WO2013047956A1

WO2013047956A1 - Optical communication system for simultaneously analyzing wavelength properties in real time

Info

Publication number: WO2013047956A1
Application number: PCT/KR2011/009785
Authority: WO
Inventors: 석호준; 정용승; 장은상; 이원일
Original assignee: 주식회사 이스트포토닉스
Priority date: 2011-09-28
Filing date: 2011-12-19
Publication date: 2013-04-04
Also published as: KR20130034519A; KR101379446B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to an optical communication system for simultaneously analyzing wavelength properties in real time. The system enables dynamic operations depending on the situation surrounding an optical cable testing device and visually provides intelligent monitoring and analysis results to rail managers and system managers to allow the current status information of optical cables to be monitored at a single glance.

Description

Real-time simultaneous wavelength characterization optical communication system

The present invention relates to a real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system, and more specifically, to test up to 32 at the same time one by one in the prior art can be tested up to 32 times faster, the WDM communication method In this case, the intensity of power delivered to the optical communication device is monitored in real time for each wavelength band.In the continuous monitoring, the system operator sets the monitoring rule according to the function of the measuring device for each optical cable test device, and the signal below the setting range is Automatically diagnose the status of the cable immediately upon detection, and operate according to the line test procedure and analysis method rule defined by the system operator to enable flexible operation according to the optical cable test equipment situation. Intelligent monitoring and analysis results Administrators and system administrators It provides to visualize relates to a real-time concurrent wavelength characterization optical communication system that can monitor the current status information of the optical cable at a glance.

An important communication medium in optical communication is optical cable.

No matter how good the equipment is, if only one of the hundreds of kilometers is broken, billions of equipment is completely useless.

Therefore, in order to maintain a normal communication state, the operation monitoring technology for the optical cable has been developed into a system that automatically finds out which point is the problem when the state of the cable and the failure by using a measuring device called OTDR.

However, there are many problems in practical application.

Problems can be found by dividing them into test methods and targets.

Considering the test method first, the existing system checks the optical fiber in the cable one by one one by one, and when it tests 500 optical fiber, it takes 8.3 minutes because it takes 1 minute per test time.

In this way, in the extreme case, even if a failure occurs, it can only be automatically diagnosed after eight hours.

From the point of view of the second test subject, in recent years, more than 10 communication equipments use WDM technology, which uses one strand of optical fiber in common, for communication, using different wavelength bands simultaneously. The strength of the power delivered to the optical communication device was unknown.

Therefore, it took a lot of time to determine whether the equipment is a problem when the communication failure or the optical signal is not transmitted due to the cable failure.

For this reason, from the point of view of actual network operation management, the existing technology had a difficult problem to operate in reality.

As a background technology, there was a portable wireless multi-wavelength optical fiber characteristic analysis system of Korean Patent Registration No. 0917163 (2009.09.15).

The above-mentioned technique is to carry out monitoring while being portable, and since only one network can be monitored for each point-to-point, the bandwidth of the entire network becomes wider, and thus it is not practical to monitor the entire band.

Therefore, there is a need for a system capable of monitoring the entire optical network.

* Prior art literature *

(Patent Document) Korean Patent Registration No. 0917163 (2009.09.15)

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above conventional problems,

It is an object of the present invention to test up to 32 at the same time one by one prior to the conventional test is possible up to 32 times faster, and in the WDM communication method of the power delivered to the optical communication device for each wavelength band It monitors the strength in real time, and in continuous monitoring, the system operator sets up monitoring rule according to the function of the measuring device for each optical cable test device and automatically diagnoses the status of the cable immediately when a signal below the setting range is detected. It operates according to the line test procedure and analysis method rule defined by the system operator to enable flexible operation according to the fiber cable test equipment situation. Monitor your information at a glance To make it possible.

Another object of the present invention is to monitor the failure by analyzing the pulse through the simultaneous test measurement unit, and to be able to analyze the optical power through the multi-wavelength test measurement unit.

