WO2019122256A1

WO2019122256A1 - Device for monitoring a data transmission

Info

Publication number: WO2019122256A1
Application number: PCT/EP2018/086427
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pierre Laurent POMMIER; Julien Roux; Florent COQUIL
Original assignee: Bull Sas
Priority date: 2017-12-22
Filing date: 2018-12-20
Publication date: 2019-06-27
Also published as: FR3076144A1; FR3076144B1

Abstract

The device (100) for monitoring a data transmission comprises: - a cable (4), - at least one sensor (13) arranged to measure, in the cable, at least one parameter relating to a data transmission in the cable, - a strip (8) of light sources (10), the strip extending parallel to the cable, and - automated control means (12) connected to the sensor and able to separately control the light sources so as to deliver at least one light signal representing the parameter.

Description

Device for monitoring a data transmission

The invention relates to the field of cables for transmitting communication signals between different types of equipment, for example cables for Ethernet links.

Currently it is not always easy to determine the contention points of the network in a data center, nor the errors and defects of a data cable. Indeed, some information is accessible only through monitoring tools and some elements are simply not monitored or require privileged access.

In addition, it is not always easy to determine if this physical link is a problem due to the fact that the monitoring tool does not provide visibility for each cable.

Finally it is always difficult to have a real-time view of its network through monitoring tools because the information must first be collected, then processed and finally reassembled in a visualization interface.

Existing solutions only allow cable tracing by injecting a light at the input of a connector of a data cable. Nevertheless, this kind of solution only works over short distances and does not give any diagnostics or information regarding the data flow transiting the transmission cable.

The invention aims to overcome these disadvantages by facilitating the monitoring of the transmission of data on a telecommunication cable.

For this purpose, there is provided according to the invention a device for monitoring a data transmission, which comprises:

- a cable,

at least one sensor arranged to measure in the cable at least one parameter relating to a data transmission in the cable,

a band of light sources, the strip extending parallel to the cable, and

- Automated control means connected to the sensor and able to separately control the light sources so as to provide at least one light signal representing the parameter.

Thus, the device allows the display of a parameter of a data stream in the cable. We do not measure the quality of the physical link but the characteristics of a protocol transported on this link. An anomaly in the transmission of data in the cable can be quickly detected and the potential cause and geographical origin of the anomaly can be better understood. We can predict that the parameter is a data rate in the cable, a latency and / or a transmission error rate. The invention can be implemented to visualize any one of these parameters or any combination of two of them (bit rate and latency, bit rate and errors, or latency and errors) or all three at the same time.

This invention applies to cables equipped with connectors allowing the transmission of information in all its forms. This may be for example an Ethernet cable.

Advantageously, the control means are able to control a light intensity produced by each light source from at least two non-zero values.

This intensity can be used to represent the amplitude of the parameter. For example, a high data rate will be represented by a high intensity. Preferably, this intensity can be chosen at any value between 0 and 100%, with an increment of 1. "0" corresponds to the off state of the source and "100" to its maximum power.

Advantageously, the control means are able to control a light color produced by each light source from at least two different colors.

The color can be used to distinguish the parameter that is represented. It is thus possible to visualize at the same time different parameters (flow, error or latency) on the band of light sources.

Advantageously, the control means are able to control a duration of light production by each light source from at least two non-zero values.

The appropriate choice of this duration for the various sources makes it possible, for example, to produce animations representing a movement along the cable and thus to illustrate a direction and a speed of a stream (a data rate, errors, etc.). ).

In particular, it can be provided that the control means are able to control the light sources so as to display a direction of at least one flux relative to the parameter.

Preferably, the light sources comprise LEDs.

Indeed, these sources are often very small and can conveniently be placed in large numbers along the cable to form the band.

Advantageously, the device comprises two housings attached to respective ends of the cable and at respective ends of the strip of light sources, each housing comprising a connection member to another cable.

It is thus easy to install the device of the invention in a network of telecommunication to monitor it locally.

In one embodiment, the device comprises at least one connecting member attached to one end of the cable.

It is thus possible to connect the cable directly to the rest of the network.

Advantageously, the control means are integrated in the connection member.

This reduces the size of the device.

In one embodiment, the light source strip is embedded in a sheath of the cable.

