Functional block-based disaggregation approach for optical network automation supporting diverse node structures

Abstract

Optical networks with high capacity, high reliability, and low latency are increasingly needed not only for conventional telecom carrier networks but also for 5G/local-5G/6G mobile networks and intra-/inter-datacenter networks, which can have significantly different network structures and requirements compared with conventional telecom carrier networks. For the optical fiber infrastructure to support such diverse network requirements across various areas, optical node structures must be differently yet precisely optimized. To support such diverse optical node structures in a practical network operation/construction scenario, a functional block-based disaggregation approach that handles optical component devices as a management unit will play a key role. This study presents a functional block-based disaggregation (FBD) model which provides one-to-one correspondence between the model and the actual hardware composition. That is, not only inter-node topologies, but also intra-node topologies can be precisely described. Furthermore, switching functionalities of the individual optical components is described using the integer linear programming (ILP) method in a machine-readable manner. With the ILP formulation, the optical paths between any two points on the network topology can be universally computed for any node structure. Such the detailed and accurate path computation is useful for automatic node function analysis or node configuration table generation, which is indispensable for realizing the functional block-based disaggregation approach in a practical and automated manner. The scalability of FBD model-based path computation considering computationally intensive flexible grid node cases is evaluated over multiple node structures providing different functionalities and node scales.