Framer design, verification and prototyping for G.709 optical transport networks

Optical Transport Networks (OTN) have emerged as a key enabler to increase the capacity of current telecommunication infrastructure. ITU-T Recommendation G.709 describes these networks by defining a flexible frame structure capable of carrying different client data signals. Recently, G.709 framer devices have received much attention from the telecommunication industry as next generation 10/40/100G transport equipment demands its integration. This paper proposes a simple framer design based on independent modules which implement G.709 layer specific processes. This architecture enables different integration schemes where some modules can be implemented as ASIC while others in FPGA. The framer verification is also discussed in the context of testing its functionality in a network scenario. Finally, the implementation of a prototype on a FPGA board is described.