Novel on-line supervisory technique for Q-factor in the optical supervisory channel of optical transport network

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel hierarchical model of optical transport network (OTN) and discusses the functional architecture of optical supervisory channel (OSC) with a Q-factor on-line supervision module which can provide a reliable evidence for the transmission quality of operation, administration and maintenance (OA&M) signals in the OSC subsystem of OTN. The quality indication of OSC signals is transferred to the network management system (NMS). The principles of Q-factor detection by a numerical calculation method are presented, and also, an on-line supervisory scheme based on DSP and high-speed A/D chip techniques is set up. The results indicate that the tendency of the calculated Q values matches the actual BER, and it's feasible and accurate to implement Q-factor on-line supervision in OSC of OTN.