Physical layer transmitter and routing optimization to maximize the traffic throughput of a nonlinear optical mesh network

This paper investigates the physical layer optimization as a means of improving the utilization of limited network resources. A transparent optical network operating in the nonlinear transmission regime using coherent optical technology is considered. A physical layer model is described that allows the transmission signal quality to be included in the optimization process. Initially a fixed power, route-adapted modulation format approach is taken using integer linear programming to solve the static route allocation problem. It is shown that for the 14-node, 21-link NSF mesh network adaptation of the modulation formats leads to increases in data throughput of 17%. Optimization of the individual transmitter launch powers and spectral channel allocation results in a SNR margin of 2.3 dB, which is used to further increase the overall network traffic throughput exceeding the fixed PM-QPSK modulation format by as much as 50%. Compared to other work this paper highlights that increased gains in network throughput can be achieved if nonlinear interference is included in the routing and spectral assignment algorithm and individual transmitter spectral assignment and launch power is optimized to minimize nonlinear interference

On the Impact of Optimal Modulation and FEC Overhead on Future Optical Networks

The potential of optimum selection of modulation and forward error correction (FEC) overhead (OH) in future transparent nonlinear optical mesh networks is studied from an information theory perspective. Different network topologies are studied as well as both ideal soft-decision (SD) and hard-decision (HD) FEC based on demap-and-decode (bit-wise) receivers. When compared to the de-facto QPSK with 7% OH, our results show large gains in network throughput. When compared to SD-FEC, HD-FEC is shown to cause network throughput losses of 12%, 15%, and 20% for a country, continental, and global network topology, respectively. Furthermore, it is shown that most of the theoretically possible gains can be achieved by using one modulation format and only two OHs. This is in contrast to the infinite number of OHs required in the ideal case. The obtained optimal OHs are between 5% and 80%, which highlights the potential advantage of using FEC with high OHs.Comment: Some minor typos were correcte

Routing, modulation, spectrum and launch power assignment to maximize the traffic throughput of a nonlinear optical mesh network

We investigate the optimization of routing, modulation format adaptation, spectral and launch power assignment as a means of improving the utilization of limited network resources and increasing the network throughput. We consider a transparent optical network operating in the nonlinear transmission regime and using the latest software adapted coherent optical techniques. We separate the problem into one of routing, modulation adaption and channel assignment, followed by channel spectral assignment, and launch power allocation. It is shown, for three test networks, that the launch power allocation and channel spectral assignment can improve the transmission SNR margin over the fixed modulation, fixed power, fully loaded link worst case by approximately 3–4 dB. This increase in SNR margin can be utilized through modulation format adaption to increase the overall network throughput. This paper highlights that increased gains in network throughput can be achieved in nonlinear impaired networks when individual transmitter spectral assignment and launch power are optimized to minimize the nonlinear interference

Adapting Transmitter Power and Modulation Format to Improve Optical Network Performance Utilizing the Gaussian Noise Model of Nonlinear Impairments

This paper serves to highlight the gains in SNR margin and/or data capacity that can be achieved through a proper optimization of the transceiver parameters, for example, launch power, modulation format, and channel allocation. A simple quality of transmission estimator is described that allows a rapid estimation of the signal quality based on ASE noise and nonlinear interference utilizing the Gaussian noise model. The quality of transmission estimator was used to optimize the SNR and maximise the data throughput of transmission signals in a point-to-point link by adjusting the launch power and modulation format. In a three-node network, the launch power and channel allocation were adjusted to minimise the overall effect of nonlinear interference. This paper goes on to show that by optimizing the transceiver modulation format as part of the channel allocation and routing problem gains in network data throughput can be achieved for the 14-node NSF mesh network

Resource Allocation for Flexible-Grid Optical Networks With Nonlinear Channel Model

In this paper, we study the joint resource allocation in flexible-grid networks based on a nonlinear physical layer impairment model. An optimization problem is formulated to assign resources and guarantee the signal quality for every channel. Compared with the resource allocation in a fixed-grid wavelength-division multiplexing scenario, our method achieves significant bandwidth reduction and transmission distance extension in flexible-grid networks. The maximum spectrum usage is shown to be insensitive to the ordering of channels. We also analyze the relation between modulation formats and transmission distance based on the results of the proposed method. Finally, we demonstrate the performance and scalability of the proposed algorithm in ring networks

Throughput Maximization Leveraging Just-Enough SNR Margin and Channel Spacing Optimization

Flexible optical network is a promising technology to accommodate high-capacity demands in next-generation networks. To ensure uninterrupted communication, existing lightpath provisioning schemes are mainly done with the assumption of worst-case resource under-provisioning and fixed channel spacing, which preserves an excessive signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) margin. However, under a resource over-provisioning scenario, the excessive SNR margin restricts the transmission bit-rate or transmission reach, leading to physical layer resource waste and stranded transmission capacity. To tackle this challenging problem, we leverage an iterative feedback tuning algorithm to provide a just-enough SNR margin, so as to maximize the network throughput. Specifically, the proposed algorithm is implemented in three steps. First, starting from the high SNR margin setup, we establish an integer linear programming model as well as a heuristic algorithm to maximize the network throughput by solving the problem of routing, modulation format, forward error correction, baud-rate selection, and spectrum assignment. Second, we optimize the channel spacing of the lightpaths obtained from the previous step, thereby increasing the available physical layer resources. Finally, we iteratively reduce the SNR margin of each lightpath until the network throughput cannot be increased. Through numerical simulations, we confirm the throughput improvement in different networks and with different baud-rates. In particular, we find that our algorithm enables over 20\% relative gain when network resource is over-provisioned, compared to the traditional method preserving an excessive SNR margin.Comment: submitted to IEEE JLT, Jul. 17th, 2021. 14 pages, 8 figure

How pessimistic is a worst-case SNR degradation as a link abstraction metric?

We consider a fully loaded, worst-case SNR degradation as an abstraction metric for impairment aware link virtualization. For the NSF topology with minimal fully connected load, the power optimized SNR is only 0.6 dB better