This feature also reduces the size of the device.

Advantageously, the control means are embedded in a sheath of the cable.

In one embodiment, the cable includes a cable jacket and the device comprises an outer jacket receiving the cable and the light source strip.

This sheath makes it easy to juxtapose the cable and the strip.

The invention also provides a data transmission cable which comprises:

an elongated outer sheath,

a strip of light sources, the strip extending parallel to the sheath, and

This time, it is therefore the cable itself that integrates the invention and forms the aforementioned device.

The invention also provides a method for monitoring a data transmission cable, comprising the steps of:

measuring in the cable at least one parameter relating to a data transmission in the cable, and

- separately controlling light sources of a strip of light sources extending parallel to the cable to provide at least one light signal representing the parameter.

We will now present four embodiments of the invention given as non-limiting examples and in support of the appended figures in which:

FIGS. 1 to 4 are diagrams of devices according to four respective embodiments of the invention,

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a device of the invention in the course of three successive instants during the implementation of a method of the invention; and

- Figure 6 is another diagram illustrating the principle of the invention.

We will present four embodiments of the device of the invention. The characteristics of the second, third and fourth modes which are identical to those of the first will not be described again and their numerical references, if any, will remain unchanged. The description of the operation of the device of the fourth mode is applicable to the three previous ones.

First embodiment

In this embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the monitoring device 100 comprises a data transmission cable 4 such as an Ethernet cable. This cable comprises an outer sheath 6 of plastics material.

The device also comprises a strip 8 of light sources, here formed by LEDs 10, the strip extending parallel to the cable. It is here juxtaposed with the sheath 6 of the cable. This light device travels the entire transmission medium.

The device comprises one or more sensors 13 for measuring parameters relating to a data transmission in the cable. These parameters are here a data rate in the cable, a latency and a rate of transmission errors.

It also comprises automated control means 12 integrating the sensors 13 and able to separately control the light sources 10 so as to provide light signals representing the parameters.

It comprises two housings 14, 16 attached to respective ends of the cable 4 and at respective ends of the strip 8 of light sources, each housing comprising a connection member to another cable. Thus the housing 14 can be connected to a connector 18 of another cable 22 and the housing 16 can be connected to a connector 20 of another cable 24. The cables 22 and 24 are for example part of a telecommunications network in which the monitoring device 100 is placed. The device makes it possible to visualize and quantify a stream of data on the cable. This visualization passes through a luminous indication on the LEDs 10 along the cable which varies according to the measurement of a data rate, a latency and / or the rate of errors on the cable.

As also illustrated in Figure 6, the housing 16 is an active housing with an electronic chip 12 forming the above control means. The chip forms a microcontroller which makes it possible to interpret the network flow in real time and thus to recover the metrics (flow, latency, error) and thus to act on the band of LEDs in function of that. The electronic chip 12 is typed according to the protocol used on the cable.

Detection and measurement by the sensors 13 of the chip 12 is done through a low level interface 15 with the data transmission medium 4, namely through a dedicated chip 15 which is capable of interpreting the protocol used for transmission. This is a PHY chip 15, associated with the lowest level layer, responsible for performing an analog-to-digital conversion. It operates at the level of the physical layer of the OSI model. The chip 15 is in direct contact with the cable for the analysis of the protocol. This chip usually implements a transmitter / receiver function, but here only the receiver mode is used from the cable directly, as shown by the arrow 17 in FIG. 6. The chip 15 may consist for example of the chip KS8721. CL-ND from Microchip Technology.

The chip 12, equipped with the aforementioned sensors 13 which provide the functions of measuring intensity of flow, latency and error rate, converts these measurements into electrical power for electrical control of the LED strip. The chip 12 thus makes it possible to measure the transmission and reception rates on the data transmission medium and converts these rates into light signals on the device. The chip 12 is configurable so that the behavior of the LEDs 10 can be customized to the needs of the user. A default configuration is present at the manufacturing. For an Ethernet network cable, for the chip 12 is used a commercial Ethernet chip, for example the microship reference chip KSZ8695PX.

