Automated physical network management system utilizing high resolution RFID and optical scanning for RFID tag spatial localization

1. An RFID (radio frequency identification) tracking system for physical network connectivity assets within a data center, for automatically discovering and tracking a connection configuration for network cables terminated in connectors that are connected at their endpoints to specified receiving ports, the system comprising:

one or more equipment racks including a plurality of networked devices therein with a plurality of receiving ports;

one or more robot modules, each comprising a controller module, an actuable RFID probe, an optical scanner, a battery module, and a wireless communication module;

a distributed multiplicity of the network cables, each cable including an RFID tag with less than 5 mm readout range and attached in a vicinity of endpoint(s) of network cables;

the actuable RFID probe being able to move in close proximity to each receiving port based upon pre-determined receiving port locations, such that RFID tag identifiers are read out;

a management server which includes data of the RFID tag identifiers associated with each cable, said identifiers providing data for said server for uniquely identifying a particular receiving port based upon data in a stored database of the receiving port locations; and

one or more automated cross-connect switches with a multiplicity of receiving ports, the one or more cross-connect switches being configured to launch an optical time domain reflectometer signal down any of the multiplicity of network cables to determine whether said cable is functional.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said RFID tags are passive and require no integral battery, and are responsive to substantially periodic electromagnetic signals with frequency in the range of 100 to 200 kHz.

3. A system in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said RFID tags are less than about 50 mm 3 in volume.

4. A system in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said one or more robot modules comprise a motorized, wheeled platform with an integral battery power source and one or more sensors enabling unobstructed transport through said data center.

5. A method for monitoring physical network connectivity configuration for a multiplicity of fiber optic cables with miniature RFID (radio frequency identification) tags at their ends, that are connected to ports on a multiplicity of network devices within a multiplicity of equipment racks, within a multiplicity of aisles, and accessible by a moveable robot carrying an RFID reader with an extendable RFID probe, said robot being configured to travel along or across said aisles to a particular port location while under direction of a control system communicating with a stored database including a position of each port, said method comprising:

(A) entering a port location identifier and a network device identifier into the control system;

(B) reading in the particular port location and the network device identifier from the database;

(C) positioning said robot based on said location to a particular aisle and a particular rack;

(D) extending the RFID probe from said robot moving along one of said aisles, to position said probe in a vicinity of a particular RFID tag associated with the particular port;

(E) energizing and reading a tag identifier associated with the particular RFID tag using the RFID reader; and

(F) updating said tag identifier for the particular port within the database.

6. A method in accordance with claim 5 , further including:

withdrawing the RFID probe back into the robot; and

repeating steps (A)-(F) for each of the multiplicity of fiber optic cables.

7. A method in accordance with claim 5 , further including:

transmitting the tag identifier to the control system.

8. A method in accordance with claim 5 , wherein the RFID probe excites the RFID tag with a periodic electrical signal of 10V or higher in amplitude as measured across the probe and with a nominal frequency of about 125 kHz.

9. A method for automatically discovering a physical topology of a network, including generation of a database of how cables in the network are connected to a multiplicity of ports on a further multiplicity of network devices at spaced apart locations defined by a physical address, floor, bay, aisle and/or rack, through a combination and correlation of electronic RFID (radio frequency identification) and optical scan data, said method comprising:

capturing three-dimensional optical scan data for each said network device at the spaced apart locations;

identifying each port within the scan data, extracting its corresponding physical location information from the optical scan data, and storing said location information in said database;

positioning an RFID probe in a vicinity of each port based on said location information;

reading an RFID electronic tag identifier associated with said port and cable plugged therein;

storing the RFID tag identifier for said port in said database; and

repeating above process for a remainder of the multiplicity of ports.

10. A method in accordance with claim 9 , wherein said ports include SC, LC and/or MPO/MTP fiber optic connector ports.

11. A method in accordance with claim 9 , wherein said optical scan is performed with light at a visible or infrared wavelength.

12. A method in accordance with claim 9 , including recording the RFID electronic tag identifiers at opposite cable ends for each particular cable.

13. A dual modality physical asset discovery robotic scanning system responsive to both optical and RF (radio frequency) excitation for identifying network connectivity of a plurality of network elements in a data center, said data center including a plurality of aisles in which a plurality of network equipment racks are located, each said equipment rack containing one or more of said network elements, said system including:

an actuatable, extendable probe arm having an RFID (radio frequency identification) reader disposed at a distal end thereof for positioning said reader in close proximity to an array of a multiplicity of RFID tags adjacent to a plurality of communication cables at one or more connector ports;

an optical scanning system to capture a digital representation of a geometry of the equipment rack and the network elements therein, to produce scaled, three-dimensional representations for each network element within the rack, in which locations of connector ports have been identified;

a database in which an RFID tag identifier of each of the communication cables and a three-dimensional model of each network element are stored; and

a processing system for combining data comprised of network element optical scans, network element and cable RFID scans, and three-dimensional reference models of network elements, said processing system thereby producing an accurate accounting of the network connectivity established by said communication cables.

14. A system in accordance with claim 13 , wherein said probe arm comprises a telescopic, motorized arm for precise positioning of said RFID reader under system control.

15. A system in accordance with claim 13 , wherein the three-dimensional reference models provide scaled representations of said network elements to better than 1 mm accuracy.

16. A system in accordance with claim 13 , wherein the RFID reader is configured to be positioned to better than 1 mm location accuracy.

17. A system in accordance with claim 13 , wherein the RF excitation is centered about 125 kHz.

18. A system in accordance with claim 13 , wherein said RFID reader further comprises a capacitor and an inductor providing a tuned resonance at 125 kHz.

19. The system of claim 13 , wherein said processing system produces an accurate accounting of the network connectivity established by all of said communication cables.