Method, apparatus, and system for evaluating faulty point in multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating transmission line

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for evaluating a faulty point occurring in the middle of a multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating transmission line, particularly a transmission line of an optical submarine cable engaged in multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating operations, an apparatus for evaluating a faulty point, and a system for evaluating a faulty point. Note that below, an optical submarine cable using an optical fiber as a signal transmission line will be explained as a preferable example.

2. Description of the Related Art

As is well known, optical submarine cables are used for extremely long distance optical transmission of as much as several 1000 km for example for crossing the oceans. Such extremely long distance optical submarine cables have a high probability of breakage and other faults due to various factors. In addition, searching for a faulty point in that very long distance, in particular searching for it quickly, is becoming increasingly difficult. However, to provide a high level of quality of service, taking several hours or another long time for searching for a fault is unacceptable.

Therefore, in the past, various techniques have been proposed for searching for faults. For example, there are the art described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 5-327621 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 7-240718. In general, a multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating submarine cable is comprised of an optical signal system for multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating an optical signal as it is and a power supply system for giving optical amplifying energy to the optical signal system. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 5-327621 proposes a new way to search for faults through the power supply system, while Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 7-240718 proposes a new way to search for faults through the optical signal system.

A typical related art searching for a fault through the optical signal system transmits an optical command from at least one of the units of terminal equipment provided at the two ends of the submarine cable to each of the large number of optical amplifying repeaters inserted in the optical submarine cable one by one in order from the nearest one on out, confirms an optical response to this one at a time, and, if no optical response is received, estimates that the fault has occurred from there.

Such a command response system for searching for a fault has a high precision since it is a so-called “pinpoint” type of search. However, even if performing this search automatically using software, several seconds to several tens of seconds are required for the command response operation for each optical amplifying repeater, so sometimes a tremendous amount of time of several hours ends up being taken. This makes this method unsuitable for the “high speed fault search” aimed at by the present invention.

On the other hand, a typical related art searching for a fault through the power supply system supplies power to the two ends or one end of the optical submarine cable from power supply apparatuses provided together with the units of terminal equipment at the two ends of the cable and judges a fault location from the change in the power supply voltage occurring along with a fault in the middle of the optical submarine cable by the direct current resistance (DCR) method. (See the later explained FIG. 10 .)

The DCR method does not require any software as explained above, has an extremely short fault search time, and thereby matches with the “high speed fault search” aimed at by the present invention.

However, with the DCR method utilizing the power supply system, there are the problems that (i) from the nature of the DCR method, detection of faults occurring near the midpoint of an optical submarine cable is difficult and (ii) with a fault occurring at an optical submarine cable, the DC resistance will fluctuate depending on the state of the fault, for example, the location of breakage of the optical submarine cable, and therefore stable identification of the faulty point will not be possible. That is, the DCR method enables high speed fault searches, but it is difficult to get high speed fault searches which always give reliable and stable results for faults occurring at an optical submarine cable.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method, apparatus, and system for evaluation of a faulty point in a multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating transmission line which enable as high a speed of fault searches as with the DCR method of course, eliminate the problems in the DCR method, and enable realization of searches for faults even in the vicinity of the midpoint.

The present invention provides a totally new technique for searching for faults neither of the typical “command response type” or the “DCR method” of the related art. That is, it provides a technique for searching for faults using the optical spectrum of an optical noise signal. Note that the basic principle of this technique for searching for faults utilizing the optical spectrum will be explained later (see FIG. 4 to FIG. 7 ).

When a fault occurs in an optical submarine cable ( 2 ), the profile exhibited by the optical spectral characteristics of the optical noise signal (ASE) successively amplified through the chain of optical amplifying repeaters at the downstream side of the faulty point changes in accordance with the number of the repeaters. The present invention takes note of this and finds the number of the repeaters until the faulty point based on the change in the profile so as to evaluate the fault location. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1 , the invention has a step (S 11 ) of monitoring the optical spectrum at the light receiving end and a step (S 12 ) of determining the fault location from the monitored optical spectrum.

