Link failure protection and restoration in WDM optical networks

In a wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) optical network, the failure of fiber links may cause the failure of multiple optical channels, thereby leading to large data loss. Therefore the survivable WDM optical networks where the affected traffic under link failure can be restored, have been a matter of much concern. On the other hand, network operators want options that are more than just survivable, but more flexible and more efficient in the use of capacity. In this thesis, we propose our cost-effective approaches to survive link failures in WDM optical networks. Dynamic establishment of restorable connections in WDM networks is an important problem that has received much study. Existing algorithms use either path-based method or link-based method to protect a dynamic connection; the former suffers slow restoration speed while the latter requires complicated online backup path computation. We propose a new dynamic restorable connection establishment algorithm using p-cycle protection. For a given connection request, our algorithm first computes a working path and then computes a set of p-cycles to protect the links on the working path so that the connection can survive any single link failure. The key advantage of the proposed algorithm over the link-based method is that it enables faster failure restoration while requires much simpler online computation for connection establishment. Tree-based schemes offer several advantages such as scalability, failure impact restriction and distributed processing. We present a new tree-based link protection scheme to improve the hierarchical protection tree (p-tree) scheme [31] for single link failure in mesh networks, which achieves 100% restorability in an arbitrary 2-connected network. To minimize the total spare capacity for single link failure protection, an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation is provided. We also develop a fast double-link failure restoration scheme by message signaling to take advantage of the scalable and distributed processing capability of tree structure

Scalable Column Generation Models and Algorithms for Optical Network Planning Problems

Column Generation Method has been proved to be a powerful tool to model and solve large scale optimization problems in various practical domains such as operation management, logistics and computer design. Such a decomposition approach has been also applied in telecommunication for several classes of classical network design and planning problems with a great success. In this thesis, we confirm that Column Generation Methodology is also a powerful tool in solving several contemporary network design problems that come from a rising worldwide demand of heavy traffic (100Gbps, 400Gbps, and 1Tbps) with emphasis on cost-effective and resilient networks. Such problems are very challenging in terms of complexity as well as solution quality. Research in this thesis attacks four challenging design problems in optical networks: design of p-cycles subject to wavelength continuity, design of dependent and independent p-cycles against multiple failures, design of survivable virtual topologies against multiple failures, design of a multirate optical network architecture. For each design problem, we develop a new mathematical models based on Column Generation Decomposition scheme. Numerical results show that Column Generation methodology is the right choice to deal with hard network design problems since it allows us to efficiently solve large scale network instances which have been puzzles for the current state of art. Additionally, the thesis reveals the great flexibility of Column Generation in formulating design problems that have quite different natures as well as requirements. Obtained results in this thesis show that, firstly, the design of p-cycles should be under a wavelength continuity assumption in order to save the converter cost since the difference between the capacity requirement under wavelength conversion vs. under wavelength continuity is insignificant. Secondly, such results which come from our new general design model for failure dependent p-cycles prove the fact that failure dependent p-cycles save significantly spare capacity than failure independent p-cycles. Thirdly, large instances can be quasi-optimally solved in case of survivable topology designs thanks to our new path-formulation model with online generation of augmenting paths. Lastly, the importance of high capacity devices such as 100Gbps transceiver and the impact of the restriction on number of regeneration sites to the provisioning cost of multirate WDM networks are revealed through our new hierarchical Column Generation model

Resource Allocation Schemes And Performance Evaluation Models For Wavelength Division Multiplexed Optical Networks

Wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical networks are rapidly becoming the technology of choice in network infrastructure and next-generation Internet architectures. WDM networks have the potential to provide unprecedented bandwidth, reduce processing cost, achieve protocol transparency, and enable efficient failure handling. This dissertation addresses the important issues of improving the performance and enhancing the reliability of WDM networks as well as modeling and evaluating the performance of these networks. Optical wavelength conversion is one of the emerging WDM enabling technologies that can significantly improve bandwidth utilization in optical networks. A new approach for the sparse placement of full wavelength converters based on the concept of the k-Dominating Set (k-DS) of a graph is presented. The k-DS approach is also extended to the case of limited conversion capability using three scalable and cost-effective switch designs: flexible node-sharing, strict node-sharing and static mapping. Compared to full search algorithms previously proposed in the literature, the K-DS approach has better blocking performance, has better time complexity and avoids the local minimum problem. The performance benefit of the K-DS approach is demonstrated by extensive simulation. Fiber delay line (FDL) is another emerging WDM technology that can be used to obtain limited optical buffering capability. A placement algorithm, k-WDS, for the sparse placement of FDLs at a set of selected nodes in Optical Burst Switching (OBS) networks is proposed. The algorithm can handle both uniform and non-uniform traffic patterns. Extensive performance tests have shown that k-WDS provides more efficient placement of optical fiber delay lines than the well-known approach of placing the resources at nodes with the highest experienced burst loss. Performance results that compare the benefit of using FDLs versus using optical wavelength converters (OWCs) are presented. A new algorithm, A-WDS, for the placement of an arbitrary numbers of FDLs and OWCs is introduced and is evaluated under different non-uniform traffic loads. This dissertation also introduces a new cost-effective optical switch design using FDL and a QoS-enhanced JET (just enough time) protocol suitable for optical burst switched WDM networks. The enhanced JET protocol allows classes of traffic to benefit from FDLs and OWCs while minimizing the end-to-end delay for high priority bursts. Performance evaluation models of WDM networks represent an important research area that has received increased attention. A new analytical model that captures link dependencies in all-optical WDM networks under uniform traffic is presented. The model enables the estimation of connection blocking probabilities more accurately than previously possible. The basic formula of the dependency between two links in this model reflects their degree of adjacency, the degree of connectivity of the nodes composing them and their carried traffic. The usefulness of the model is illustrated by applying it to the sparse wavelength converters placement problem in WDM networks. A lightpath containing converters is divided into smaller sub-paths such that each sub-path is a wavelength continuous path and the nodes shared between these sub-paths are full wavelength conversion capable. The blocking probability of the entire path is obtained by computing the blocking probabilities of the individual sub-paths. The analytical-based sparse placement algorithm is validated by comparing it with its simulation-based counterpart using a number of network topologies. Rapid recovery from failure and high levels of reliability are extremely important in WDM networks. A new Fault Tolerant Path Protection scheme, FTPP, for WDM mesh networks based on the alarming state of network nodes and links is introduced. The results of extensive simulation tests show that FTPP outperforms known path protection schemes in terms of loss of service ratio and network throughput. The simulation tests used a wide range of values for the load intensity, the failure arrival rate and the failure holding time. The FTPP scheme is next extended to the differentiated services model and its connection blocking performance is evaluated. Finally, a QoS-enhanced FTPP (QEFTPP) routing and path protection scheme in WDM networks is presented. QEFTPP uses preemption to minimize the connection blocking percentage for high priority traffic. Extensive simulation results have shown that QEFTPP achieves a clear QoS differentiation among the traffic classes and provides a good overall network performance

