A novel architecture for optical dual homing survivable fiber networks

An architecture that utilizes commercially available power splitters to perform the dual homing protection function in a very cost-effective manner is proposed. The architecture can be evolved from a regular single homing, diverse routing protection architecture with hub protection capacity. A network-independent economic analysis model was proposed to investigate cost savings for the proposed architecture compared to a previously proposed dual homing architecture and the cost penalty to expand the single-homing, diverse routing protection network to the proposed optical dual homing network. Numerical experiments have suggested that in general, the proposed architecture not only results in significant cost savings but also in much better hub-protection capability compared to the previously proposed architecture. The additional cost to expand a normal single-homing optical diverse protection network to the proposed network can be as low as $8.00-$14.00 per circuit in the metropolitan LATA (local access transport area) networks that are typical areas requiring protection against both fiber-cable cuts and major hub failures.<
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