eMonitor for More Reliable, Efficient Network Monitoring

Optical networks are becoming increasingly complex and difficult to maintain. It is therefore necessary to find a way to effectively manage physical network resources, ensure the normal running of optical networks, and promptly detect network faults and risks. A fast fault-handling mechanism makes optical network maintenance easier. Operators want a fault-handling system that ensures the optical network is run efficiently, securely and stably and that reduces fiber maintenance costs.

ZTE’s intelligent optical monitoring system, eMonitor, is designed to monitor the performance of all optical networks, including access, mobile backhaul, metropolitan area network, and backbone. eMonitor mainly comprises the eMonitor software platform and the easy optical monitor unit (eOMU) hardware platform, which is used for optical fiber monitoring and surveying (Fig. 1). eMonitor connects  to the OSS through a northbound interface to  seamlessly connect the whole system and workflow.

●    Centralized optical fiber monitoring system

eMonitor allows for centralized fiber monitoring. Each fiber-monitoring system can monitor a large number of fiber resources and a wide variety of fiber resources. Monitoring equipment can also be shared to reduce capex.

●    Fast, accurate fault detection and location

eMonitor is an intelligent fiber-monitoring tool that rapidly detects and locates faults such as breakpoints and attenuation.

●    Diverse detection modes

For different scenarios, eMonitor has multiple detection modes based on combinations of pulse width, dynamic range, resolution, and time.

●    Real-time and online fault monitoring

eMonitor supports periodic and real-time fault monitoring using a polling mechanism. When the system detects a fault, it sends a fault alarm in real time. Monitoring occurs online and does not affect services. This allows operators to promptly understand and respond to faults.

●    Intelligent optical fiber event identification

eMonitor uses a powerful algorithm to accurately and intelligently identify fiber events. The algorithm uses data from the fiber health library to diagnose fiber events.

●    Visualized fault location

Faults detected by eMonitor can be displayed in real time on a GIS map. Visualized fault detection allows operators to quickly find where a fault is.

eMonitor uses optical signals of a specific wavelength to monitor fiber performance. Some of the categories of fault monitored by eMonitor are listed in Table 1.