Optical transport network frame structure with dynamically allocable in-band data channel and forward error correction byte capacity

摘要

An optical transport network data frame structure is configured to provide an in-band data channel. The in-band channel data is contained in the data frame space that would otherwise be allocated to forward error correction (“FEC”) bytes. Consequently, the provision of the in-band data channel does not affect the number of client data bytes contained in the data frame structure. In accordance with a practical embodiment, the data frame structure is compliant with IaDI specifications set forth in ITU-T Recommendation G.709/Y.1331.