Visualization tools for enhancing failure localization [Invited]

Abstract

The use of data visualization techniques is explored to guide human operators in failure localization tasks. In this paper, we consider the case where a subset of lightpaths’ experience gradual BER degradation. We aim at using visualization techniques to find out the most likely resource that is responsible for such degradation, as well as the start of the degradation. Note that the challenge is to analyze an amount of data that might be huge (e.g., 1 sample every 15 min for the last, let us say, 4 weeks, for every lightpath in the network) and display charts in seconds, while revealing meaningful information for human operators. The proposed task-oriented visualization tackles such challenge by using charts that first help finding the subset of affected lightpaths thus, reducing the number of lightpaths to be analyzed. In a second step, different charts are used to reduce the element in failure as much as possible. Finally, the few suspicious elements can be analyzed in detail using more traditional timeline graphs.