An improved ring protection method in MPLS-TP networks

MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) technology is gaining importance as it becomes a dominant solution for a converged transport network in recent years. MPLS-TP ring protection mechanism defined in standards provides the ability to restore traffic delivery following failure or degradation of network resources to meet carrier-class transport network requirements. The article outlines MPLS-TP ring protection mechanisms, and details how its schemes work. Then, this article evaluates MPLS-TP ring protection mechanisms with respect to packet loss. Furthermore, this article proposes a novel protection mechanism, which aggregates merits of both wrapping and steering approaches, and which reduces packet loss significantly in case of in order delivery. The present article describes the implementation in detail and shows that the new approach highly reduces packet loss compared to the current mechanism.