XTran Communication solutions for Smart Cities

MPLS FOR OPERATIONAL TELECOM MADE EASY

XTran: Communication
solutions for Smart Cities
XTran Communication solutions for Smart Cities

Providing Internet connectivity only

does not make a city smart. Smart cities

manage their resources effectively.

Mobility, safety, energy distribution

Safety, emergency response and

information provision should be

operated in an intelligent way.

Stefaan Verhoeven

Vice President Sales, OTN Systems

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Towards smarter cities

A Smart City uses Information and Communication

Technologies (ICT) to improve the life of its inhabitants
and its visitors, and to increase the operational efficiency
of its administration.

The concept of Smart Cities is not new and most cities

have a program in place to make their city “smarter”.
Amsterdam started back in 2009 with its smart city
initiative. The purpose was to reduce traffic, save energy
and improve public safety. More than 170 projects
were developed in the meantime involving the various
stakeholders. Smart energy meters for the residents
were installed to reduce energy consumption, smart
street lights replaced the existing static lights, a smart
traffic management system was put in place to steer the
traffic, even a smart parking application was developed
pointing out free parking space for a fee.

Intelligent camera’s, sophisticated sensors, big data

and a powerful network infrastructure are key ICT
components to make a city smarter.

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XTran Communication solutions for Smart Cities
SMART CITY APPLICATIONS
Mobility
Metro, light rails, tramways, busses, cars, motorcycle and
bikes allow people to get around in a city. In the past the
different transport modes were independent and often
conflicting. Busses or trams got stuck in car traffic, bikers
were sitting targets… Things are gradually changing. Cities
organize themselves and use ICT at its best to make sure
that the different modes of transportation integrate
seamlessly.
Cars and cities didn’t go well together in the past. Today
however, there are smart ways to combat congestion in a
city. Adaptive Traffic Signals control the flow of traffic and
the idle time at traffic lights. Smart Corridors keep drivers
up to date with what lies ahead: upcoming accidents,
impending weather events, road works, road saturation,
etc. Realtime Traffic Monitoring systems illustrate where
public buses, taxis and other modes of transit are
located. The system will even guide the driver to a free
parking space.
There’s a lot of technology required to accomplish this:
camera’s, variable message signs, IoT sensors (Internet
of Things) just to name a few. And of course a reliable
network infrastructure.
Safety
LPR (License Plate Recognition) camera’s monitor the
traffic, check the speed, detect pollutant cars, track
reported vehicles, etc. HD camera’s secure public places
and shopping centers. Demonstrations and events are
kept a close eye on.
Security and police forces look after the safety of the
citizens. From different control rooms throughout the
city they can check out every situation. They rely on
sophisticated tools such as face recognition software to
prevent crime.
Depending on the location, early warning systems are
in put in place for storms, tsunamis, earthquakes or
volcanic eruptions.
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Energy
More than 50% of the world’s population lives in cities, and
still growing. Needless to say that cities have a big impact
on climate change. Various initiatives are launched by the
local, national and international administration (e.g. E.U.)
to decrease energy consumption in big cities.
Public buildings represent about 12% of total built floor
area. Energy efficiency retrofits and energy management
in public buildings do not only directly reduce energy
costs but it also has a role model effect on the private
and commercial sector. Energy consumption of public
buildings can be monitored and controlled remotely by
all kinds of smart devices.
Another item on which energy can be saved it the
streetlights. With modern, remotely controlled smart
LEDs, the street lights not only consume far less energy,
they can also adapt to all circumstances easily.
Parameters on the air quality, e.g. CO2, NO2 and PMx, are
picked up from sensors scattered around the city. This
data can be used to manage traffic, for medical purposes
or to reach climate-change goals.
Efficient information
A smart city should offer its inhabitants and visitors to-
the-point and up-to-date information. This info should be
proactive and in line with the needs of the user. A city-
wide Wi-Fi network offering these services is desirable.
For example a visitor approaching a place of interest
should receive the relevant info on his smartphone. In a
smart city the smartphone replaces the traditional tourist
office and more.
Health
In the past, medical interventions on site where performed
with limited information. A call to the emergency center
resulted in an ambulance heading towards the address
of the caller. Nowadays all relevant data can be pulled
together to do the intervention fast and successful. Data
concerning the location including environmental data,
the patients medical records and even real time medical
info of the patient e.g. by using medical wearables, can
be at the fingertips of every person involved. First-aid
helpers, doctors and even specialists in the hospitals
waiting for the patient to be brought in, can share all
vital information. The ambulances are equipped with
sophisticated medical equipment and communications
facilities enabling real time video/audio communications
between the parties. The route taken by the ambulance
is optimal. Because saving lives is often a matter of time,
integrated smart health solutions are indispensable.
IN SEARCH OF THE RIGHT NETWORK
SOLUTION
A Smart City network typically consists of a fiber optic
backbone, often build hierarchical, copper spurs and
wireless access points. The following requirements
however, are key for the fiber optic part:
The network needs to be extremely reliable, even under
the most challenging circumstances. Downtime should
be avoided by all means. Network nodes should be able
to operate under extreme environmental conditions,
e.g. temperature, humidity, dust as networks nodes are
often installed in street cabinets. Redundancy should
be available on various levels, e.g. port, module, node
and link level. Cable breaks, which often occur due to
construction work, should not result in a loss of service.
Network changes or expansions should not cause
disturbance to the rest of the network.
With the advent of new bandwidth intensive applications,
e.g. high definition video information for ANPR or 5G/
Wi-Fi backhauling, the network should be able to provide
virtually unlimited capacity. It should be flexible in
design and allow for easy expansion whenever the need
arises. There shouldn’t be any limit on number of nodes,
geographical span or bandwidth. Moreover, the moves
and changes to the network should be fast, easy and not
error-prone.
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Since the number of specific applications is high and their
nature diverse, the network should provide flawless
connectivity for all of these applications. Keep in mind
that there are often legacy systems that need to be
hooked up. Whether it’s an analogue voice application, a
secure data connection or a high bandwidth IT application,
the network should have the proper interfaces to handle
them all. Critical information should have priority over
standard administrative data.
Real-time information should be transported fully
transparent, in a deterministic way. This type of data is
crucial for correct decision making.
Smart City networks often carry sensitive information
hence risks of eavesdropping and cyber-attacks should be
eliminated. Real-time encryption capabilities for sensitive
data, e.g. judicial or medical information, is mandatory.
The network should provide security functionality on
various levels.
As new applications will continue to emerge in the future,
a state-of-the-art Smart City network should be ready
for this from the start. As expansions and bandwidth
demands will continue to take place in the future, a
flexible and scalable network is the right solution to cope
with this trend. This future-proof network should be
able to stand the test of time.
Although network sophistication increases constantly,
it should not burden the network administrator. The
expansion of the network, configuration of new services
or trouble shooting should be kept as simple as possible
as all underlying complexity is of no relevance to the
administrator. When operating a network becomes
too complex, permanent support from the supplier of
the network is required, even for small changes. This
kind of support by third parties should be kept to the
bare minimum. A well build network with a high level
of operational simplicity will lead to an optimal user
experience and control and minimal OPEX (Operation
Expenditures). At OTN Systems we believe that simplicity
is the ultimate sophistication.
XTran Communication solutions for Smart Cities

