Automatic Neighbor Discovery Protocol for Optical Network

ANDP provides an automatic discovery and monitoring of the channel connections between two neighboring OXCs. Based on each channels status and attributes, OXC can automatically discover its local topology and resource information. ANDP can also be used to detect the failed channels, which do not carry any service traffic. ANDP performs its function by the hardware interrupts from the physical layer, such as DOS. A test access module that is capable of cross-connecting any type of optical signals is necessary for ANDP.