These and other objects and features of the present invention will become clearer from the following description of the preferred embodiments given with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing the method of evaluating a faulty point based on the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of the basic configuration of an apparatus for evaluating a faulty point based on the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a view of the state of introduction of faulty point evaluation apparatuses of FIG. 2 in a system of FIG. 13 ;

FIG. 4 is a view of the optical spectral characteristics monitored in a faulty point evaluation apparatus 10 I of FIG. 3 ;

FIG. 5 is a view of the optical spectral characteristics monitored in a faulty point evaluation apparatus 10 II of FIG. 3 ;

FIG. 6 is a view showing the dependency of the optical spectrum characteristics on the number of repeaters;

FIG. 7 is a view showing the profile of optical spectrum characteristics of ASE sucessively repeated and amplified by optical amplifying repeaters;

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining three modes defining the degree of deterioration of optical power;

FIG. 9 is a view showing a specific example of a faulty point judging means 12 shown in FIG. 2 ;

FIGS. 10A and 10B are views for explaining the DCR method;

FIG. 11 is a view of a faulty point evaluation system according to the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a view of a specific example of a faulty point evaluation system 32 I of FIG. 11 ;

FIG. 13 is a diagram view of a known multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating transmission line (submarine cable) to which the present invention can be applied; and

FIG. 14 is a view of a known example of a power supply system not shown in FIG. 13 .

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below while referring to the attached figures.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing a method for evaluating a faulty point based on the present invention. The method of evaluation of this figure is predicated on a method of evaluating a faulty point in a multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating transmission line (optical submarine cable system) where a plurality of optical amplifying repeaters are inserted at predetermined intervals in an optical cable and is based on a first step S 11 and a second step S 12 shown in the figure.

The first step S 11 is a step of monitoring at a light receiving end of the optical cable the optical spectrum of an optical noise signal successively amplified through a chain of optical amplifying repeaters at a downstream side of the faulty point, while the second step S 12 is a step of judging the fault location from the monitored optical spectrum of the optical noise signal.

If explaining the second step S 12 more specifically, the second step S 12 estimates the number of repeaters from the degree of change of the optical spectrum and judges the fault location from this. The optical spectrum changes depending on the number of repeaters in the chain of optical amplifying repeaters.

According to the present invention, a completely new method for searching for a faulty point called the “optical spectrum method” belonging to neither the “command response type” nor the “DCR method” is realized.

FIG. 13 is a view of a general multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating transmission line (optical submarine cable system) to which the present invention can be applied. In the figure, reference numeral 1 shows a multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating transmission line. In the embodiments, it is an optical submarine cable system.

The optical cable 2 forming the transmission line (optical submarine cable system) 1 is comprised of a pair of a down channel optical cable 2 d and an up channel optical cable 2 u . Each of these has a plurality of optical amplifying repeaters 3 inserted at for example predetermined intervals. The ends of the optical cable 2 have units of submarine line terminal equipment (SLTE) 4 attached to them as landing stations which terminate the optical cable 2 . In the figure, a first light receiving end 5 I of the optical cable 2 is provided with a first unit of terminal equipment 4 I, and a second light receiving end 5 II of the optical cable system 2 is provided with a second unit of terminal equipment 4 .

FIG. 14 is a view showing a known example of a power supply system not shown in FIG. 13 . For simplification, only one optical amplifying repeater 3 is shown. Further, only the down channel optical cable 2 d is shown (the same is true for the up channel optical cable 2 u ).

The optical cable 2 d is comprised of an optical fiber 6 arranged at its center, a metal tube 7 made of copper surrounding the optical fiber 6 via packing, and a sheath 8 protecting these from the outside.

The power supply system being looked at here includes the metal tube 7 and constant current sources 9 provided at the two ends of the power supply system. A power supply line formed by these has a Zener diode ZD inserted in series for each optical amplifying repeater ( 3 ). The constant voltage produced at each Zener diode ZD powers an optical amplifying unit AMP. This AMP uses a rare earth element doped fiber.