This luminous device makes it possible to materialize a data flow or diagnostic information via three components that apply to each led 10 of the strip 8. For this, the control means 12 are able to control for each led 10:

a light intensity produced among at least two non-zero values. Here, each led 10 lights more or less strongly from 0% to 100% of its power. 0% represents a led 10 extinguished and 100% a led 10 lit at its maximum;

a light color produced from at least two different colors. Here, the LEDs 10 are controlled so that they can emit light at several wavelengths and thus produce several colors of light at choice; and

a duration of light production among at least two non-zero values and preferably an infinity of values, for example situated between a tenth of a second and several tens of seconds.

These three components make it possible to represent and characterize visually the along the cable information such as data transfer rates, latencies, error rates or any other information regarding a data flow.

The chip 12 is further arranged to control the LEDs 10 so as to display a direction of at least one flux relative to the parameter. For this, the LEDs 10 are controlled so that they light for a given duration and at a predefined time interval, both controllable by the chip 12 among multiple non-zero values for example between one tenth of second and several tens of seconds.

The housing 14 is passive and allows termination of the device.

Second embodiment

This second embodiment of the device 200, illustrated in Figure 2, differs from the previous by the presence of a self-enveloping outer sheath 230 plastic, for example polyester. It receives the cable 4 with its own sheath 6 and the band 8 LEDs 10 forming an elongate sleeve being positioned over them. This self-enveloping sheath 230 thus encompasses the data transmission cable over its entire length. It also integrates the light device in the form of the LED strip 8, as well as the chip 15 and the electronic chip 12 for processing the signal. The strip is connected at its respective ends on the one hand to the electronic chip 12 and on the other hand to a passive termination 32. The chip 12 is arranged to measure magnitudes on the cable as before. In addition, the housings 14 and 16 are this time absent. This time, the chip 15 is not in direct contact with the cable.

Third embodiment

This third embodiment of the device 300, illustrated in FIG. 3, differs from the previous one by the absence of the self-enveloping sheath and by the fact that the strip 8 of light sources is embedded in the sheath 6 of the cable 4. For this, the sheath 6 has been overmolded on the strip 8 of leds 10. It extends again on the entire cable 4 between the two connectors 18, 20.

The chip 12, like the chip 15, is integrated into one of the cable connectors. The other connector 18 includes the passive termination 32.

Fourth embodiment As illustrated in FIG. 4, this fourth embodiment of the device 400 differs from the previous one in that the control means formed by the chip 12 are also embedded in the sheath 6 of the cable as well as the chip 15 and the passive termination. 32. At the level of the chip 12 and the passive termination, the sheath 6 can therefore have an extra thickness. The cable 4 remains connected to its two connectors 18, 20.

This time the device therefore forms in itself a data transmission cable, which comprises:

an outer elongate sheath 6,

at least one sensor 13 for measuring at least one parameter relating to a data transmission in the cable,

a band 8 of light sources 10 extending parallel to the sheath, and

- Automated control means 12 connected to the sensor and able to separately control the light sources 10 so as to provide at least one light signal representing the parameter.

We will now present an example of operation of the invention in support of this fourth embodiment, with reference to FIG.

The device 400 makes it possible to implement the monitoring method of the data transmission cable 4, comprising the steps of:

measuring at least one parameter relating to a data transmission in the cable, and

- Separately order the leds 10 of the strip 8 extending parallel to the cable to provide at least one light signal representing the parameter.

Depending on the intensity of the light emitted by each led, it is possible to obtain a visual diagnosis of the measurement. For measurements having a maximum indicated in the configuration of the invention, the value of the measurement is compared with the maximum measurement. If it is greater than or equal to it, the LEDs of the light signal are lit with an intensity of 100%. If the measurement is lower, the leds of the light signal are lit by X%, X being the result of the ratio: measured value ^* 100 / maximum value.

In addition, each measure has a colorization of its own. The invention in its initial configuration, that is to say without modification in the factory configuration, offers the following colorization: blue for flow rates, yellow for latency, red for errors but other combinations possible sounds .

Thanks to the characteristics presented above, the light signal obtained on command of the chip 12 can indicate a direction of the flow of information in the cable by observing the origin of the light signal. If the one starts from the left of the schemas previous ones, the first led on the left of the cable is lit, then the second led, then the third led until reaching a sufficient number of LEDs lit to visualize a direction. When this number of lit leds is reached, the first led on the left is off, then the second led and so on. This produces a light signal that travels the cable in one direction or the other until its end. The end being the last LED opposite the cable.

