Design and provisioning of WDM networks for traffic grooming

Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is the most viable technique for utilizing the enormous amounts of bandwidth inherently available in optical fibers. However, the bandwidth offered by a single wavelength in WDM networks is on the order of tens of Gigabits per second, while most of the applications\u27 bandwidth requirements are still subwavelength. Therefore, cost-effective design and provisioning of WDM networks require that traffic from different sessions share bandwidth of a single wavelength by employing electronic multiplexing at higher layers. This is known as traffic grooming. Optical networks supporting traffic grooming are usually designed in a way such that the cost of the higher layer equipment used to support a given traffic matrix is reduced. In this thesis, we propose a number of optimal and heuristic solutions for the design and provisioning of optical networks for traffic grooming with an objective of network cost reduction. In doing so, we address several practical issues. Specifically, we address the design and provisioning of WDM networks on unidirectional and bidirectional rings for arbitrary unicast traffic grooming, and on mesh topologies for arbitrary multipoint traffic grooming. In multipoint traffic grooming, we address both multicast and many-to-one traffic grooming problems. We provide a unified frame work for optimal and approximate network dimensioning and channel provisioning for the generic multicast traffic grooming problem, as well as some variants of the problem. For many-to-one traffic grooming we propose optimal as well as heuristic solutions. Optimal formulations which are inherently non-linear are mapped to an optimal linear formulation. In the heuristic solutions, we employ different problem specific search strategies to explore the solution space. We provide a number of experimental results to show the efficacy of our proposed techniques for the traffic grooming problem in WDM networks

Optimization of WDM Optical Networks

Optical network, with its enormous data carrying capability, has become the obvious choice for today\u27s high speed communication networks. Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) technology and Traffic Grooming techniques enable us to efficiently exploit the huge bandwidth capacity of optical fibers. Wide area translucent networks use sparse placement of regenerators to overcome the physical impairments and wavelength constraints introduced by all optical (transparent) networks, and achieve a performance level close to fully switched (opaque) networks at a much lesser network cost. In this dissertation we discuss our research on several issues on the optimal design of optical networks, including optimal traffic grooming in WDM optical networks, optimal regenerator placement problem (RRP) in translucent networks, dynamic lightpath allocation and dynamic survivable lightpath allocation in translucent networks and static lightpath allocation in translucent networks. With extensive simulation experiments, we have established the effectiveness and efficiencies of our proposed algorithms

Design and protection algorithms for path level aggregation of traffic in WDM metro optical networks

Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) promises to offer a cost effective and scalable solution to meet the emerging demands of the Internet. WDM splits the tremendous bandwidth latent in a fiber into multiple non-overlapping wavelength channels, each of which can be operated at the peak electronic rate. Commercial systems with 128 wavelengths and transmission rates of up to 40 Gbps per wavelength have been made possible using state of the art optical technologies to deal with physical impairments. Systems with higher capacities are likely to evolve in the future. The end user requirements for bandwidth, on the other hand, have been ranging from 155 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps. Dedicating a wavelength for each end user will lead to severe underutilization of WDM channels. This brings to forefront the requirement for sharing of bandwidth in a wavelength among multiple end users.;The concept of wavelength sharing among multiple clients is called grooming. Grooming can be done purely at the optical layer (optical grooming) or it can be done with support from the client layer (electronic grooming). The advantage of all optical grooming is the ease of scalability due to its transparency as opposed to electronic grooming which is constrained by electronic bottlenecks. Efforts towards enhancing optical grooming is pursued through increasing optical switching speeds. However, technologies to make optical switches with high speeds, large port counts and low insertion losses have been elusive and may continue to remain so in the near future.;Recently, there have been some research into designing new architectures and protocols focused on optical grooming without resorting to fast optical switching. Typically, this is achieved in three steps: (1) configure the circuit in the form of a path or a tree; (2) use optical devices like couplers or splitters to allow multiple transmitters and/or receivers to share the same circuit; and (3) provide an arbitration mechanism to avoid contention among end users of the circuit. This transparent sharing of the wavelength channel utilizes the network resources better than the conventional low-speed circuit switched approaches. Consequently, it becomes important to quantify the improvement in achieved performance and evaluate if the reaped benefits justify the cost of the required additional hardware and software.;The contribution of this thesis is two fold: (1) developing a new architecture called light-trails as an IP based solution for next generation WDM optical networks, and (2) designing a unified framework to model Path Level Aggregation of Traffic in metrO Optical Networks (PLATOONs). The algorithms suggested here have three features: (1) accounts for four different path level aggregation strategies---namely, point to point (for example, lightpaths), point to multi-point (for example, source based light-trails), multi-point to point (for example, destination based light-trails) and multi-point to multi-point (for example, light-trails); (2) incorporates heterogenous switching architectures; and (3) accommodates multi-rate traffic. Algorithms for network design and survivability are developed for PLATOONs in the presence of both static and dynamic traffic. Connection level dedicated/shared, segregated/mixed protection schemes are formulated for single link failures in the presence of static and dynamic traffic. A simple medium access control protocol that avoids collisions when the channel is shared by multiple clients is also proposed.;Based on extensive simulations, we conclude that, for the studied scenarios, (1) when client layer has no electronic grooming capabilities, light-trails (employing multi-point to multi-point aggregation strategy) perform several orders of magnitude better than lightpaths and (2) when client layer has full electronic grooming capabilities, source based light-trails (employing point to multi-point aggregation strategy) perform the best in wavelength limited scenarios and lightpaths perform the best in transceiver limited scenarios.;The algorithms that are developed here will be helpful in designing optical networks that deploy path level aggregation strategies. The proposed ideas will impact the design of transparent, high-speed all-optical networks.</p