Now, here, assume that a fault has occurred in the optical cable of FIG. 13 . This fault is almost always a break in the optical cable 2 seen from past statistics. Further, the break is almost always a short-circuit as seen from past statistics. This short-circuit means a ground fault to the seawater or ocean floor. Referring again to FIG. 14 , the optical fiber 6 ends up completely broken at F 1 due to the above fault (X), but the power supply system is ground at the seawater or ocean floor at F 2 and therefore in the final analysis power continues to be supplied. That is, the optical fiber 6 entering the optical amplifying unit AMP is broken, but the optical amplifying unit AMP continues to be supplied with power. The present invention is a technique for searching for a fault functioning particularly effectively under such a circumstance.

FIG. 2 is a view of the basic configuration of a faulty point evaluation apparatus according to the present invention. The faulty point evaluation apparatus 10 is an apparatus for evaluating the faulty point in a multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating transmission line 1 into which a plurality of optical amplifying repeaters 3 are inserted at predetermined intervals and is comprised of the illustrated optical spectrum monitoring means 11 and faulty point judging means 12 .

Here, the optical spectrum monitoring means 11 monitors at the light receiving end 5 I of the optical fiber 6 the optical spectrum of the optical noise signal ASE successively amplified through the chain of optical amplifying repeaters 3 (R 1 , R 2 . . . Rn of FIG. 3 ) through the chain of optical amplifying repeaters 3 at the downstream side of the faulty point. A faulty point judging means 12 receives as input monitoring data of the optical spectrum from the optical spectrum monitoring means 11 (Dm (monitor)) and judges the fault location FL.

FIG. 3 is a view of the state of insertion of the faulty point evaluation apparatuses of FIG. 2 in the system of FIG. 13 . In the figure, the blocks shown by reference numerals 10 are the faulty point evaluation apparatuses shown in FIG. 2 . The apparatuses 10 added to the first and second units of terminal equipment 41 and 4 II are shown by reference numerals 10 I and 10 II respectively. Each apparatus ( 10 I and 10 II) is completely the same in configuration. The functions are also completely the same between the two. Therefore, the following explanation will be given with reference mainly to the first unit faulty point evaluation apparatus 10 I.

The first faulty point evaluation apparatus 10 I, first, splits off part of the optical signal from the first light receiving end 5 I for input and monitors the optical spectrum of the optical spectrum. The optical spectrum in this case is an optical noise signal successively amplified through the chain of optical amplifying repeaters 3 (in the figure, R 1 , R 2 . . . Rn) at the downstream side from the fault location (X) FL of FIG. 3 (therefore, from which the input signal is cut), that is, the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE).

FIG. 4 is a view of the optical spectrum characteristics monitored in the faulty point evaluation apparatus 10 I of FIG. 3 . FIG. 5 is a view of the optical spectrum characteristics monitored in the faulty point evaluation apparatus 10 II of FIG. 3 . Comparing the optical spectrum characteristics shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , it will be understood that there is a remarkable difference between the two profiles.

Specifically, the profile of the optical spectrum characteristics shown by the optical noise signal ASE successively amplified through the down channel optical cable 2 d with the large number of repeaters in the chain of optical amplifying repeaters 3 at the downstream side of the faulty point (X) in FIG. 3 forms a peak shape falling at the two sides of an amplifying band as shown in FIG. 4 .

On the other hand, the profile of the optical spectrum characteristics shown by the optical noise signal ASE successively amplified by the optical amplifying repeaters 3 with few repeaters in the chain of optical amplifying repeaters 3 along the up channel optical cable 2 u at the downstream side of the faulty point (X) in FIG. 3 is relatively flat over the entire amplifying band as shown in FIG. 5 . That is, the profile changes in accordance with the distance from the unit of the terminal equipment 4 to the faulty point (X).

FIG. 6 is a view of the dependency of the optical spectrum characteristics on the number of repeaters. The figure should be viewed in the same way as FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 . In the figure, the profile P 1 shows the case with few number of repeaters of the optical amplifying repeaters by which the optical noise signal is successively amplified, while the profile P 2 shows the case with a large number of repeaters. The profile in the case of a number of repeaters between the two is a distribution between the profiles P 1 and P 2 . In the final analysis, the greater the number of repeaters, the more remarkable the drop in the optical power at the two ends of the amplifying band (λ).