Another object of the present invention has various models and performances of each product according to the development of measurement technology and equipment for the optical cable, so it is economical to apply uniformly to a single product when applying a communication network, so it is improved and operated each site Create a RULE for each equipment to meet the requirements and operate the system accordingly, and provide the intelligent system that notifies the presence of abnormality by abstracting the physical phenomenon to the best control center (the place where the remote monitoring server is configured), and the Rule (test) The schedule is intended to allow the operator to modify and reload the fiber optic test equipment at any time.

In order to achieve the problem to be solved by the present invention,

Real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention,

An optical cable state generating server 300 receiving and receiving optical cable monitoring information from a remote monitoring server and visualizing the normal and abnormal states for each optical cable ID by placing them at a corresponding position with reference to the GIS information;

A remote monitoring server 200 which acquires optical cable monitoring information and operation information transmitted from the optical cable test apparatus and visualizes the state of each test apparatus;

Real-time fault monitoring on the optical cable line and OTDR technology to determine the location of the failure, simultaneously measuring several optical cores, and when a communication is performed by sharing a single optical core with multiple communication devices, problems occur by communication wavelength band It is configured to include; optical cable test apparatus 100 for detecting whether or not to solve the problem of the present invention.

The real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system according to the present invention,

It is possible to test up to 32 tests at the same time one by one in the prior art, and up to 32 times faster test is possible. In the WDM communication method, real-time monitoring of the power delivered to the optical communication device for each wavelength band In the continuous monitoring state, if the optical power below the standard is detected, immediately measure and analyze the state of the cable automatically and provide it to the line manager and system manager to visualize the status information of the current optical cable at a glance. Will be provided.

In addition, the failure can be monitored by analyzing the pulse through the simultaneous test measurement unit, and the optical power can be analyzed through the multi-wavelength test measurement unit to perform more precise failure monitoring.

In addition, as measurement technology and equipment for optical cables are developed, they have various models and performances by product for each company. Therefore, it is less economical to apply uniformly to a single product when applying a communication network. The system is operated according to the operation RULE, and the best control center (where the remote monitoring server is configured) provides an intelligent system that abstracts the physical phenomena and informs the user of the abnormality. The rule (test schedule) is provided to the operator. This provides the effect of enabling deformation and reloading at any time to the optical cable testing apparatus.

1 is an overall perspective view of a real-time multi-wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram of an optical cable state generation server of an optical communication system for real-time multi-wavelength characteristic analysis according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram of a remote monitoring server of a real-time multi-wavelength optical characterization optical communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is an exemplary view showing a measurement example of a simultaneous test measurement unit of a real-time multi-wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is an exemplary view illustrating a measurement example of a multi-wavelength test measurement unit of a real-time multi-wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

* Detailed description of the major symbols in the drawings *

100: optical cable test device

200: remote monitoring server

300: fiber cable generating server

Real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object,

In the real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system,

Real-time fault monitoring on the optical cable line and OTDR technology to determine the location of the failure, simultaneously measuring several optical cores, and when a communication is performed by sharing a single optical core with multiple communication devices, problems occur by communication wavelength band It is characterized in that it comprises a; optical cable test device 100 for detecting whether or not.

At this time, the optical cable state generation server 300,

An optical cable GIS information DB 310 in which geographic information system (GIS) information of the optical cable is stored;

Location information DB (320) for each test device for storing location information and ID number information of the optical cable test device;

A state-specific state forming unit 330 for acquiring the corresponding optical cable monitoring information and disposing normal and abnormal states for each ID number at a corresponding position with reference to the optical cable GIS information DB;

And an optical cable state visualization unit 340 for visualizing normal and abnormal states for each optical cable formed by the position-specific state forming unit.

At this time, the optical cable state generating server 300 according to another embodiment,

An optical cable state visualization unit 340 for visualizing normal and abnormal states for each optical cable formed by the position-specific state forming unit;

A test optical cable designator 350 for designating an optical cable to perform at least one measurement test of a simultaneous measurement test or a multi-wavelength measurement test;

Characterized in that it comprises a measurement test schedule management unit 360 for managing the schedule of the measurement test.