Differentiated quality-of-recovery and quality-of-protection in survivable WDM mesh networks

In the modern telecommunication business, there is a need to provide different Quality-of-Recovery (QoR) and Quality-of-Protection (QoP) classes in order to accommodate as many customers as possible, and to optimize the protection capacity cost. Prevalent protection methods to provide specific QoS related to protection are based on pre-defined shape protection structures (topologies), e.g., p -cycles and p -trees. Although some of these protection patterns are known to provide a good trade-off among the different protection parameters, their shapes can limit their deployment in some specific network conditions, e.g., a constrained link spare capacity budget and traffic distribution. In this thesis, we propose to re-think the design process of protection schemes in survivable WDM networks by adopting a hew design approach where the shapes of the protection structures are decided based on the targeted QoR and QoP guarantees, and not the reverse. We focus on the degree of pre-configuration of the protection topologies, and use fully and partially pre-cross connected p -structures, and dynamically cross connected p -structures. In QoR differentiation, we develop different approaches for pre-configuring the protection capacity in order to strike different balances between the protection cost and the availability requirements in the network; while in the QoP differentiation, we focus on the shaping of the protection structures to provide different grades of protection including single and dual-link failure protection. The new research directions proposed and developed in this thesis are intended to help network operators to effectively support different Quality-of-Recovery and Quality-of-Protection classes. All new ideas have been translated into mathematical models for which we propose practical and efficient design methods in order to optimize the inherent cost to the different designs of protection schemes. Furthermore, we establish a quantitative relation between the degree of pre-configuration of the protection structures and their costs in terms of protection capacity. Our most significant contributions are the design and development of Pre-Configured Protection Structure (p-structure) and Pre-Configured Protection Extended-Tree (p -etree) based schemes. Thanks to the column generation modeling and solution approaches, we propose a new design approach of protection schemes where we deploy just enough protection to provide different quality of recovery and protection classe

p-Cycle Based Protection in WDM Mesh Networks

Abstract p-Cycle Based Protection in WDM Mesh Networks Honghui Li, Ph.D. Concordia University, 2012 WDM techniques enable single fiber to carry huge amount of data. However, optical WDM networks are prone to failures, and therefore survivability is a very important requirement in the design of optical networks. In the context of network survivability, p-cycle based schemes attracted extensive research interests as they well balance the recovery speed and the capacity efficiency. Towards the design of p-cycle based survivableWDM mesh networks, some issues still need to be addressed. The conventional p-cycle design models and solution methods suffers from scalability issues. Besides, most studies on the design of p-cycle based schemes only cope with single link failures without any concern about single node failures. Moreover, loop backs may exist in the recovery paths along p-cycles, which lead to unnecessary stretching of the recovery path lengths. This thesis investigates the scalable and efficient design of segment p-cycles against single link failures. The optimization models and their solutions rely on large-scale optimization techniques, namely, Column Generation (CG) modeling and solution, where segment pcycle candidates are dynamically generated during the optimization process. To ensure full node protection in the context of link p-cycles, we propose an efficient protection scheme, called node p-cycles, and develop a scalable optimization design model. It is shown that, depending on the network topology, node p-cycles sometimes outperform path p-cycles in iii terms of capacity efficiency. Also, an enhanced segment p-cycle scheme is proposed, entitled segment Np-cycles, for full link and node protection. Again, the CG-based optimization models are developed for the design of segment Np-cycles. Two objectives are considered, minimizing the spare capacity usage and minimizing the CAPEX cost. It is shown that segment Np-cycles can ensure full node protection with marginal extra cost in comparison with segment p-cycles for link protection. Segment Np-cycles provide faster recovery speed than path p-cycles although they are slightly more costly than path p-cycles. Furthermore, we propose the shortcut p-cycle scheme, i.e., p-cycles free of loop backs for full node and link protection, in addition to shortcuts in the protection paths. A CG-based optimization model for the design of shortcut p-cycles is formulated as well. It is shown that, for full node protection, shortcut p-cycles have advantages over path p-cycles with respect to capacity efficiency and recovery speed. We have studied a whole sequence of protection schemes from link p-cycles to path p-cycles, and concluded that the best compromise is the segment Np-cycle scheme for full node protection with respect to capacity efficiency and recovery time. Therefore, this thesis offers to network operators several interesting alternatives to path p-cycles in the design of survivable WDM mesh networks against any single link/node failures