Therefore, the optical spectrum measuring means 11 of FIG. 2 monitors the profile of the optical spectrum shown in FIG. 6 and transfers the monitoring data Dm to the faulty point judging means 12 of FIG. 2 . This faulty point judging means 12 identifies the degree of deterioration of the profile (P 1 to P 2 ) in accordance with the monitoring data Dm and judges the number of repeaters based on the identified degree of deterioration. That is, it judges that the point going back by the number of repeaters is the location of occurrence of the faulty point to be evaluated.

Here, the phenomenon why the profile of the optical spectrum shown in FIG. 6 is obtained will be analyzed. If the optical cable system 2 breaks at the faulty point (X) of FIG. 3 and optical input from the optical fiber 6 to the optical amplifying unit (AMP of FIG. 14 ) is broken in the state with power supplied as explained above, only the pumping light from the rare earth doped fiber will be input to the AMP. Further, the energy of the pumping light becomes ASE which is sent to the next AMP where that ASE is again amplified. This process is repeated until the light receiving end 5 I. This will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 7 is a view of the profile of the optical spectrum characteristics of ASE successively amplified and repeated in the optical amplifying repeaters 3 . First, the optical signal right after the faulty point (X) is cut off from input, so the optical spectrum characteristics does not appear at all like in SP 1 . However, at the first optical amplifying repeater (R 1 ) 3 , as explained above, the energy of the pumping light appears as ASE and the optical spectrum characteristics becomes like SP 2 . Each optical amplifying repeater 3 is feedback controlled and becomes like SP 2 so that a predetermined constant optical power is output. Further, the optical spectrum of the output of the optical amplifying repeater 3 is usually a peak shape, so in general an equalizer is used together with this so as to flatten the peak shape as much as possible. Further, even at the SP 2 , the peak shape tends to appear a bit.

The optical noise signal ASE amplified by the optical amplifying repeater (R 1 ) 3 causes transmission loss when propagated through the optical fiber 6 . At the input of the next optical amplifying repeater (R 2 ) 3 , the optical power attenuates as shown by SP 3 . However, it is again amplified at this R 2 and therefore the optical spectrum characteristics of the ASE becomes like that shown in SP 4 .

Similarly, the ASE reaches the R 3 (SP 5 ) accompanied with transmission loss, is again optically amplified at this R 3 , and finally becomes the ASE optical spectral characteristic such as shown by SP 7 .

In this way, the optical spectrum characteristics shows an increase in optical power at the center of the amplifying band each time the number of repeaters is increased and a decrease in the optical power at the two ends of the amplifying band by that amount. This is because the total light energy at the amplifying band as a whole is invariable. Note that the optical spectrum characteristics (SP 1 , SP 2 , SP 3 to SP 6 ) in FIG. 7 show the profiles measured by the means 11 when placing optical spectrum monitoring means ( 11 in FIG. 2 ) there. Therefore, if a profile like SP 2 is observed at the evaluation apparatus 10 I of FIG. 3 , it is estimated that the fault has occurred at a location closest to the unit of the terminal equipment 4 I, while conversely if a profile like SP 7 is observed at the evaluation apparatus 10 I, it is estimated that the fault has occurred at a location considerably far from the unit of the terminal equipment 4 I. In this case, the estimate is made only by the distance from the faulty point. In actuality, it is not possible to judge at what repeater 3 the fault has occurred. Therefore, this judgment is performed by the faulty point judging means ( 12 in FIG. 2 ). The specific technique for judgment will be explained later, but the optical power of the optical noise signal ASE monitored at the optical spectrum measuring means 11 is considerably faithfully proportional to the number of repeaters, so this proportionality may be used for considerably accurate judgment.