At this time, the optical cable state generating server,

Characterized in that the operation management of the optical cable line.

At this time, the remote monitoring server 200,

An information acquisition unit 210 for acquiring optical cable monitoring information and operation information transmitted from the optical cable test apparatus;

Status determination unit 220 for determining the normal and abnormal state for each optical cable ID number of the information obtained by the information acquisition unit;

An operation determination unit 230 for determining an operation state of each ID number among information acquired by the information acquisition unit;

Reboot signal transmission unit 240 for transmitting a reboot signal to the optical cable test device that does not operate as a result of the determination by the operation presence determination unit,

Re-operation determination unit 250 receiving the result value for the reboot from the optical cable test device to check the operation status again, and

Location information DB (260) for each test device for storing location information and ID number information of the optical cable test device;

And a remote monitoring visualization unit 270 for visualizing the result value determined by the state determination unit, the operation existence determination unit, and the reactivation determination unit.

At this time, the optical cable test apparatus 100,

Simultaneous test measurement unit 110 for simultaneously measuring a plurality of optical cores using the OTDR technology for real-time failure monitoring and determining the location of the failure of the optical cable line,

It is characterized in that it comprises a multi-wavelength test measuring unit 160 for detecting whether a problem occurs by the communication wavelength band when a single optical fiber is shared by several communication devices.

At this time, the simultaneous test measurement unit 110,

An optical test unit 111 for sequential measurement according to a setting cycle using the OTDR technology,

A splitter 112 that separates the optical core wires from the optical test unit into a plurality;

A double U-coupler 113 for injecting test light into a start end and an end of an optical fiber in communication;

It is installed at the end is characterized in that it comprises a reflection filter 114 for reflecting the test light to provide a double U-M coupler at the beginning to determine whether the optical core is broken or normal in the optical test unit .

At this time, the multi-wavelength test measuring unit 160,

A splitter 161 for synthesizing multiple wavelengths into a single optical fiber;

A tap-monitoring unit 162 for separating the multi-wavelength synthesized by the splitter for each wavelength band;

It is characterized in that it comprises a wavelength-specific failure detection unit 163 for detecting the presence or absence of interference by the wavelength band separated by the tap monitoring unit.

At this time, the simultaneous test measurement unit,

It is characterized by analyzing the pulse.

At this time, the multi-wavelength test measuring unit,

It is characterized by analyzing the optical power.

At this time, the measurement test schedule management unit 360,

It generates monitoring rule and transmits and loads rule information in XML format to optical cable tester located in each network.

Hereinafter, the embodiment of the real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system according to the present invention will be described in detail.

1 is an overall perspective view of a real-time simultaneous wavelength characterization optical communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 1, the real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system according to an embodiment of the invention,

Real-time fault monitoring on the optical cable line and OTDR technology to determine the location of the failure, simultaneously measuring several optical cores, and when a communication is performed by sharing a single optical core with multiple communication devices, problems occur by communication wavelength band It is configured to include; optical cable test apparatus 100 for detecting whether or not.

The optical cable state generation server 300 receives the optical cable monitoring information from the remote monitoring server and visualizes the normal and abnormal status for each optical cable ID by placing it in the corresponding position with reference to the GIS information.

If the ID number is assigned to each optical cable and the normal or abnormal state is placed in the corresponding location by referring to the GIS information, the line manager can check at a glance where the problem occurs with the visualized information alone.

The remote monitoring server 200 obtains the optical cable monitoring information and operation information transmitted from the optical cable test apparatus and visualizes the state of each test apparatus. If it doesn't work, it can be judged as a device failure. If a failure occurs while operating, it can be judged as a cable failure so that the system administrator can see at a glance whether it is a device or a cable to recover.

2 is a block diagram of an optical cable state generation server of a real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 2, the optical cable state generation server 300,

It is configured to include a measurement test schedule management unit 360 for managing the schedule of the measurement test.

That is, the optical cable GIS information DB 310 stores the information of the geographic information system (GIS) of the optical cable so that the location of the failure can be displayed in detail in association with the geographic information system (GIS), and the topology map can be applied. do.

