SYMPOSIA AUTHORS

ASON/GMPLS IN CHINA
Weisheng Hu (1) (2) and Yaohui Jin (1)
1: State Key Lab of Advanced Optical Communication System and Network, Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
2: Coordination Task Force of 3TNET project, 863Program, Beijing, China, wshu@sjtu.edu.cn

Abstract This paper describes R&D activities of ASON/GMPLS in China. Several projects supported by Chinese
863PROGRAM are discussed, including CAINONET IP/WDM field trial during 1999-2001, ASON testbeds by
universitiesefforts during 2001-2003, ASON scalability experiment during 2003-2004, and an 3TNET ASTN field
trial scheduled for 2002-2005.

Introduction ASON/GMPLS in China, especially those funded by

Automatic Switched Optical Networks (ASON) or
Automatic Switched Transport Networks (ASTN), as
well as their control plane protocol: Generalized Multi-
protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) are currently
investigated and discussed within several
international standard bodies, including ITU-T, OIF
and IETF. Meanwhile, several international projects
are also involved in demonstration and field trial of
ASON test-beds to evaluate the GMPLS
implementation and interoperation issues in
accordance with the standard framework [1-3].
After nearly 20 yearscontinuous efforts, China has
built one of the largest telecommunication
infrastructures in the world, with the second longest
optical cables in total length deployed. As of June
2003, China has 472 million telephone subscribers,
while the number is still growing on the basis of the
population of 1.3 billion. The telecommunication
revenue reaches $26.5 billion in the first half year
2003. China is now developing, testing and deploying
various advanced communication technologies to
satisfy the increasing customer demands.
Among the rapidly developed communication
technologies, China has recognized the importance
and benefits of the emerging ASON/GMPLS
techniques. In China, carriers have shown strong
interests on ASON/GMPLS. Among them, two
biggest carriers - China Telecom and China Netcom,
are making schedules to perform ASON/GMPLS
interoperability tests.
The funding sources for ASON/GMPLS research and
development (R&D) in China come from industries,
government, and the combination of government and
enterprisessupport. Chinese optical communication
companies have become a group of important players
in the telecommunication field in the world. For
examples, Huawei, ZTE and Fiberhome have got
significant market shares in Asia-Pacific areas. All
these companies are the members of OIF. They are
actively involved with standard bodies to develop
ASON/GMPLS specifications.
In this paper, we will discuss R&D projects of
government. The primary government programs
include the National High Technology Research and
Development Program (called 863PROGRAM since
it was launched in March 1986), the Natural Science
Foundation of China (NSFC), as well as some local
government programs such as Shanghai Optical
Science and Technology project (SOST), etc. [4-6].
Generally, 863program focuses on practical issues
that are more related to the information industry and
economy in china, while NSFC encourages basic
research and investigation on breakthrough
technologies. In the following sections, we will pay
more attention on the 863 program and give an
overview on the ASON/GMPLS development in
CHINA. 863program is one of the most important
high-tech R&D program with long-term national
strategic importance.
The Information Technology (IT), which is one of the
six major AREAs in 863program, is composed of 4
SUBJECTs - Computer Software & Hardware,
Communication, Information Acquisition and
Processing, and Information Security. There are
several KEY PROJECTs with different goals in
parallel with SUBJECTS, e.g. China Advanced Info-
Optical Network (CAINONET) during the period of
1999-2001, and the subsequent 3TNET during the
period of 2002-2005. Usually, KEY PROJECTS are
integrated with the research results from several
SUBJECTS.
ASON/GMPLS has gained supports from both
SUBJECTS and KEY PROJECTS. All the guidelines
can be obtained from 863program s web site. There
are two kinds of different requirements for the
proposals. One has to be strictly consistent with the
development specifications, while the other is
encouraged to make innovations. To reduce the risks
in the process of R&D, 863program divides ultimate
goals into several phases for the key technologies.
Firstly, the call for proposals are issued to universities
and research institutes with initial small-funds, whose
goal is to build testbed in the laboratory, and then
863 program encourages joint application from
companies and universities, with the goal to perform
field trials.
In the following, we will introduce ASON/GMPLS R&D
activities in China starting from the late 1990 s.
Several major projects are reviewed. 1) CAINONET:
an early-stage IP/WDM field trial (1999-2001); 2)
ASON testbed from universities (2001-2002); 3)
ASON scalability experiment (2003-2004); 4) 3TNET:
an ASTN field trial (2002-2005).
CAINONET: an early-stage IP/WDM field trial
(1999-2001)
CAINONET (China Advanced INformation Optical
NETworks) combined the research expertise in three
areas - Communication, Intelligent Computer, and
Optoelectronics. A field trial demonstration of
CAINONET was carried out to connect some top
universities and institutes in Beijing, including
Tsinghua University (THU), Peking University (PKU),
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
(BUPT), Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), and
Research Institute of Telecommunication Science
(RITS), whose topology is shown in Fig.1.
