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5 OPTICAL TRANSPORT NETWORK (OTN)

5.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

● OTN Hierarchy.
● Multiplexing Structure of OTN
● Advantages of OTN
● OTN Interfaces and layer architecture of OTN

5.2 INTRODUCTION
With the growing demand for services and bandwidth, now telecom operators are
trying to converge their networks in order to reduce Operational Expenses (OPEX), and
also to eliminate additional Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) on multiple parallel networks.
The amount of data traffic relative to voice traffic on optical networks and the total traffic
volume keeps increasing. These factors are the drivers behind emerging, flexible
technologies to supplement the mature, voice optimized, SONET/SDH transport
infrastructure and help manage network complexity. The aim of the optical transport
network (OTN) is to combine the benefits of SONET/SDH technology with the
bandwidth expandability of DWDM. OTN (Optical Transport Network) provides a
vehicle to enable convergence, and for providing a common and SONET/SDH-like
operational model for network operations, administration, maintenance and provisioning
(OAM&P) functionality, without altering the individual services. This newly developed
OTN is specified in ITU-T G.709 Network Node Interface for the Optical Transport
Network (OTN).
Since the 1980s, SONET/SDH has supported a flexible and transparent mix of
traffic protocols including IP, Fiber Channel, Ethernet and GFP by providing protection
and performance monitoring. Whilst deployment of dense wavelength division multiplex
(DWDM) networks during the following decade served to increase existing fiber
bandwidth, it severely lacked the protection and management capabilities inherent in
SONET/SDH technology.
The optical transport network (OTN) was created with the intention of combining
the benefits of SONET/SDH technology with the bandwidth expansion capabilities
offered by dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) technology.

5.3 WHAT IS OTN?

Networks employing OTN technology are designed and optimized to support
current applications employing massive network capacity, and OTN is increasingly
recognized as the transport standard of choice to meet the growing demand for network
capacity. The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) defines OTN in a
set of standards, with the G.709 specification acting as the core technology definition.
The ITU-T standards cover the encapsulation format, multiplexing, switching,
management, supervision, and survivability of optical channels carrying client payloads.
OTN also provides the ability to measure network performance across multiple service
providers‘ domains and to provide seamless, end-to-end monitored services.

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An Optical Transport Network (OTN) is composed of a set of Optical Network

Elements connected by optical fiber links, able to provide functionality of transport,
multiplexing, routing, management, supervision and survivability of optical channels
carrying client signals. A distinguishing characteristic of the OTN is its provision of
transport for any digital signal independent of client-specific aspects, i.e. client
independence.
ITU Standard G.709 is commonly called Optical Transport Network (OTN)–
sometimes referred to as digital wrapper (DW), allows network operators to converge
networks through seamless transport of the various types of legacy protocols while
providing the flexibility required to support future client protocols.
OTN provides transport for all digital payloads with superior performance and
support for the next generation of dynamic services with operational efficiencies not
expected from current optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transport
solutions and support for a wide range of narrowband and broadband services like
· SDH/SONET
· IP based services
· Ethernet services
· ATM services
· Frame Relay services
· Audio/Video services etc.

Figure: 18 Converged transport over OTN

5.4 KEY ADVANTAGES OF OTN

Unlike SONET/SDH, OTN was designed to be an efficient transport layer for packet
services such as Ethernet. At the same time, OTN is able to support the multiplexing of

