Survivable virtual topology design in optical WDM networks using nature-inspired algorithms

Tez (Doktora) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Bilişim Enstitüsü, 2012Thesis (PhD) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Informatics, 2012Günümüzde bilgisayar ağları hayatımızın önemli bir parçası ve ihtiyaç haline gelmiştir. İstediğimiz veriye, istediğimiz anda, daha hızlı, daha güvenli ve kesintisiz olarak erişme isteğimiz aslında ağ altyapısının nasıl tasarlanacağını belirlemektedir. Kullanıcıların istekleri sürekli artarken, teknolojik gelişmelerle birlikte yeni yöntem ve algoritmalarla bu istekleri karşılamanın yolları aranmaktadır. Ağdaki aktarım hızı, aktarım ortamından doğrudan etkilenmektedir; bugün uzak mesafelere en yüksek kapasiteli ve hızlı aktarımın yapılabileceği ortam ise fiberdir. Fiber optik ağlar, fiberin üstün özelliklerini (hız, düşük bit hata oranı, elektromanyetik ortamlardan etkilenmeme, düşük işaret zayıflaması, fiziksel dayanıklılık, ucuzluk, güvenlilik, vs.) en iyi kullanacak şekilde tasarlanan ağlardır. Günümüzde dünyadaki iletişim ağ altyapısı, omurga ağlardan erişim ağlarına kadar, hızla fiber optik ağlara dönüşmektedir. Optik ağların en önemli özelliklerinden biri veri aktarım hızıdır, tek bir fiberden teorik olarak 50 Tb/s veri aktarımı yapılabileceği hesaplanmaktadır. Bugün, lider iletişim firmaları 100 Gb/s ya da 1 Tb/s hızda veri aktarımı yapacak kanalllardan bahsedebiliyorsa, bu, fiziksel altyapı optik bir omurgadan oluştuğu içindir. Dalgaboyu bölmeli çoğullama (WDM) teknolojisi sayesinde bir fiber üzerinde aynı anda kurulabilecek kanal sayısı, günümüz teknolojisiyle yüzler mertebesine çıkabilmektedir. Dalgaboyu bölmeli çoğullama teknolojisi ile, optik aktarım birbiriyle çakışmayan dalgaboyu bantlarına bölünür ve her bir dalgaboyu istenen hızda çalışan, ışıkyolu olarak adlandırılan, bir iletişim kanalını destekler. Böylece, yakın gelecek için öngörülen çok yüksek hızlara çıkmadan bile, bir fiberden herbiri birkaç on Gb/s hızda çalışan yüz dolayında ışıkyolu geçebilmektedir. Bu kadar yüksek hızlarda veri aktarımı, özellikle her bir fiberinde çok sayıda kanalın taşındığı omurga ağlarda bir konuya büyük önem kazandırmaktadır: Hataya bağışıklık. En sık rastlanan hata olan, bir fiberin, herhangi bir nedenle kesilmesi (çoğunlukla inşaat makineleri tarafından, ya da doğal afetlerce), fiber tamir edilene kadar, her saniyede birkaç terabitlik veri kaybı anlamına gelecektir. Örnek olarak 10 km uzunlukta bir fiberin kopma sıklığı 11 yılda birdir. Omurga ağlarda yüzlerce, bazen binlerce, kilometrelik fiberler döşendiği gözönüne alındığında, böyle bir hata durumu için tedbir alınmaması düşünülemez. Optik ağ üzerindeki herhangi bir fibere zarar gelmesi demek bu fiber üzerinden yönlendirilmiş olan tüm ışıkyollarının kopması demektir. Her bir ışıkyolu üzerinden yüksek miktarda (40 Gb/s) veri aktarımı yapıldığından, böyle bir zarar ciddi veri kayıplarına neden olabilir. Temel olarak fiber kopmasına karşı geliştirilen iki yaklaşım vardır. Birinci yaklaşımda fiber üzerinden geçen her bir bağlantının, yani ışıkyolunun, yedek yollarla korunmasıdır. İkinci yaklaşım ise, özellikle birçok internet uygulamasına da uygun ve yeterli olacak şekilde, ışıkyollarının oluşturduğu sanal topolojinin bağlı kalmasının sağlanmasıdır. Bu ikinci yaklaşımda herbir ışıkyoluna ayrı ayrı yedek koruma yollarının atanması yerine, sanal topolojinin korunması dikkate alınarak, üst katmanların (paket katmanları) koruma mekanizmalarının devreye girebilmesi için gereken minimum koşulların sağlanması amaçlanmaktadır. Birinci yaklaşım belirli düzeylerde garantili bir koruma sağlarken yüksek miktarda ağ kaynağının atıl durmasına neden olmakta, dolayısıyla bu kadar üst düzey koruma gerektirmeyen uygulamalar için pahalı bir çözüm sunmaktadır. Son yıllarda özellikle dikkat çeken ikinci yaklaşım ise, daha ekonomik bir yöntemle iletişimin kopmaması garantisini vermekte, ancak daha yavaş bir düzeltme sağlamaktadır. Günümüzde birçok uygulama bağlantı kopmadığı sürece paket katmanının, yeni yol bulma gibi hata düzeltme mekanizmalarının devreye girmesi için gerekli olan, dakikalar mertebesindeki gecikmelere toleranslıdır (web dolaşımı, dosya aktarımı, mesajlaşma, uzaktan erişim gibi). Bu yaklaşım ilkine göre daha az ağ kaynağının atıl kalmasına neden olarak kullanıcıya daha ekonomik hizmet verilmesini sağlayacaktır. Bu çalışmada üzerinde durduğumuz hataya bağışık sanal topoloji tasarımı problemi de bu ikinci yaklaşımı benimsemektedir. Hataya bağışık sanal topoloji tasarımı problemi kendi içinde dört alt probleme ayrılmaktadır: ışıkyollarının