MPLS-TP: THE RIGHT NETWORKING

TECHNOLOGY ?

Various packet transport technologies have emerged

since the rise of the internet: IP/MPLS, carrier Ethernet
and more recently, MPLS-TP (Multiprotocol Label
Switching - Transport Profile). MPLS-TP uses the main
functionalities of MPLS but comes with extra features
to support mission critical transport of information. The
standard was drafted in a cooperation between the ITU-T
(International Telecommunication Union) and the IETF
(Internet Engineering Task Force).

MPLS-TP uses the main

functionalities of MPLS
but comes with extra
features to support
mission critical transport
of information.

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To name some of the benefits of MPLS-TP compared to
MPLS:
• Deterministic character and improved network
predictability:
• some MPLS features specifically developed for
the internet were removed in order to improve
network predictability, security and reliability
Obviously, it is better suited for the ever increasing packet
traffic, but despite being a packet based technology,
it offers the same functionality in terms of network
resilience and predictability as SDH/SONET. Moreover,
on the OAM side, MPLS-TP offers unique features making
the network administrator’s life less complex.

• all bi-directional MPLS-TP tunnels use the same

path (congruent paths). This leads to improved
delay/jitter management and fault tracing.

• Network resilience: predefined back-up paths can MPLS-TP offers

easily be set up to cope with fault conditions (< 50 unique features
msec switchover) making the network
administrator’s life less
• Improved OAM (Operations, Administration and
Maintenance): for better fault and performance
complex.
management and improved network visibility

MPLS-TP can be considered as the packet-alternative

to the previous dominant transport technology: SDH/
SONET.