Thus, FIG. 5 shows the device 400 with three successive instants T, T + 1 and T + 2 respectively.

There is illustrated a band comprising nine leds 10a-i arranged following each other along the cable.

At time T, the LEDs 10a and 10b are controlled by the chip to produce a blue light at 100% intensity. LEDs 10h and 10i are to produce blue light at 50% intensity. The other leds are off.

At time T + 1, the LEDs 10b and 10c are controlled by the chip to produce a blue light at 100% intensity. The leds 10g and 10h are to produce a blue light at 50% intensity. The other leds are off.

At time T + 2, the LEDs 10c and 10d are controlled by the chip to produce a blue light at 100% intensity. LEDs 10f and 10g are to produce blue light at 50% intensity. The other leds are off.

This display therefore produces an animation and makes it possible to represent a first stream of data of maximum flow moving from left to right in the cable and a second stream of data of flow equal to 50% of the available flow and moving from right to left in the cable, as indicated by the two arrows 34 and 36.

Errors and latencies can be represented in a similar way. Flow, errors and latency can be represented at the same time, especially with respective colors, provided the number of leds in the band allows it.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments presented. It is in particular possible to equip the band with several rows of LEDs facing each other.

The invention is particularly applicable to other types of cables provided that a PHY chip 15 and a microcontroller 12 supporting the protocol to be analyzed are used.

Thus it is applicable to the Fiber channel protocol, to infiniBand type cables forming a high-speed computer bus and to HDMI cables. For the latter, it will be possible for chip 12 to use the discrete Sil 9002 reference chip HDMI transmitter PHY of Silicon Image. The invention is also applicable to USB cables, for example with, for the chip 12, the USB3250 chip of the company Microship.

Claims

claims

1. Device (100-400) for monitoring a data transmission, characterized in that it comprises:

a cable (4),

at least one sensor (13) arranged to measure in the cable at least one parameter relating to a data transmission in the cable,

a strip (8) of light sources (10), the strip extending parallel to the cable, and

- Automated control means (12) connected to the sensor and able to separately control the light sources so as to provide at least one light signal representing the parameter.

2. Device (100-400) according to the preceding claim wherein the parameter is a data rate in the cable.

3. Device (100-400) according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the parameter is a latency.

4. Device (100-400) according to any preceding claim wherein the parameter is a transmission error rate.

5. Device (100-400) according to any preceding claim wherein the control means (12) are adapted to control a light intensity produced by each light source (10) among at least two non-zero values .

6. Device (100-400) according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the control means (12) are adapted to control a light color produced by each light source (10) among at least two different colors.

7. Device (100-400) according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the control means (12) are adapted to control a duration of light production by each light source (10) among at least two non-light values. zero.

8. Device (100-400) according to any preceding claim wherein the control means (12) are adapted to control the light sources (10) so as to display a direction of at least one flow relative to the parameter.

9. Device (100-400) according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the light sources comprise leds (10).

A device (100) according to any one of the preceding claims which comprises two housings (14, 16) attached to respective ends of the cable and at respective ends of the light source strip, each housing comprising a connection member to another cable (22, 24).

11. Device (200-400) according to any one of claims 1 to 9 which comprises at least one connecting member (18, 20) directly attached to one end of the cable.

12. Device (300) according to any one of claims 10 to 11 wherein the control means (12) are integrated in the connecting member.

13. Device (300; 400) according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the strip (8) of light sources is embedded in a sheath (6) of the cable.

14. Device (400) according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the control means (12) are embedded in a sheath (6) of the cable.

15. Device (200) according to any one of claims 1 to 12 wherein the cable comprises a cable sheath (6) and the device comprises an outer sheath (230) receiving the cable and the strip of light sources.

16. Cable (4, 400) for transmitting data, characterized in that it comprises:

an elongated outer sheath (6),

a strip (8) of light sources (10), the strip extending parallel to the sheath, and

A method of monitoring a data transmission cable, comprising the steps of:

measuring in the cable at least one parameter relating to a transmission of data in the cable (4), and

- separately controlling light sources (10) of a strip (6) of light sources extending parallel to the cable to provide at least one light signal representing the parameter.