Cross-layer modeling and optimization of next-generation internet networks

Scaling traditional telecommunication networks so that they are able to cope with the volume of future traffic demands and the stringent European Commission (EC) regulations on emissions would entail unaffordable investments. For this very reason, the design of an innovative ultra-high bandwidth power-efficient network architecture is nowadays a bold topic within the research community. So far, the independent evolution of network layers has resulted in isolated, and hence, far-from-optimal contributions, which have eventually led to the issues today's networks are facing such as inefficient energy strategy, limited network scalability and flexibility, reduced network manageability and increased overall network and customer services costs. Consequently, there is currently large consensus among network operators and the research community that cross-layer interaction and coordination is fundamental for the proper architectural design of next-generation Internet networks. This thesis actively contributes to the this goal by addressing the modeling, optimization and performance analysis of a set of potential technologies to be deployed in future cross-layer network architectures. By applying a transversal design approach (i.e., joint consideration of several network layers), we aim for achieving the maximization of the integration of the different network layers involved in each specific problem. To this end, Part I provides a comprehensive evaluation of optical transport networks (OTNs) based on layer 2 (L2) sub-wavelength switching (SWS) technologies, also taking into consideration the impact of physical layer impairments (PLIs) (L0 phenomena). Indeed, the recent and relevant advances in optical technologies have dramatically increased the impact that PLIs have on the optical signal quality, particularly in the context of SWS networks. Then, in Part II of the thesis, we present a set of case studies where it is shown that the application of operations research (OR) methodologies in the desing/planning stage of future cross-layer Internet network architectures leads to the successful joint optimization of key network performance indicators (KPIs) such as cost (i.e., CAPEX/OPEX), resources usage and energy consumption. OR can definitely play an important role by allowing network designers/architects to obtain good near-optimal solutions to real-sized problems within practical running times

Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2009, nr 3

kwartalni

Multichannel optical access networks : design and resource management

At present there is a strong worldwide push towards bringing fiber closer to individual homes and businesses. The next evolutionary step is the cost-effective all-optical integration of fiber-based access and metro networks. STARGATE [1] is an all-optical access-metro architecture which does not rely on costly active devices, e.g., Optical Cross-Connects (OXCs) or Fixed Wavelength Converters (FWCs), and allow low-cost PON technologies to follow low-cost Ethernet technologies from EPON access into metro networks, resulting in significantly reduced cost and complexity. It makes use of an overlay island of transparency with optical bypassing capabilities. In this thesis we first propose Optical Network Unit (ONU) architectures, and discuss several technical challenges, which allow STARGATE EPONs (SG-EPONs) to evolve in a pay-as-you-grow manner while providing backward compatibility with legacy infrastructure and protecting previous investment. Second, and considering all the hardware constraints, we present the corresponding dynamic bandwidth allocation algorithm for effective resource management in these networks and investigate their performances (delay, throughput) through simulation experiments. We further investigate the problem of transmission grant scheduling in multichannel optical access networks using a scheduling theoretic approach. We show that the problem can be modeled as an Open Shop and we formulate the joint scheduling and wavelength assignment problem as a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MJLP) whose objective is to reduce the length of a scheduling period. Since the problem is known to be NP-hard, we introduce a Tabu Search based heuristic for solving the joint problem. Different other heuristics are also considered and their performances are compared with those of Tabu and MILP. Results indicate that by appropriately scheduling transmission grants and assigning wavelengths, substantial and consistent improvements may be obtained in the network performance. For example, Tabu shows a reduction of up to 29% in the schedule length with substantial reduction in channel idle gaps yielding to both higher channel utilization and lower queuing delays. Additionally, when the number of channels in the network is not small, the benefits of performing appropriate wavelength assignment, together with transmission scheduling, are observed and discussed. We further perform a packet-level simulation on the considered network to study the benefits of efficient grant scheduling; significant improvements are shown both in terms of system utilization and packet queuing delays

Incremental capacity planning in flexgrid optical networks

Les xarxes de comunicacions de fibra òptica necessiten adaptar-se com a resposta a l'evolució del tràfic de dades que han de transportar. Aquesta evolució inclou l'extensió periòdica de la seva capacitat per tal de millorar alguna de les mètriques que caracteritzen el seu funcionament, com per exemple la capacitat de restaurar la connectivitat del tràfic afectat per una fallida en un enllaç. Com a conseqüència de l'increment progressiu de la demanda de tràfic de dades, pot succeïr que alguns enllaços es tornin vulnerables, es a dir, no es pugui assegurar un mínim percentatge de tràfic restaurat en cas de fallida. En aquest projecte es defineix i modelitza formalment el problema d'optimització consistent en incrementar la capacitat de la xarxa, afegint nous enllaços inactius i equipament disponible al inventari amb cost mínim, per tal de reduir la vulnerabilitat fins a un determinat llindar. Es presenten dos mètodes per resoldre'l, a saber, un model de programació lineal entera i una heurística constructiva aleatoritzada. Els dos mètodes seran avaluats numèricament a partir d'un conjunt extens d'instàncies de diferents característiques. Finalment, l'heurística serà integrada en un simulador amb finalitats acadèmiques que emula l'arquitectura i protocols d'una xarxa òptica real

Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2006, nr 4

kwartalni