Broadband network restoration

In broadband networks, it is expected that at a given time there will be more data in the network than in narrowband networks, and therefore, to maintain the same quality of service, failures will need to be restored much faster. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that broadband network technology, and in particular the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), has factors that enable much faster restoration in broadband networks. These can be summarized as: (i) the higher-speed processing and larger-volume storage possible with today's technology as compared to what was available for narrowband networks, (ii) faster failure detection by making use of ATM cell header error checks, (iii) easier and faster rerouting simply by changing cell headers, (iv) easier and faster splitting of virtual paths by changing cell headers, (v) higher fill factors in the new digital hierarchy due to full termination at cross-connects and switches, and (vi) the statistical multiplexing advantage that can be exploited in a full ATM network configuration. The authors describe four basic characteristics of broadband network restoration, made faster and more efficient because of the factors listed above. These are (i) hitless protection switching, (ii) robust and fast failure detection, (iii) restoration alternatives in broadband networks, and (iv) fast topology update for multiple failures. By employing a combination of these methods, fast restoration of broadband networks can be achieved. The techniques described enable a B-ISDN/ATM network to be constructed that is highly self-healing (i.e., can recover from failures without human intervention) and very fast.