By operating in this way it is possible to quickly respond to the line failure can provide a high quality communication service by minimizing the failure time.

The location information DB for each test device 320 stores the location information and ID number information of the optical cable test device to extract the ID number of the device having a problem in the optical cable monitoring information to check the location information matching the corresponding ID number The location is visualized in conjunction with the Geographic Information System (GIS).

The position-specific state forming unit 330 obtains the optical cable monitoring information and arranges the normal and abnormal state by ID number in the corresponding position with reference to the optical cable GIS information DB.

In other words, the normal state is displayed in green and the abnormal state is displayed in red so that it can be checked at a glance.

In addition, the optical cable state visualizing unit 340 may visualize the normal and abnormal state for each optical cable formed by the position forming unit for each color as described above, or may execute a separate pop-up window to check the corresponding position information. To ensure that

In addition, the test optical cable designator 350 designates an optical cable to perform one or more measurement tests of a simultaneous measurement test or a multi-wavelength measurement test, the test type is designated by the administrator, the measurement test schedule management unit 360 To manage the schedule of the measurement test.

In other words, if you create and save a schedule to perform the test on a specific day, time, or specific day, time, the test will be performed at that time of the day.

In addition, the test may only be performed in the area where the cable to be measured is installed.

Optical cable monitoring information means cable ID number and normal or abnormal status information among two test results of the test apparatus.

In addition, the measurement test schedule management unit 360 generates a monitoring rule and transmits and loads the rule information in the form of XML to the optical cable test apparatus located in each network, and monitors and troubleshoots the optical cable test apparatus according to a predetermined rule Upon detection, analysis work is performed according to the existing analysis rules.

That is, an example of RULE expressed in XML is as follows.

<? xml version = "1.0" encoding = "euc-kr"?>

<type>

</ type>

</ message>

</ operation>

</ operation>

</ operation>

</ operation>

</ portType>

</ binding>

</ service>

</ definition>

3 is a block diagram of a remote monitoring server of a real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 3, the remote monitoring server,

And a remote monitoring visualization unit 270 for visualizing the result value determined by the state determination unit, the operation existence determination unit, and the reoperation determination unit.

That is, the information acquisition unit 210 acquires the optical cable monitoring information and operation information transmitted from the optical cable test apparatus.

The operation presence information is information representing the operation state of the devices.

In other words, it is to check whether or not power is supplied and operating.

The state determination unit 220 determines the normal and abnormal state for each optical cable ID number of the information obtained by the information acquisition unit.

For example, if a value of 1 is obtained and a value of 0 is obtained, the test result of the test apparatus is determined to be abnormal.

The operation presence determining unit 230 determines whether there is an operation state for each ID number among the information obtained by the information acquisition unit. Here, if the value of 1 is obtained, the operation state is determined to be non-operation. .

The reboot signal transmission unit 240 sends an reboot signal prior to the check if the optical cable test apparatus that does not operate as a result of the determination by the operation presence determination unit to operate again.

At this time, the re-operation determination unit 250 receives the result value for the reboot from the optical cable test apparatus and checks the operation status again. If the result value is 1, it is determined that the operation is recognized as a problem on the device, but the result value If this is received as 0, it is judged as a problem with the device.

At this time, the location information DB 260 for each test device is stored in the location information and ID number information of the optical cable test device is to extract the location of the device through the ID number.

The remote monitoring visualization unit 270 visualizes the result value determined by the state determining unit, the operation determining unit, and the reoperation determining unit.

In other words, through the GUI environment, the facility management including the registration and management of the transmission equipment and the optical cable test apparatus, the performance and the history management related to the optical cable line, the statistics and the analysis management, etc. are visualized and the current status information is visualized at the same time.

4 is an exemplary view showing a measurement example of a simultaneous test measurement unit of a real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Optical cable test apparatus 100 of the present invention,

It includes a multi-wavelength test measuring unit 160 for detecting whether a problem occurs by the communication wavelength band when a single optical fiber is shared by several communication devices.