CAS PKU THU
THU
THU THU
OADM RITT
RITT
OXC
BUPT
Fig. 1: The Optical Network Topology of CAINONET
CAINONET is an IP/WDM network. The WDM
network layer was built on six optical cross-connect
equipments (OXCs) with 3232 switching capability
and seven optical add-drop multiplexers (OADMs).
There is an IP layer that is composed of six core
routers (CRs) and other edge equipments over WDM
network layer. The CAINONET was one of the world
typical test-beds based on optical Internet technology,
and provided a platform on which research,
development, and testing activities can be performed
to study next generation network architecture in China.
These OXCs and OADMs were developed on the
basis of the joint efforts from Wuhan Research
Institute of Posts and Telecommunication, Datang,
ZTE, Tsinghua University (THU), Shanghai Jiao Tong
University (SJTU), Beijing University of Posts and
Telecommunications (BUPT), Research Institute of
Telecommunications Transmission (RITT). An
integrated network management system was
developed to support internetworking equipments
from the above-mentioned multiple vendors in the
CAINONET.
ASON test-beds from Universities (2001-2002)
In 2001, 863 program started the ASON/GMPLS
project. Two research groups carried out the project.
One was in Beijing and the other in Shanghai. Both of
them are developed GMPLS protocols by themselves.
A. ASON test-bed in Beijing (2001-2002)
In Beijing, Tsinghua University (THU), together with
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
(BUPT) and Peking University (PKU) finished an
ASON test-bed with five nodes (four OXCs and one
OADM), based on a sub-network of CAINONET and
another OXC independently developed in THU. This
work will be reported in the same session of
ECOC 2003. THU will also report their simulation
results on two types of optical network signalling in
terms of the average connection set-up time and the
blocking probability, and the demonstration on the
test-bed for their performance comparison [7].
B. Heterogeneous ASON Test-bed in Shanghai
(2001-2003)
WDM OPM WDM
Switch
OTU-Tx (a) OTU-Rx
WDM OPM WDM
Switch(1)
Switch(2)
WC
s
OTU-Tx (b) OTU-Rx
Fig. 2: Architectures of two type OXCs
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, together with Alcatel
Shanghai Bell, and Shanghai Optical Networking
Technology Co. Ltd, built up a heterogeneous ASON
testbed in Shanghai with a mixture of both
transparent and opaque cross connect nodes, and
even partially transparent and opaque nodes. Some
of OXC nodes have limited share wavelength
convertibility. The routing algorithm and protocol
extension for such kind of ASON are presented in
another paper in ECOC 2003 [8]. Here, we focus on
the OXC node architectures, and network topology.
Two types of OXC nodes are built based on 2D 8X8
MEMS devices. Type I: is fully transparent, whose
architecture is shown in Fig.2 (a). It is composed of
input and output WDM modules, a single MEMS
switch, an optical power monitors (OPMs) array and
some optical transponder units (OTU) for add and
drop. Type II: is partially transparent or opaque,
whose architecture is shown in Fig.2 (b). Different
from type I, there are two MEMS devices for switching
different wavelengths. Note that two switch fabrics are
connected by a pair of OEO wavelength converters
that are shared by all the possible cross-connections
within the OXC.
Router1
Router4
Router3
OXC4: Type II
OXC3: Type I
OXC_1
OXC_4
OXC_3
Fig. 3: Heterogeneous ASON test-bed topology.
(a) Photograph (b) Logical architecture.
Tx/Rx
NOde 1
Node 4
Lambda1
WC
NOde 3
Lambda 2
Fig. 4: An example of a virtual wavelength path
The heterogeneous ASON consists of four OXC
nodes, which is shown in Fig.3 (a). Each node
connected by a CISCO router as its client. A router
can use proxy UNI signalling to request a lightpath to
other router. Fig.3 (b) shows the connection among
nodes. The OXC 1 and 3 are Type I architecture,
while the OXC 2 and 4 are Type II. They are
connected by fibre pairs to form a full-mesh topology.
The wavelengths of OTUs in each OXC are allocated
as follows: OXC 1 with OTUs at Wavelength 1, OXC
3 with OTUs at Wavelength 2, OXC 3 and 4 with
OTUs at Wavelength 1 and 2. In the test-bed, an end-
to-end virtual wavelength path (VWP) can be set up
or rerouted for restoration through the wavelength
conversion in OXC 2 or 4, as shown in Fig.4.