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many different protocols including SONET/SDH, video, and storage protocols such as
Fiber Channel.
OTN offers a number of advantages over legacy transport networks and the primary
advantages of OTN include:
● Reduction in transport costs: By allowing multiple clients to be transported on a
single wavelength, OTN provides an economical mechanism to fill optical network
wavelengths.
● Efficient use of optical spectrum: OTN facilitates efficient use of DWDM
capacity by ensuring fill rates are maintained across a network using OTN switches
at fiber junctions.
● Determinism: OTN dedicates specific and configurable bandwidth to each service,
group of services, or each network partition. This means that network capacity and
managed performance (throughput, latency, jitter, and availability) are guaranteed
for each client, and there is no contention between concurrent services or users.
● Virtualize network operations: The ability to partition an OTN-switched network
into private network partitions, also referred to as Optical Virtual Private Networks
(O-VPNs), provides a dedicated set of network resources to a client, independent of
the rest of the network. Each network tenant sees only the resources associated
with that tenant‘s private partition. Other resources associated with other tenants
will not be visible. O-VPNs also ease network evolution because network upgrades
can be tested or introduced in a protected network partition or ‗sandbox,‘ without
the risk of impacting day-to-day network operations in production partitions.
● Flexibility: OTN networks give operators the ability to employ the technologies
needed now to support transport demands while enabling operators to adopt new
technologies as business requirements dictate.
● Secure by design: OTN networks ensure a high level of privacy and security
through hard partitioning of traffic onto dedicated circuits. This segregation of
network traffic makes it difficult to intercept data transferred between nodes over
OTN-channelized links. And because OTN-switched networks keep all
applications and tenants separate, organizations can effectively stop hackers who
access one part of the network from gaining access to other parts of the network.
● Robust yet simple operations: OTN network management data is carried on a
separate channel completely isolated from user application data. This means OTN
network settings are much more difficult to access and modify by gaining
admittance through a client interface port.
● Better Forward Error Correction: OTN has increased the number of bytes
reserved for Forward Error Correction (FEC), allowing a theoretical improvement
of the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) by 6.2 dB. This improvement can be used to
enhance the optical systems in the following areas:
● Increase the reach of optical systems by increasing span length or
increasing the number of spans.
● Increase the number of channels in the optical systems, as the required
power theoretical has been lowered 6.2 dB, thus also reducing the non-
linear effects, which are dependent on the total power in the system.

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● The increased power budget can ease the introduction of transparent

optical network elements, which can‘t be introduced without a penalty.
These elements include Optical Add-Drop Multiplexers (OADMs),
Optical Cross Connects (OXCs), splitters, etc., which are fundamental
for the evolution from point-to-point optical networks to meshed ones.
● Tandem Connection Monitoring (TCM): TCM enables the user and its signal
carriers to monitor the quality of the traffic that is transported between segments or
connections in the network.

5.5 OTN VS. SONET/SDH

Although OTN and SONET/SDH have similarities, there are also some significant
design differences. Perhaps the biggest difference is that SONET/SDH was defined with
fixed frame rates, while OTN was defined with fixed frame sizes.
Table: 4 Comparison of SDH/SONET and OTN
OTN SONET/SDH

Asynchronous mapping of payloads Synchronous mapping of payloads

Timing distribution not required Requires tight timing distribution across

networks

Designed to operate on multiple Designed to operate on multiple wavelengths

wavelengths (DWDM)

Scales to 100 Gb/s (and beyond) Scales to a maximum of 40 Gb/s

Performs single-stage multiplexing Performs multi-stage multiplexing

Uses a fixed frame size and increases Uses a fixed frame rate for a given line rate
frame rate to match the client rate. and increases frame size (or uses
concatenation of multiple frames) as client
size increases

FEC sized for error correction to correct 16 Not applicable (no standardized FEC)
blocks per frame

The G.709 standard defines client payload encapsulation, OAM overhead, FEC,
and a multiplexing hierarchy. These functions deliver optical transport capabilities as
robust and manageable as SONET/SDH, but with greater suitability for current traffic
demands, and data center interconnection circuits in particular.
OTN is asynchronous and thus does not require the complex and costly timing
distribution and verification of SONET/SDH. Instead, OTN includes per-service timing
adjustments to carry both asynchronous (GbE, ESCON) and synchronous (OC-3/12/48,
STM-1/4/16) services. OTN can additionally multiplex these services into a common
wavelength.
Like SONET/SDH, OTN also offers comprehensive OAM, but with standardized
FEC. OAM is used to efficiently manage network resources and services. FEC enables

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service providers to extend the distance between optical repeaters, reducing expenses
and simplifying network operations.

