The node according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more WSSs are further configured to provide at least another frequency sub-band of the optical signal from the port through a further port of the set of ports to a further optical link of the respectively two or more optical links of the second other node or a third other node of the at least two other nodes, wherein the further optical link is associated with the one plane of the multi-plane optical network.
3 . The node according to claim 2 , wherein the node is further configured to receive, with the port, another optical signal from the optical link, wherein the one or more WSSs are further configured to provide at least a frequency sub-band of the another optical signal from the port through a further port of the set of ports to a further optical link of the respectively two or more optical links of the second other node or a third other node of the at least two other nodes, wherein the further optical link is associated with the one plane of the multi-plane optical network.
4 . The node according to claim 3 , wherein the node further comprises a controller, wherein the controller is configured to control the one or more WSSs to provide at least one of: at least the frequency sub-band of the optical signal to the another optical link, the at least another frequency sub-band of the optical signal to the further optical link, and at least the frequency sub-band of another optical signal to the further optical link.
5 . The node according to claim 4 , wherein the controller is configured to obtain a network traffic routing plan for distributing traffic across a plurality of planes of the multi-plane optical network, wherein the controller is configured to control the one or more WSSs based on the network traffic routing plan.
6 . The node according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more WSSs are configurable to optically connect each port of the set of ports to each other port of the set of ports.
7 . The node according to claim 1 , comprising at least one of: the set of ports comprises at least one drop port configured to remove one or more selected wavelengths from the optical signal and provide the one or more selected wavelengths to one or more local receivers at the node; or the set of ports comprises at least one add port configured to provide one or more additional wavelengths from one or more local transmitters into the at least a frequency sub-band of the optical signal.
8 . The node according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more WSSs are configured to provide at least the frequency sub-band of the optical signal from the port through a fiber switch or a plurality of wires, and through the another port to the another optical link.
9 . A multi-plane optical network comprising a node, wherein the node is optically connectable, for each other node of at least two other nodes of the multi-plane optical network, through respectively two or more optical links to the other node, wherein the node comprises: one or more wavelength selective switches (WSSs) comprising a set of ports, wherein the node is configured to: receive, with a port of the set of ports, an optical signal from an optical link of the respectively two or more optical links of a first other node of the at least two other nodes, wherein the optical link is associated with one plane of the multi-plane optical network, and provide, by the one or more WSSs, at least a frequency sub-band of the optical signal from the port through another port of the set of ports to another optical link of the respectively two or more optical links of the first other node or a second other node of the at least two other nodes, wherein the another optical link is associated with one other plane of the multi-plane optical network, wherein the optical network is configured to: receive the optical signal with the first other node of the at least two other nodes, and provide the optical signal through the optical link of the respectively two or more optical links of the first other node to the port of the set of ports.
10 . The optical network according to claim 9 , wherein the optical network is further configured to provide at least the frequency sub-band of the optical signal through the another optical link to the first other node or the second other node.
11 . The optical network according to claim 9 , wherein the at least two other nodes comprise one or more other secondary nodes.
12 . The optical network according to claim 11 , wherein the one or more other secondary nodes comprise a plurality of sub-nodes that are optically isolated from each other in respectively the other secondary node, each sub-node being associated with a respective plane of the multi-plane optical network, and/or wherein the one or more other secondary nodes comprise one or more nodes.
13 . The optical network according to claim 9 , wherein the at least two other nodes comprise one or more other primary nodes, each other primary node comprising a plurality of sub-nodes that are optically isolated from each other in respectively the other primary node, each sub-node being associated with a respective plane of the multi-plane optical network.
14 . The optical network according to claim 13 , wherein the one or more other primary nodes comprise at least one of: the first other node, the second other node, and a third other node.
15 . The optical network according to claim 13 , wherein the node is embedded with a other primary node of the one or more other primary nodes forming a combined node.
16 . The optical network according to claim 13 , wherein each node of the one or more other primary nodes has higher traffic than the node and/or each node of one or more other secondary nodes.