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XTran Communication solutions for Smart Cities
XTRAN: EXCELLENCE IN TRANSPORT
An XTran network consists of nodes, interconnected
by copper or fiber, and a management systems called
TXCare. A variety of node types is available providing the
ideal solution for each location. All remote nodes are
hardened and build without internal fans. The network
is perfectly scalable from tens of nodes to, potentially,
thousands of nodes. Any topology can be created with
the XTran portfolio. On the WAN side, gigabit Ethernet
and 10, 40 and 100 Gbps interfaces are available.
Requirement XTran
High reliability  •
Unlimited capacity  protection and performance management.
High connectivity 
Real-time traffic 
Multi-level security 
Future-proof 
Easy to use 
XTran comes with an unprecedented suite of interface
cards for legacy equipment, including E1, FXS, 4 wire and
serial, as well as state of the art Ethernet/PoE interface
boards and an additional routing board that adds IP
flexibility.
One can create various types of logical tunnels between
the nodes: point-to-point, multipoint, logical rings,... it’s
all possible on XTran. Creating back-up paths is only a
mouse click away.
Predictable links is one of the key benefits of XTran. With
TXCare, one is able to configure the delay, wander and
jitter on each individual connection. In this way, the time
critical applications will work flawlessly over an XTran
network.
Redundancy is key in order to maximize network
availability. Common control, switching fabric, network
synchronization, uplinks, MPLS tunnels, pseudowires,
power modules, OAM, ... all this can be duplicated.
Obviously, this results in spectacular figures for network
availability.
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XTran comes with a unique set of features
• Hitless switching on pseudowire circuits (1+1
protection). E.g. E1/T1, RSXX: this means that not
a single bit of information will get lost in case of a
failure of the prime route.
• Fanless design.
• Sub 50 msec protection switching for any network
topology
OAM according to Y.1731 and BFD provides
• Security: 802.1x, Radius Authentication, Port Security,
Access Control Lists and wire speed encryption of
the links between the nodes to enhance security
(MACsec).
• Intrusion detection.
• L3 routing
• TXCare redundancy
• TXCare Predictive Care
• TXCare Northbound interface for integration in
umbrella network management system.
Network management is king
With TXCare, OTN systems follows to a great extent the
SDN (Software Defined Networks) philosophy. A network
is as clever as its network management system. TXCare
offers end-to-end service performance monitoring,
element management and full network management.
Failures in the network are detected in advance as much
as possible (TXCare Predictive Care). Other failures are
diagnosed and repaired on the spot. And most important,
TXcare is extremely intuitive and user friendly. It takes
only 2 days of training to turn a network novice into a
TXcare expert having full control over the XTran network.
Model XTD-2110-A XTR-2124-A XT-1104-A XT-2206-A XT-2209-A XT-2210-A XT-2215-A
Hardware
Redundant PSU   -    
Redundant CSM - - -    
Din rail mountable  -  - - - -
Fan-less       -
Modular slots - - 4 6 9 10 15
Connectivity
Ethernet (CU, F, PoE)       
Sector interfaces 2 serial 2 serial     
L3 Routing       
Speed
Max WAN Speed 10G 10G 10G 10G 10G 10G 100G

Management
TXCare       
SD Card       
Local terminal       

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XTran Communication solutions for Smart Cities

TAILORED for industrial

applications

Built on MPLS-TP standard

Sector specific capabilities

Future-proof

INTUITIVE and simple

NMS made easy

Fast diagnostics

Seamless support for legacy

RELIABLE operations in
harsh environments

Optimized network security

Unmatched network resilience

Rugged industrial design

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 XTRAN: THE IDEAL NETWORK FOR
SMART CITIES

The XTran product is the result of an in-depth focus

on the requirements encountered in city networks
combined with the latest available technologies in the
world of ICT. This highly resilient network offers various
levels of security, can accommodate any application, is
future proof and easy to manage.

OTN Systems has installed various networks around the

globe for city surveillance, the operation and control of
tunnels and general admin applications. The wealth of
experience gained over the last decades are reflected
in OTN Systems’ flagship product XTran.

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XTran Communication solutions for Smart Cities

COMMITTED TO GET YOUR

INFORMATION ACROSS

OTN Systems develops mission-critical networks for

specific industrial markets. The company is the designer
and supplier of the XTran (eXcellence in TRANsport) and
Open Transport Network (OTN).

By working closely with numerous customers over

30 years, OTN Systems has acquired the necessary
expertise to come up with perfect networking solutions.

The company is headquartered in Olen in Belgium and

has offices all over the world. From these regional offices
the local partners and customers are supported.

With its unique portfolio and more than 500 satisfied

customers in 75 countries, OTN Systems promises
you peace of mind when it comes to mission critical
networking: OTN Systems is committed to get your
information across.

OTN SYSTEMS NV

Industrielaan 17b, 2250 Olen, Belgium

Tel: +32 14 25 28 47
Fax: +32 14 25 20 23
E-mail: info@otnsystems.com
www.otnsystems.com

Ref. No.: XA-B091-E-1

Issued February 2021
Specifications subject to change as design
improvements are implemented.
©2021 OTN Systems NV - All rights reserved.

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