Optical Network Robotic Automation Platform for Multi-Vendor Optical Transport Network: Accelerating Validation, Troubleshooting, and Proof of Concept Efforts

Abstract

Network automation is essential for accelerating service deployment and optimizing operations, especially in multi-vendor optical transport networks. However, unique interoper-ability challenges arising from vendor-specific implementations require standardized frameworks such as those provided by OpenROADM MSA. This work introduces the Optical Network Robotic Automation Platform (ON-RAP), a fully automated, vendor-agnostic solution that integrates system-level automation with robotic process automation, streamlining OpenROADM-compliant network operations and enabling comprehensive test automation. ON-RAP automates compliance validation, service provisioning, troubleshooting, and multi-vendor simulation, achieving precise configuration, real-time monitoring, and time-efficient fault resolution. ON-RAP enables seamless validation across simulated and real environments, enhancing test efficiency and scalability for network devices and controllers. In addition, it automates report generation to facilitate structured analysis and reduce manual effort.