Expressing this proportionality by a numerical equation, the following equation (1) is obtained,

P A (λ)=[ P R (λ)− Ac (λ)]× n   (1)

where, P A (λ): received optical power monitored by monitoring means 11 P R (λ): average gain characteristic of repeaters 3 Ac(λ): average loss n: number of repeaters 3

Further, P A (λ), P R (λ), and Ac(λ) all are indicated by dB and can be calculated by simple addition. Note that the background behind why this can be expressed as in the above equation (1) will be clear from the optical powers shown directly under SP 2 , SP 3 , SP 4 , SP 5 , SP 6 , and SP 7 in FIG. 7 .

The degree of change of the optical spectrum changing in this way is analyzed at the faulty point judging means 12 of FIG. 2 and the fault location is specifically judged. The degree of deterioration of the optical spectrum can be selected from:

(a) Degree of change of optical power at predetermined specific wavelength (b) Degree of change of difference between first optical power and second optical power at predetermined specific first wavelength and second wavelength (c) Degree of change of difference between maximum value and minimum value in optical spectrum

This will be explained specifically using the drawings.

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining the three modes defining the degree of change of optical power. This three modes are the three modes (a), (b), and (c) explained above. Note that as the profile of the optical spectrum of this figure, for convenience sake, the optical spectrums SP 2 , SP 4 , SP 6 , and SP 7 shown in FIG. 7 are diverted for use.

In the first mode (a), the degrees of change PW 1 , PW 2 , and PW 3 of the optical power (PW) at a predetermined specific wavelength λ 1 are analyzed by the means 12 . In the second mode (b), the differences (PW 1 ′−PW 1 ), PW 2 ′−PW 2 , PW 3 ′−PW 3 , and PW 4 ′−PW 4 ) between the first optical powers (PW 1 , PW 2 , PW 3 , and PW 4 ) and second optical powers (PW 1 ′, PW 2 ′, PW 3 ′, and PW 4 ′) at the predetermined specific first wavelength λ 1 and second wavelength λ 2 are analyzed by the means 12 . In the third mode (c), the differences (Δ 1 , Δ 2 , Δ 3 , and Δ 4 ) between the maximum value and minimum value at the optical spectrums are analyzed by the means 12 . A specific example of the means 12 is shown in the drawings.

FIG. 9 is a view of a specific example of the faulty point judging means 12 shown in FIG. 2 . As shown in the drawing, the means 12 has a memory unit 21 . The memory unit 21 holds reference data Dr for optical spectrums acquired in advance by experiments or simulations conducted on optical cable systems 2 . Further, it has a recording unit 22 and comparing unit 23 . The recording unit 22 records monitoring data Dm from the optical spectrum measuring means 12 . The comparing unit 23 compares the monitoring data Dm in the recording unit 22 and the reference data Dr in the memory unit 21 and judges the fault location FL based on this comparison.

The above judgment of the faulty point was explained focusing on the down channel optical cable 2 d , but as shown in FIG. 3 , it is also possible to execute the first step S 11 and second step S 12 shown in FIG. 1 at both of the first light receiving end 5 I and second light receiving end 5 II at the ends of the optical cable 2 comprised of the pair of the up channel optical cable 2 u and the down channel optical cable 2 d . If searching for a fault from the two ends of the optical cable system 2 in this way, the search precision is improved more.

Further, it is also possible to use the already explained DCR method at the same time for improving the search precision more. The DCR method has the above-mentioned problems (i) and (ii), but depending on the circumstance instantaneously provides extremely high precision faulty point judgment, so joint use of the DCR method is advantageous for the ASE optical spectrum method of the present invention.

That is, referring again to FIG. 13 , it is possible to further provide a third step of judging by the DCR method the fault location FL from the power supply voltage changing by the occurrence of a fault (X) when the optical cable system 2 in the multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating transmission line 1 is supplied with power at both ends or one end (see FIG. 14 ). Further, if judging the fault location FL by combining the results of judgment at the third step and the second step, the judgment can be made more precisely and faster. Here, the DCR method will be explained simply using the drawings.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are views for explaining the DCR method. In the figure, the ordinate at the left side shows the power supply voltage (+V) at one terminal equipment 4 II side, while the ordinate at the right side shows the power supply voltage (−V) at the other terminal equipment 4 I side. If assuming now that no fault at all occurs (see (A) of top part), a constant current 1 mA flows from the +V side to the −V side. The gradient of this current is determined by the total resistance value of the power supply line (see 37 in FIG. 11 ). At the substantial midpoint of the optical cable system 2 , the potential becomes 0V.

