A Novel Optical Control Plane for Switching an Electro-Optical Hybrid Node in Translucent WDM Optical Networks

Abstract

In a translucent network scenario, development of an optical control plane (OCP) that is aware of the location and number of available regenerators and all-optical wavelength converters (AOWCs) is of paramount importance. However, current generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) protocol suite does not consider the distribution of regenerator and AOWC availability information to all the network nodes. In this paper, we propose a novel optical control plane (OCP) architecture that 1) disseminates information about network components ( i.e. regenerators and AOWCs) to all the network nodes , and 2) evaluates candidate routes which use fewest amounts of network components. Performance of the proposed OCP is compared with a recently proposed hybrid OCP approach in terms of blocking performance, number of deployed components and lightpath establishment setup times. The obtained simulation results show that the proposed OCP approach demonstrates low connection blocking and establishes lightpaths by 1) minimizing the overall network cost owing to the deployment of minimum total number of network components, and 2) demonstrating acceptable lightpath establishment setup times at all traffic loads. Further, the proposed OCP methodology is compatible and suitable for controlling the operations of a novel electro-optical hybrid translucent node which is a latency efficient technology capable of delivering a cost effective implementation suitable for large scale deployment.