Spectrally efficient operation of mixed fixed/flexible-grid optical networks with sub-band virtual concatenation

摘要

We present a novel strategy for the operation of a mixed fixed/flexible grid optical network which would be useful for the gradual migration from a fixed to a flexible mode of operation. Routing and spectrum allocation (RSA) in co-existing fixed/flexible grid optical networks with a multi-path sub-band virtual concatenation (VCAT) technique is considered. An integer linear programming (ILP) model and efficient heuristic algorithms based on k-shortest path (KSP) and spectrum window planes (SWPs) are proposed for the RSA optimization which minimizes the maximum number of frequency slots (FSs) used in the fiber link. Simulation studies are presented to show the efficiency of the proposed approaches.