Here, when assuming that a fault occurs, the distribution of the current moves in parallel as shown by (B) while maintaining its gradient at (A) so that the ground fault point is made 0V (see arrow C). Therefore, at the terminating apparatus 4 II (left side), the power supply potential changes from +V−>+V 1 . On the other hand, at the terminating apparatus 4 I side (right side), the power supply potential changes from −V−>−V 2 . It is possible to find the fault location based on the magnitude of the change of potential. Below, a faulty point evaluation system using this DCR method as well will be explained.

FIG. 11 is a view of a faulty point evaluation system based on the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 31 shows a faulty point evaluation system. The system 31 is provided with a faulty point evaluation subsystem 34 I including an optical type faulty point evaluation apparatus 32 I and a resistance type faulty point evaluation apparatus 33 I and an overall decision center 35 .

Here, the optical type faulty point evaluation apparatus 32 I (corresponding to 10 I in FIG. 3 ) is provided with an optical spectrum measuring means 11 for monitoring at the light receiving end 5 I of the optical cable 2 the optical spectrum of the optical noise signal ASE successively amplified through the chain of optical amplifying repeaters 3 at the downstream side of the faulty point (X) when a fault occurs on the multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating transmission line 1 in which a plurality of optical amplifying repeaters 3 are inserted at predetermined intervals in the optical cable 2 and a faulty point judging means 12 for receiving as input the monitoring data Dm of the optical spectrum from the optical spectrum measuring means 11 and judging the fault location (FL).

Further, the resistance type faulty point evaluation apparatus 33 I judges by the DCR method ( FIG. 10 ) the fault location (FL) from the power supply potential. This potential changes depending on the occurrence of a fault on the power supply line 36 when supplying power to the optical cable system 2 at two ends or one end in the multi-stage optical amplifying and repeating transmission line 1 .

Further, the overall judgment center 35 judges the fault location FL by combining the optical type faulty point evaluation information Ip 1 and resistance type faulty point evaluation information Ir 1 from the faulty point evaluation apparatuses 32 I and 32 II in the faulty point evaluation subsystem 34 I.

The above explanation was made regarding the faulty point evaluation subsystem 34 I of the right end of FIG. 11 (light receiving end 5 I), but as already explained, if evaluating the faulty point simultaneously at the light receiving end 5 II at the opposite side, even greater reliability would result.

That is, preferably, the faulty point evaluation subsystem is constructed from a first faulty point evaluation subsystem 34 I provided at the first light receiving end 5 I side at one end of the optical cable system 2 comprised of the up channel cable 2 u and down channel optical cable 2 d and a second faulty point evaluation subsystem 34 II provided at the second light receiving end 5 II at the other end of the optical cable 2 . Further, the overall evaluation center 35 is configured to judge the fault location FL by combining the optical type faulty point evaluation information (Ip 1 , Ip 2 ) and resistance type faulty point evaluation information (Ir 1 , Ir 2 ) from the first and second faulty point evaluation subsystems 341 and 34 II.

FIG. 12 is a view showing a specific example of the optical type faulty point evaluation apparatus 32 I of FIG. 11 and in particular shows mainly the faulty point judging means 12 in FIG. 2 . Therefore, the optical spectrum measuring means 11 of FIG. 2 is included in the unit of terminal equipment (SLTE) 4 I in FIG. 12 , so basically the configuration is equivalent to that shown in FIG. 9 .

That is, the memory unit 21 and recording unit 22 shown in FIG. 9 are shown as the optical spectrum database (DB) 41 and the ASE measurement data memory 42 in FIG. 12 . Further, the comparing unit 23 shown in FIG. 9 is shown as the CPU 43 in FIG. 12 . It uses software for the comparison to obtain the “short circuit fault evaluation results” sought.

While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments chosen for purpose of illustration, it should be apparent that numerous modifications could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the basic concept and scope of the invention.