17 . A method of operating a node for a multi-plane optical network, wherein the node is optically connectable, for each other node of at least two other nodes of the multi-plane optical network, through respectively two or more optical links to the other node, wherein the node comprises one or more wavelength selective switches (WSSs) comprising a set of ports, and wherein the method comprises: receiving, with a port of the set of ports, an optical signal from an optical link of the respectively two or more optical links of a first other node of the at least two other nodes, wherein the optical link is associated with one plane of the multi-plane optical network' and providing, with the one or more WSSs, at least a frequency sub-band of the optical signal from the port through another port of the set of ports to another optical link of the respectively two or more optical links of the first other node or a second other node of the at least two other nodes, wherein the another optical link is associated with one other plane of the multi-plane optical network.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/EP2023/078396, filed on Oct. 12, 2023, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. FIELD The present disclosure relates to a node in a multi-plane optical network. BACKGROUND In optical networks, data is carried by services over wavelengths, which are then multiplexed over fibers and/or optical links between nodes that perform wavelength-routing. As traffic demand is increasing and single fiber capacity becomes insufficient, the development of parallel fiber systems increases, where optical links between nodes comprise several fibers or optical sub-links. SUMMARY The present disclosure provides enabling optical signals to flexibly switch planes in a multi-plane optical network. Further implementations may decrease service blocking probability during provisioning or rerouting of optical signals. This disclosure is based on the following considerations. The size of the nodes, for example, the number of ports, i.e., number of fibers or optical links connected to the node, in optical networks is highly heterogeneous. Some nodes, denoted as “primary nodes” or “main nodes”, for example, nodes in large cities, may have larger sizes while other nodes, denoted here as “secondary nodes”, for example, nodes in small cities, may have smaller sizes. Stacking parallel networks to build a multi-fiber network may strain the main nodes due to constraints on the routing element size (the number of ports of the wavelength selective switches (WSSs) is limited) while such constraint may not exist on the secondary nodes. The node complexity (size) could be distributed across all nodes. For example, some of the complexity may be moved from the main nodes to the secondary nodes. Exemplary, the size of the main nodes may be limited and thereby constrained in terms of routing/provisioning flexibility), wherein the size of the secondary nodes may be increased, so that the main node size constraint can be mitigated through additional flexibility (and complexity) at the secondary nodes. Alternatively or additionally, the size of the main nodes may be large enough to provide additional flexibility. A first aspect of this disclosure provides a node for a multi-plane optical network, wherein the node is optically connectable, for each other node of at least two other nodes of the multi-plane optical network, through respectively two or more optical links to the other node, wherein the node comprises one or more WSSs comprising a set of ports, wherein the node is configured to receive, with a port of the set of ports, an optical signal from an optical link of the respectively two or more optical links of a first other node of the at least two other nodes, wherein the optical link is associated with one plane of the multi-plane optical network, wherein the one or more WSSs are configured to provide at least a frequency sub-band of the optical signal from the port through another port of the set of ports to another optical link of the respectively two or more optical links of the first other node or a second other node of the at least two other nodes, wherein the another optical link is associated with one other plane of the multi-plane optical network. Thus, flexibility of providing the optical signal may be improved, as plane changes are enabled. The node may be a secondary node or a primary node. No components of a new type may be required. For example, rewiring may be required, while other hardware of the node may stay the same compared to a conventional node. The node may be for flexibly providing optical signals to other nodes and/or planes in a multi-plane optical network. Each other node of the at least two other nodes may be optically connected or optically connectable to the node through the two or more respective optical links of the other node extending from the other node, wherein each optical link of the two or more respective optical links may be for or associated with a respective plane of the multi-plane optical network. For each other node of the at least two other nodes, the respectively two or more optical links may form a subset of optical links. A set of optical links may comprise the subset of optical links of each other node of the at least two other nodes. Each optical link of the set of optical links may optionally be referred as an “optical sub-link” instead of an “optical link”. For each subset of optical links in the set of optical links, the subset of optical links may form a respective optical link, which may be referred to as a “respective composite optical link”, comprising the respectively two or more optical sub-links. For example, each respective composite optical link may optically connect the node to a respective other node of the at least two other nodes. Each composite optical link may be for or associated with two or more planes of the multi-plane optical net