Design and Evaluation of an Optical Broadcast-and-Select Network Architecture With a Centralized Multicarrier Light Source

Abstract

<para xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> This paper presents the design and evaluation of our optical broadcast-and-select wavelength-routed network architecture that uses a centralized multicarrier light source (C-MCLS). The large number of optical carriers/wavelengths generated by the C-MCLS are distributed to all edge nodes (ENs), which select and modulate wavelengths to realize upstream transmission. To utilize wavelengths efficiently, we introduce a framework for wavelength allocation and selection (WAS). Both static and dynamic schemes are adopted for WAS and their implementations are shown. By using fixed or tunable band pass filters and periodic arrayed waveguide grating demultiplexers, wavelengths are selected and utilized by ENs in a static or dynamic manner. After considering the design parameters used in the implementations, wavelength allocation procedures are described. We evaluate the cost, power consumption and network performance of the proposed network. Numerical results show that it offers greatly reduced cost and power consumption compared to the conventional one when the number of required access wavelengths at EN becomes large. We delineate its applicable areas through cost comparisons. Blocking probabilities of static and dynamic schemes are analyzed to evaluate network performance. Numerical results show that by choosing appropriate design parameters, the dynamic scheme offers about 25% increase in admissible offered load under the specified blocking probability, compared to the static scheme. This indicates that the dynamic scheme makes the proposed network more robust against traffic fluctuations. </para>