ASON scalability experiment (2003-2004)
After finishing the first-phase exploratory ASON
testbeds, the major GMPLS protocols of ASON
OXC1: Type I control plane are developed by several Chinese
universities individually. However, reliability and
Router2 scalability of the protocols must be evaluated and
verified before field trial. Below, we list the goals for
ASON scalability experiment:
Transport plane is based on emulation of opto/
electrical switching nodes
OXC2: Type II Control plane and management plane is
developed with the intention for use in the future
(a) products
Management plane shall provide friendly user
interface
Conformance with the specification of ASON
Number of nodes is no less than 200
Number of layers is no less than 4
OXC_2 Number of domains in a single layer is no less
than 10
Number of nodes in a single domain is no less
than 50
The project will investigate partition of layers and
domains, topology abstraction, information exchange
between layers, fast convergence of network
(b) topology, end-to-end restoration in the large-scale
ASON/GMPLS environment.
3TNET: a field trial ASTN (2002-2005)
3TNET stands for three terabits per second
networking technologies and an integrated network
with them. The project is expected to achieve
following goals:
Node 2
WC Enabling technologies: To make breakthrough
technologies in developing high speed (Tbps) optical
transmission systems, large capacity (Tbps) ASON
node equipments, large capacity (Tbps) Ipv4/v6
routers, application environment and supporting
platforms.
Network: To build an applicable, operable and
manageable high-performance broadband information
network, by using the above enabling technologies
integrated in the Tbps core node equipments and the
network platforms.
Practical Application: To develop new type of services
and value-added services, support Internet digital
media and high definition TV (DTV, HDTV). The initial
phase will start from the wideband stream media and
interactive multimedia services.
Fig.5 shows a possible topology of 3TNET. It
integrates Tbps (160x10Gb/s and 80x40Gb/s) WDM
transmission line, Tbps ASON/ASTN (SON), Tbps
IPv4/v6 Router (TR), and application environment.
TR
(3TNet)
TNet)
GR Sup-server
OADM Ring
Sup-server
GR
TR
GR
M permanent connection (SPC and PC)
WD
Sup-server SON
TR GR
M Unicasting and multicasting
WD GR
Switch
Switch
TR Residence
Network
Fig. 5: 3TNET reference topology
WDM: Tbps optical transmission line; SON:
ASON/ASTN; TR: Tbps router; GR: Gbps router.
3TNET is divided into three phases:
Phase I (2002-2003): Preliminary research on key
technologies, overall requirement and high-level
design.
Phase II (2003-2004): Research and develop three
types of Tbps core equipments, including WDM
transmission line, ASTN, Ipv4/v6 Router, as well as
application environments (stream media servers and
HDTV database) and supporting platform (OSS).
Phase III (2005): Internetworking three types of Tbps
core equipment products with an integrated
management system, field trial in Yangtze River Delta
that is one of the richest areas in China.
Totally twelve optical switches are being developed
by three groups: ZTE and Beijing University of Posts
and Telecommunications (BUPT), Wuhan Research
Institute of Posts and Telecommunication and
Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), as well as
Huawei.
According to the guidelines, it is expected that the
switches has the following goals and features:
In transport Plane:
over Tbps switching capacity, grooming at VC-4
Strictly non-blocking
Supporting multicasting
Diverse physical interfaces of SDH (STM-N) and
Ethernet (100M, G, 10G)
In control Plane:
Using 10/100M out-band signalling network
(DCN)
GMPLS extension based on LMP, OPSF-TE
and RSVP-TE (CR-LDP is optional).
UNI, I-NNI and E-NNI
End-to-end restoration and protection
In management Plane:
Supporting the top-level integrated network
management system of overall 3TNET
Residence
Network Service:
Switched connection (SC), soft permanent and
Switch BOD and OVPN
Uni- and bi-directional connection
Residence
Network Accounting
An independent task force that is appointed by 863
program is responsible for equipments specification
and networking agreements within the project,
technical coordination among all the participants,
schedule control of overall project, organization of
internetworking all the equipments in the laboratory
and field, and etc.
Future
In 2001, 863 program revised its regulations and
allowed international companies to apply for the
programs jointly with national organizations and
companies. For examples, there have been
international companies to participate in 4G wireless
projects in 863 program. Chinese government is
looking forward to collaborating with national and
international companies to transfer the ASON/GMPLS
technologies to products and deploy them in China
soon.
References
1 A. Richter et al. OFC 2002 Tuesday (2002) 43
2 A. Buchwieser et al. ECOC V3 (2002) p4.11.
3 C. Cavazzoni et al. ECOC, V4 (2002) 10.2.2
4 863 PROGRAM on http://www.863.org.cn/
5 NSFC on http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/
6 SOST on http://www.stcsm.gov.cn/
7 Xiaoping Zheng et al. ECOC (2003)
8 Yaohui Jin et al. ECOC(2003)