As shown in FIG. 4, the simultaneous test measurement unit of the present invention,

It is configured to include a reflection filter 114 is installed at the end to reflect the test light to provide a double U-M coupler at the start to determine whether the optical core is broken or normal in the optical test unit.

That is, conventionally, in order to perform the characteristic test using the OTDR, which is a test apparatus, the optical fiber in communication is composed of a coupler and a termination filter incident on the test wavelength, and one optical fiber is tested once.

The present invention has a structure that can test a plurality of optical wires at the same time to separate the optical wires coming from the optical test section 111 into a plurality using the splitter 112 after the WDM Coupler 113 to the optical fiber in communication Test light is made to enter.

On the other side, remove the test light by attaching the WDM coupler in the opposite direction so that the test light does not cause communication problems.

In addition, by attaching a reflective filter 114 to the end, it is possible to test several cores at the same time whether the cable is broken or normal.

The simultaneous test measurement unit is characterized in that for analyzing the pulse.

For example, if 1370 communication is performed between the transmission device at the beginning and the transmission device at the end, and the blue wavelength band is transmitted, the red light is reflected back through the reflection filter after the test light is incident in red. This is considered normal communication.

In this case, as shown in the drawing, the test light can be simultaneously provided to several optical cores to perform the test.

5 is an exemplary view showing a measurement example of a multi-wavelength test measurement unit of a real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristics analysis optical communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 5, the multi-wavelength test measuring unit 160,

That is, when communication is performed by sharing a single optical fiber with multiple communication apparatuses, it is to detect which wavelength band has a problem in a relationship where the equipment for each communication wavelength band is 1: 1 mapped.

5-10% of the total optical signal is extracted at the end of the optical core using the tap monitoring unit 162, and the intensity of the optical signal is simultaneously detected for several wavelengths.

Through this, it is possible to find out which wavelength optical signal is a problem.

In this case, it can be usefully used for analyzing optical power.

The principle of extracting 5 to 10% from the entire optical signal of the tap monitoring unit 162 is described in detail in a patent publication filed and registered by the present applicant described in the background of the present invention, and thus, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Through the configuration and operation as described above, it is possible to test up to 32 at the same time one by one in the prior art, which enables the test up to 32 times faster, and transmits to the optical communication device for each wavelength band in the WDM communication method. It monitors the strength of power in real time and automatically detects and analyzes the status of the cable immediately when the optical power below the standard is detected in the continuous monitoring status and visualizes it to the line manager and system manager to provide the current information on the status of the optical cable. It will give you the effect of monitoring at a glance.

Those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains as described above may understand that the present invention may be implemented in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features of the present invention. Therefore, the above-described embodiments are to be understood as illustrative in all respects and not restrictive.

The scope of the invention is indicated by the following claims rather than the above description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents should be construed as being included in the scope of the invention. do.

The present invention enables the flexible operation according to the optical cable test apparatus situation, and the intelligent monitoring and analysis results can be visualized and provided to the line manager and the system manager, which can be usefully used in the field analysis of the multi-wavelength pipeline. will be.

Claims

In the real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system,

An optical cable state generating server 300 receiving and receiving optical cable monitoring information from a remote monitoring server and visualizing the normal and abnormal states for each optical cable ID by placing them at a corresponding position with reference to the GIS information;

A remote monitoring server 200 which acquires optical cable monitoring information and operation information transmitted from the optical cable test apparatus and visualizes the state of each test apparatus;

Real-time failure monitoring on the optical cable line and OTDR technology to determine the location of the failure, measuring several optical cores at the same time, and problems occur by communication wavelength band when a single optical fiber is shared by several communication devices Optical cable test apparatus for detecting whether or not; 100 real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristics analysis optical communication system comprising a.
The method of claim 1,

The optical cable state generation server 300,

An optical cable GIS information DB 310 in which geographic information system (GIS) information of the optical cable is stored;

Location information DB (320) for each test device for storing location information and ID number information of the optical cable test device;

