Optical network design and analysis tools: A test of time

Abstract

Telecom operators' infrastructure is sustained by optical communication networks that provide the means for exchanging large amounts of information, which is essential for many modern society needs. Optical networks are characterized by rapid breakthroughs in a variety of technologies. Relevantly, the last decade encompassed remarkable advances in optical networks’ subfields of signal processing, electronics, photonics, communications, protocols, and control-plane architectures. Hence, these advancements unlocked unprecedented transmission capacities, reconfigurability and programmability, entailing an evolution in the way which networks were designed, planned, and analyzed. In this paper, we review the historical status of optical planning and design tools by focusing on the major enabling technologies and relevant landmarks of the last decade(s). We begin by pinpointing the major breakthroughs in the optical data plane, estimation models capturing the transmission medium behavior and the control plane. We then distil the implications that these advancements entail in the landscape of optical network design and analysis tools, which commonly sit “on top” of the control plane or as a fully separated entity. Then, we speculate with our view for the future, in which automatic validation of optical network operations and dimensioning jointly with learning/artificial intelligence mechanisms will permit zero-touch optical networking: i.e. updating, provisioning, and upgrading network capacities, by means of automation with minimal human intervention. We conclude with a proposal of an architecture that encompasses data and control planes in a comprehensive manner for paving the way towards zero-touch optical networking.