5.6 OPTICAL TRANSPORT NETWORK (OTN) LAYERS

The optical transport hierarchy (OTH) is a new transport technology for optical
transport networks developed by the ITU. It is based on the network architecture defined
in various recommendations (e.g., G.872 on architecture; G.709 on frames and formats;
and G.798 on functions and processes). OTH combines electrical and optical multiplexing
under a common framework. The electrical domain is structured in a hierarchical order
just like SONET/SDH, and the optical domain is based on DWDM multiplexing
technology but with standardized interfaces and methods to manage the network. ITU-T
recommendation G.872, Architecture for the Optical Transport Network (OTN), defines
two classes of OTN interfaces:
● OTN inter-domain interface (IrDI): This interface connects the networks of
two operators, or the subnetworks of one or multiple vendors in the same
operator domain. The IrDI interface is defined with 3R (reshape, regenerate
and retime) processing at each end. Since the IrDI is the interface for
interworking, it was the focus of the initial standard development.
● OTN intra-domain interface (IaDI): This interface connects networks
within one operator and vendor domain. Since the IaDI is typically between
equipment of the same vendor, it can potentially have proprietary features
added such as a more powerful FEC

Figure: 19 IrDI Vs IaDI

The transport of a client signal in the OTN (shown in Figure i.e. Basic OTN
Transport Structure) starts with the client signal (SONET/SDH, ATM, GFP, Ethernet
etc.) being adapted at the optical channel payload unit (OPU) layer by adjusting the client
signal rate to the OPU rate. The OPU overhead itself contains information to support the
adaptation process of the client signal. Once adapted, the OPU is mapped into the optical
channel data unit (ODU) with the necessary ODU overhead to ensure end-to-end
supervision and tandem connection monitoring. Finally, the ODU is mapped into an
OTU, which provides framing, as well as section monitoring and FEC.
Additional OH may be added to the OCh to enable the management of multiple
colors in the OTN. The OMS and the OTS are then constructed. The result is an OCh
comprising an OH section, a client signal, and a FEC segment.
.

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Figure: 20 Basic OTN Transport Structure

The OCh OH, which offers the OTN management functionality, contains four
substructures: the OPU, ODU, OTU, and frame alignment signal (FAS).
Each OPUk (k=0,1,2,2e,3,4,flex) is transported using an optical channel (OCh)
assigned to a specific wavelength of the ITU grid. Several channels can be mapped into
the OMS layer and then transported via the OTS layer. The OCh, OMS and OTS layers
each have their own overhead for management purposes at the optical level. The overhead
of these optical layers is transported outside of the ITU grid in an out-of-band common
optical supervisory channel (OSC). In addition, the OSC provides maintenance signals
and management data at the different OTN layers

5.7 OTN LAYER TERMINATION POINTS

The ITU G.872 recommendation also defines the optical network architecture based
on the optical channel (OCh) carried over a specific wavelength. Different from that of
legacy DWDM systems, the structure of this signal is standardized. The OTN architecture
is composed of three layers, shown in Figure - OTN Layer Termination Points, and
constructed using the OCh with additional overheads.
● Optical Channel (OCh) – represents an end-to-end optical network
connection with the encapsulated client signal in the G.709 frame structure.
● Optical Multiplex Section (OMS) – refers to sections between optical
multiplexers and demultiplexers.
● Optical Transmission Section (OTS) – refers to sections between any
network elements in the OTN, including amplifiers.

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Figure: 21 OTN Layer Termination Points

The termination of the OTS, OMS and OCh layers is performed at the optical
level of the OTN. The OCh payload consists of an electrical substructure, where the
optical channel transport unit (OTU) is the highest multiplexing level. This layer is the
digital layer — also known as the ―digital wrapper‖ - which offers specific overhead to
manage the OTN‘s digital functions. The OTU also introduces a new dimension to optical
networking by adding forward error correction (FEC) to the network elements, allowing
operators to limit the number of required regenerators used in the network and in turn
reduce cost.

