Crosstalk-aware routing, spectrum, and core assignment in space-division multiplexing optical networks with multicore fibers

Abstract

The transmission capacity of existing optical fiber will reach its physical limitation due to increasing network bandwidth. Recently, space-division multiplexing (SDM) technology has been proposed to increase the fiber transmission capacity. Multicore fiber (MCF) is a strong candidate for SDM transmission, but the intercore crosstalk will be a critical issue with MCF transmission. We make a specific analysis of transmission crosstalk in elastic optical networks. Then, the concept of spare spectrum availability is introduced to accommodate connection requests. Based on it, two different crosstalk-aware routing, spectrum, and core assignment algorithms are presented at different network states. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme improves the spectrum resource utilization and reduces blocking, with a cost of additional algorithm complexity and set-up delay.