belirlenmesi (sanal topolojiyi oluşturma), bu ışıkyollarının herhangi bir fiber kopması durumunda bile sanal topolojinin bağlı kalmasını sağlayacak sekilde fiziksel topoloji üzerinde yönlendirilmesi, dalgaboyu atanması, ve paket trafiğinin yönlendirilmesi. Bu alt problemler ayrı ayrı çözülebilir. Ancak, bunlar bağımsız problemler değildir ve bunları tek tek çözmek elde edilen çözümün kalitesinin çok düşük olmasına neden olabilir. Bununla birlikte, hataya bağışık sanal topoloji tasarımı problemi NP-karmaşıktır. Karmaşıklığı nedeniyle bu problemin, gerçek boyutlu ağlar için, klasik optimizasyon teknikleriyle kabul edilebilir zamanda çözülmesi mümkün değildir. Bu çalışmada, fiziksel topolojinin ve düğümler arası paket trafiği yoğunluğunun bilindiği durumlar için, hataya bağışık sanal topoloji tasarımı problemi bütün halinde ele alınmaktadır. Tezin ilk aşamasında, hataya bağışık sanal topoloji tasarımı probleminin alt problemi olan hataya bağışık sanal topoloji yönlendirmesi problemi ele alınmıştır. Verilen bir sanal topoloji için en az kaynak kullanarak hataya bağışık yönlendirme yapmak için iki farklı doğa-esinli algoritma önerilmektedir: evrimsel algoritmalar ve karınca kolonisi optimizasyonu. Öncelikle önerilen algoritmaların problem için uygun parametre kümesi belirlenmiş, daha sonra, algoritmaların başarımını ölçmek için, deneysel sonuçlar tamsayı doğrusal programlama (ILP) ile elde edilen sonuçlarla karşılaştırılmışır. Sonuçlar göstermektedir ki; önerdiğimiz iki algoritma da, tamsayı doğrusal programlama ile uygun bir çözüm bulunamayan büyük ölçekli ağlar için dahi, problemi çözebilmektedir. Bunun yanında, doğa-esinli algoritmalar çok daha az CPU zamanı ve hafıza kullanmaktadır. Elde edilen çözüm kalitesi ve çözüm için kullanılan CPU zamanının kabul edilebilir düzeyde olması, her iki doğa-esinli algoritmanın da gerçek boyutlu ağlar için kullanılabileceğini doğrulamaktadır. İkinci aşamada, hataya bağışık sanal topoloji tasarımı problemini bir bütün halinde çözmek için dört farklı üst-sezgisel yöntem önerilmektedir. Önerilen üst-sezgisel yöntemler alt seviyedeki sezgiselleri seçme asamasında dört farklı yöntem kullanmaktadır: evrimsel algoritmalar, benzetimli tavlama, karınca kolonisi optimizasyonu ve uyarlamalı yinelenen yapıcı arama. Deneysel sonuçlar tüm üst-sezgisel yöntemlerin hataya bağışık sanal topoloji tasarımı problemini çözmede başarılı olduğunu göstermektedir. Ancak, karınca kolonisi optimizasyonu tabanlı üst-sezgisel diğerlerine göre daha üstün sonuçlar vermektedir. Işıkyolları üzerindeki trafik akışını dengelemek için, karınca kolonisi optimizasyonu tabanlı üst-sezgisele akış deviasyonu yöntemi de eklenmiştir. Literatürde hataya bağışık sanal topoloji tasarımı problemini ele alan tüm çalışmalar çift fiber kopması durumunu gözardı etmektedir. Bu çalışmada, önerdiğimiz üst-sezgisel yöntemin başarımını hem tek hem de çift fiber kopması durumları için değerlendirdik. Önerdiğimiz yöntem çoklu fiber kopması durumları için çok kolay şekilde adapte edilebilmektedir. Tek yapılması gereken hataya bağışıklık kontrolünü yapan yordamın değiştirilmesidir. Deneysel sonuçlar göstermiştir ki, önerdiğimiz karınca kolonisi optimizasyonu tabanlı üst-sezgisel hataya bağışık sanal topoloji tasarımı problemini hem tek hem de çift fiber kopması durumları için kabul edilebilir bir sürede çözebilmektedir. Üst-sezgisel yöntemlerin hataya bağışık sanal topoloji tasarımı çözmedeki başarımını değerlendirebilmek amacıyla, karınca kolonisi optimizasyonu tabanlı üst-sezgiselle elde edilen sonuçlar, literatürde bu problem için önerilmiş başka bir yöntemle karşılaştırılmıştır. Sonuçlar üst-sezgisel yöntemlerin, çok daha az CPU zamanı kullanarak, problem için daha kaliteli çözümler verdiğini göstermektedir.Today, computer networking has become an integral part of our daily life. The steady increase in user demands of high speed and high bandwidth networks causes researchers to seek out new methods and algorithms to meet these demands. The transmission speed in the network is directly affected by the transmission medium. The most effective medium to transmit data is the fiber. Optical networks are designed for the best usage of the superior properties of the fiber, e.g. high speed, high bandwidth, low bit error rate, low attenuation, physical strength, cheapness, etc. The world's communication network infrastructure, from backbone networks to access networks, is consistently turning into optical networks. One of the most important properties of the optical networks is the data transmission rate (up to 50 Tb/s on a single fiber). Today, with the help of