Author: TIP News
Last month the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) demonstrated its Phoenix open and disaggregated transponder for the first time. The solution, defined by the Open Optical & Packet Transport’s (OOPT) Disaggregated Optical Systems (DOS) subgroup, was showcased in both real and virtual environments on November 16th 2021 at NTT R&D Forum 2021, as part of the IOWN Open All-Photonic Network (APN) initiative.
This Phoenix prototype is built over a beta version of the Wistron Galileo Flex-T hardware platform and the “Goldstone” network operating system (NOS), developed as an Open Source Software (OSS) within TIP’s OOPT NOS subgroup, through the open hardware interface Transponder Abstraction Interface (TAI).
The IOWN Open APN initiative is aimed at large-capacity, low-latency, and low-energy-consumption network infrastructures that can implement various service use cases, such as Cyber-Physical Systems [1] and AI-Integrated Communication [2]. To achieve this NTT Laboratories has developed an APN Controller and an Auto Optical Path Provisioning technology employing open interfaces, following the guidelines defined by the TIP OOPT Mandatory Use Cases for SDN Transport (MUST) subgroup and IOWN Global Forum technology working group. Moreover, for the optimal physical design of the fiber links, the project also utilizes the GNPy open library defined by the TIP OOPT Physical Simulation Environments (PSE) subgroup.
Figure 1: Automatic end-to-end setting up of optical paths to meet customer’s requirement
TIP OOPT is an engineering-focused effort led by major operators, technology vendors and research institutions that works on the definition of open technologies, architectures and interfaces in Optical and IP Networking. Phoenix is a Layer 0/Layer 1 white box transponder with 400 Gbps/lambda line IF (see Figure 2) and is featured by the disaggregation of hardware and software. Technical specifications were released in December 2019, and a joint request for information in April 2020, done in cooperation with Vodafone, Telefónica, Telia Company, NTT Communications, Deutsche Telekom, and MTN.
In this demonstration, Wistron’s Galileo Flex T, which can be equipped with four 400 Gbps CFP2-DCOs, has a maximum throughput of 1.6 Tbps, was used as the Phoenix hardware. Goldstone, which is developed by TIP as Open NOS, was ported to Galileo Flex T with the support of NEC and NTT Electronics.
For the coherent modules, Fujitsu’s Optical Components (FOC) 400G CFP2-DCO and Lumentum’s 400G CFP2-DCO were used. Both modules contain a 400 Gbit/s low power coherent DSP developed by NTT Network Innovation Laboratories and commercialized by NTT Electronics. The FOC module contains the Coherent Optical SubAssembly (COSA), an optical transmitter/receiver module based on silicon photonics technology developed by NTT Device Innovation Center. These components comply with the standard specifications of the Open ROADM MSA and the OIF, ensuring high quality and interoperability at the same time.
Figure 2: Coherent module implementing NTT technology and the “Phoenix” open transport optical transmission system
NTT will continue to promote open technologies developed within Telecom Infra Project and link their internal research and development lines of work with its global partners to promote openness of communication technologies through activities such as IOWN Global Forum, TIP OOPT, and Open ROADM MSA.
Get involved: The Open Optical & Packet Transport Project Group welcomes other companies to join and contribute to its efforts. Find out more here.
[1] Cyber-Physical Systems:
Smart city applications aiming at autonomy beyond human capabilities, including use cases in Areas, Mobility, Industry, Network Infrastructure, Health Care and Society Management. See below for more information.
https://iowngf.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/21/IOWN-GF-RD-CPS_Use_Case_Interim_Report__1.0-2.pdf
[2] AI-Integrated Communication:
Human-centred applications aimed at supporting and enhancing communication methods, including use cases such as Entertainment, Remote Operation, Navigation and Human Augmentation. See below for more information.
https://iowngf.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/21/IOWN-GF-RD-AIC_Use_Case_Interim_Report__2.0-1.pdf