5.8 STANDARD OTN LINE RATES

G.709 defines standard interfaces and rates. OTN rates are equal to or higher than the
bit rates of the client traffic. Typical client signals and corresponding to G.709 rates are
listed in Table.

OTN OPUk OTUk OTUk

Client OTUk Line
Line Payload frame frequency
Signal Client Signal Rate
Signal Rate period accuracy
Type (kbit/s)[
(G.709) (kbit/s) (µs) (ppm)

SONET/
STS-48/STM-16 OTU1 2,666,057 2,488,320 48.971 ± 20
SDH

SONET/
STS-192/STM-64 OTU2 10,709,225 10,037,629 12.191 ± 20
SDH

Ethernet/ 10GBASE- OTU2e 11,095,727 10,356,012 11.766 ±100

Fibre R/10GFC

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Channel

STS-768/STM-
SONET/
256/
SDH/Ethe OTU3 43,018,413 40,150,519 3.034 ±20
Transcoded 40GB
rnet
ASE-R

Up to
Ethernet OTU3e2 44,583,355 41,611,131 2.928 ±20
4 10GBASE-R

Ethernet 100GBASE-R OTU4 111,809,973 100,376,298 1.167 ±20

±
ODUflex signals are transported over ODU2, ODU3, ODU4
100
Table: 5 OTN Line Rates
Note: ODU0 signals are to be transported over ODU1, ODU2, ODU3, ODU4 or ODUCn
signals, ODU2e signals are to be transported over ODU3, ODU4 and ODUCn signals and
ODUflex signals are transported over ODU2, ODU3, ODU4 and ODUCn signals
Unlike SDH/SONET, the line rate is increased by maintaining the G.709 frame structure
(4 rows x 4080 columns) and decreasing the frame period (in SDH/SONET the frame
structure is increased and the frame period of 125 µs is maintained).

5.9 OTN FRAME STRUCTURE

There are three overhead areas in an OTN frame: the Optical Payload Unit (OPU)
overhead, the Optical Data Unit (ODU) overhead, and the Optical Transport Unit (OTU)
overhead. These overhead bytes provide path and section performance monitoring, alarm
indication, communication, and protection switching capabilities. One additional feature
is the inclusion of a Forward Error Correction (FEC) function for each frame. The FEC
improves the Optical Signal-to-Noise Ratio (OSNR) by 4 to 6 dB, resulting in longer
spans and fewer regeneration requirements.
Figure illustrates the three parts that constitute the G.709 OTN frame; namely the
overhead, the payload, and the FEC.

Figure: 22 OTN Frame

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Although OTN and SONET/SDH have similarities but the biggest difference in
respect of frame structure is that SONET/SDH was defined with fixed frame rates, while
OTN was defined with fixed frame sizes.Perhaps the biggest difference is that
SONET/SDH was defined with fixed frame rates, while OTN was defined with fixed
frame sizes.

5.10 OPTICAL TRANSPORT NETWORK EQUIPMENT

There are several different types of optical transport network equipment being
deployed based on the OTN standards. The most common types include:
● Regenerators,
● OTN terminal equipment
● Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer (OADMs),
● Optical cross connect (OXCs).
OTN terminal equipment is used for point-to-point connections through WDM
networks, mapping the client signals into OPUs, sometimes multiplexing multiple signals
in the electrical domain, and finally performing mapping/multiplexing in the optical
domain. OADMs, OXCs, and some types of regenerators primarily process the OTN
signals in optical domain.

5.11 CONCLUSION
OTN-based backbones and metro cores offer significant advantages over
traditional WDM transponder-based networks, including increased efficiency, reliability,
and wavelength–based private services. The IP-over-OTN infrastructure also offers better
management and monitoring, reduced hops, increased protection of services, and reduced
costs for equipment acquisition. In addition to scaling the network to 100G and beyond,
OTN plays a key role in making the network an open and programmable platform,
enabling transport to become as important as computing and storage in intelligent data
centre-networking.

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