A state-specific state forming unit 330 for acquiring the corresponding optical cable monitoring information and disposing normal and abnormal states for each ID number at a corresponding position with reference to the optical cable GIS information DB;

Real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristics analysis optical communication system comprising a optical cable state visualization unit 340 for visualizing the normal and abnormal state for each optical cable formed by the position-specific state forming unit.
The method of claim 1,

The optical cable state generation server 300,

An optical cable GIS information DB 310 in which geographic information system (GIS) information of the optical cable is stored;

Location information DB (320) for each test device for storing location information and ID number information of the optical cable test device;

A state-specific state forming unit 330 for acquiring the corresponding optical cable monitoring information and disposing normal and abnormal states for each ID number at a corresponding position with reference to the optical cable GIS information DB;

An optical cable state visualization unit 340 for visualizing normal and abnormal states for each optical cable formed by the position-specific state forming unit;

A test optical cable designator 350 for designating an optical cable to perform at least one measurement test of a simultaneous measurement test or a multi-wavelength measurement test;

Real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristics analysis optical communication system comprising a measurement test schedule management unit for managing the schedule of the measurement test.
The method of claim 1,

The optical cable state generating server,

A real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system, characterized in that the operation management of the optical cable line.
The method of claim 1,

The remote monitoring server 200,

An information acquisition unit 210 for acquiring optical cable monitoring information and operation information transmitted from the optical cable test apparatus;

Status determination unit 220 for determining the normal and abnormal state for each optical cable ID number of the information obtained by the information acquisition unit;

An operation determination unit 230 for determining an operation state of each ID number among information acquired by the information acquisition unit;

Reboot signal transmission unit 240 for transmitting a reboot signal to the optical cable test device that does not operate as a result of the determination by the operation presence determination unit,

Re-operation determination unit 250 receiving the result value for the reboot from the optical cable test device to check the operation status again, and

Location information DB (260) for each test device for storing location information and ID number information of the optical cable test device;

And a remote monitoring visualization unit (270) for visualizing the result value determined by the state determination unit, the operation existence determination unit, and the reactivation determination unit.
The method of claim 1,

The optical cable test device 100,

Simultaneous test measurement unit 110 for simultaneously measuring a plurality of optical cores using the OTDR technology for real-time failure monitoring and determining the location of the failure of the optical cable line,

Real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristics analysis optical communication system comprising a multi-wavelength test measurement unit 160 for detecting whether a problem occurs by the communication wavelength band when a communication is made by sharing a single optical fiber to multiple communication devices.
The method of claim 6,

The simultaneous test measurement unit 110,

An optical test unit 111 for sequential measurement according to a setting cycle using the OTDR technology,

A splitter 112 that separates the optical core wires from the optical test unit into a plurality;

A double U-coupler 113 for injecting test light into a start end and an end of an optical fiber in communication;

And a reflection filter 114 installed at the end to reflect the test light to the double U-M coupler at the start to determine whether the optical core is broken or normal in the optical test unit. Real-time simultaneous wavelength characterization optical communication system.
The method of claim 6,

The multi-wavelength test measuring unit 160,

A splitter 161 for synthesizing multiple wavelengths into a single optical fiber;

A tap-monitoring unit 162 for separating the multi-wavelength synthesized by the splitter for each wavelength band;

Real-time simultaneous wavelength characteristic analysis optical communication system, characterized in that it comprises a wavelength-specific failure detection unit for detecting the presence or absence of interference by the wavelength band separated by the tap monitoring unit.
The method of claim 6,

The simultaneous test measurement unit,

Real-time simultaneous wavelength characterization optical communication system, characterized in that for analyzing the pulse.
The method of claim 6,

The multi-wavelength test measuring unit,

Real-time simultaneous wavelength characterization optical communication system, characterized in that for analyzing the optical power.
The method of claim 3,

The measurement test schedule management unit 360,

Real-time simultaneous wavelength characterization optical communication system, characterized in that for generating the monitoring rule and transmitting and loading the rule information in the form of XML to the optical cable test apparatus located in each network.