the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology, hundreds of channels can be built on a single fiber. WDM is a technology in which the optical transmission is split into a number of non-overlapping wavelength bands, with each wavelength supporting a single communication channel operating at the desired rate. Since multiple WDM channels, also called lightpaths, can coexist on a single fiber, the huge fiber bandwidth can be utilized. Any damage to a physical link (fiber) on the network causes all the lightpaths routed through this link to be broken. Since huge data transmission (40 Gb/s) over each of these lightpaths is possible, such a damage results in a serious amount of data loss. Two different approaches can be used in order to avoid this situation: 1. Survivability on the physical layer, 2. Survivability on the virtual layer. The first approach is the problem of designing a backup link/path for each link/path of the optical layer. The second approach is the problem of designing the optical layer such that the optical layer remains connected in the event of a single or multiple link failure. While the first approach provides faster protection for time-critical applications (such as, IP phone, telemedicine) by reserving more resources, the second approach, i.e. the survivable virtual topology design, which has attracted a lot of attention in recent years, aims to protect connections using less resources. The problem that will be studied in this project is to develop methods for survivable virtual topology design, that enables effective usage of the resources. Survivable virtual topology design consists of four subproblems: determining a set of lightpaths (forming the virtual topology), routing these lightpaths on the physical topology (routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) problem), so that any single fiber cut does not disconnect the virtual topology (survivable virtual topology mapping), assigning wavelengths, and routing the packet traffic. Each of these subproblems can be solved separately. However, they are not independent problems and solving them one by one may degrade the quality of the final result considerably. Furthermore, the survivable virtual topology design is known to be NP-complete. Because of its complexity, it is not possible to solve the problem optimally in an acceptable amount of time using classical optimization techniques, for real-life sized networks. In this thesis, we solve the survivable virtual topology design problem as a whole, where the physical topology and the packet traffic intensities between nodes are given. In the first phase, we propose two different nature inspired heuristics to find a survivable mapping of a given virtual topology with minimum resource usage. Evolutionary algorithms and ant colony optimization algorithms are applied to the problem. To assess the performance of the proposed algorithms, we compare the experimental results with those obtained through integer linear programming. The results show that both of our algorithms can solve the problem even for large-scale network topologies for which a feasible solution cannot be found using integer linear programming. Moreover, the CPU time and the memory used by the nature inspired heuristics is much lower. In the second phase, we propose four different hyper-heuristic approaches to solve the survivable virtual topology design problem as a whole. Each hyper-heuristic approach is based on a different category of nature inspired heuristics: evolutionary algorithms, ant colony optimization, simulated annealing, and adaptive iterated constructive search. Experimental results show that, all proposed hyper-heuristic approaches are successful in designing survivable virtual topologies. Furthermore, the ant colony optimization based hyper-heuristic outperforms the others. To balance the traffic flow over lightpaths, we adapt a flow-deviation method to the ant colony optimization based hyper-heuristic approach. We explore the performance of our hyper-heuristic approach for both single and double-link failures. The proposed approach can be applied to the multiple-link failure problem instances by only changing the survivability control routine. The experimental results show that our approach can solve the problem for both single-link and double-link failures in a reasonable amount of time. To evaluate the quality of the HH approach solutions, we compare these results with the results obtained using tabu search approach. The results show that HH approach outperforms tabu search approach both in solution quality and CPU time.DoktoraPh

