Patent ID: 6061335
Filing Date: 2000-05-09
Classification: H04J,H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
A method for designing a hierarchical architecture for a synchronous optical network (SONET) given a plurality of demand nodes at which communications traffic originates and at least one destination node at which said communications traffic is collected for transmission to a switch, said method comprising the steps of:a. dividing the plurality of demand nodes into distinct groups of demand nodes;b. selecting at least one node for each group to serve as a ring hub for connection to a backbone ring;c. designing a backbone ring topology that includes at least said ring hubs and said at least one destination node;d. designing an access ring topology for each of said demand node groups so that said backbone ring and said access ring topologies constitute a preliminary network topology;e. evaluating a cost associated with said preliminary network topology;f. selecting at least one alternative ring hub to provide a new set of ring hubs;g. repeating steps (c)-(e) for the new set of ring hubs to determine if a resulting network cost estimate is reduced; andh. repeating steps (f)-(g) until a minimum cost network topology is produced.