Cross-layer adaptive routing and wavelength assignment in all-optical networks

Abstract

In WDM all-optical networks where electrical regeneration is not available, physical impairments due to propagation in the fibers, amplifier noise, and leaks between channels and in the switches cannot be removed at the physical layer. These effects cause calls, especially between physically distant nodes, to be rejected because they cannot meet minimum Quality of Transmission (QoT) requirements, as measured by signal bit-error rates. It is possible to mitigate physical layer effects at the network layer using appropriate Routing and Wavelength Assignment (RWA) algorithms. We present new RWA algorithms which account for physical impairments in their design and increase QoT and fairness among users without sacrificing low blocking probabilities in metropolitan-sized networks. We also present RWA algorithms that can sharply decrease blocking probabilities in regional-sized networks using optional channel coding. All algorithms are evaluated through simulation in realistic scenarios and shown to successfully mitigate crosstalk effects and to perform better in terms of QoT and network access fairness than traditional algorithms.