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

Survivable Virtual Network Embedding in Transport Networks

Network Virtualization (NV) is perceived as an enabling technology for the future Internet and the 5th Generation (5G) of mobile networks. It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with emerging applications’ Quality of Service (QoS) requirements in an ossified Internet. NV addresses the current Internet’s ossification problem by allowing the co-existence of multiple Virtual Networks (VNs), each customized to a specific purpose on the shared Internet. NV also facilitates a new business model, namely, Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), which provides a separation between applications and services, and the networks supporting them. 5G mobile network operators have adopted the NaaS model to partition their physical network resources into multiple VNs (also called network slices) and lease them to service providers. Service providers use the leased VNs to offer customized services satisfying specific QoS requirements without any investment in deploying and managing a physical network infrastructure. The benefits of NV come at additional resource management challenges. A fundamental problem in NV is to efficiently map the virtual nodes and virtual links of a VN to physical nodes and paths, respectively, known as the Virtual Network Embedding (VNE) problem. A VNE that can survive physical resource failures is known as the survivable VNE (SVNE) problem, and has received significant attention recently. In this thesis, we address variants of the SVNE problem with different bandwidth and reliability requirements for transport networks. Specifically, the thesis includes four main contributions. First, a connectivity-aware VNE approach that ensures VN connectivity without bandwidth guarantee in the face of multiple link failures. Second, a joint spare capacity allocation and VNE scheme that provides bandwidth guarantee against link failures by augmenting VNs with necessary spare capacity. Third, a generalized recovery mechanism to re-embed the VNs that are impacted by a physical node failure. Fourth, a reliable VNE scheme with dedicated protection that allows tuning of available bandwidth of a VN during a physical link failure. We show the effectiveness of the proposed SVNE schemes through extensive simulations. We believe that the thesis can set the stage for further research specially in the area of automated failure management for next generation networks

An Overview on Application of Machine Learning Techniques in Optical Networks

Today's telecommunication networks have become sources of enormous amounts of widely heterogeneous data. This information can be retrieved from network traffic traces, network alarms, signal quality indicators, users' behavioral data, etc. Advanced mathematical tools are required to extract meaningful information from these data and take decisions pertaining to the proper functioning of the networks from the network-generated data. Among these mathematical tools, Machine Learning (ML) is regarded as one of the most promising methodological approaches to perform network-data analysis and enable automated network self-configuration and fault management. The adoption of ML techniques in the field of optical communication networks is motivated by the unprecedented growth of network complexity faced by optical networks in the last few years. Such complexity increase is due to the introduction of a huge number of adjustable and interdependent system parameters (e.g., routing configurations, modulation format, symbol rate, coding schemes, etc.) that are enabled by the usage of coherent transmission/reception technologies, advanced digital signal processing and compensation of nonlinear effects in optical fiber propagation. In this paper we provide an overview of the application of ML to optical communications and networking. We classify and survey relevant literature dealing with the topic, and we also provide an introductory tutorial on ML for researchers and practitioners interested in this field. Although a good number of research papers have recently appeared, the application of ML to optical networks is still in its infancy: to stimulate further work in this area, we conclude the paper proposing new possible research directions

A survey on OFDM-based elastic core optical networking

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is a modulation technology that has been widely adopted in many new and emerging broadband wireless and wireline communication systems. Due to its capability to transmit a high-speed data stream using multiple spectral-overlapped lower-speed subcarriers, OFDM technology offers superior advantages of high spectrum efficiency, robustness against inter-carrier and inter-symbol interference, adaptability to server channel conditions, etc. In recent years, there have been intensive studies on optical OFDM (O-OFDM) transmission technologies, and it is considered a promising technology for future ultra-high-speed optical transmission. Based on O-OFDM technology, a novel elastic optical network architecture with immense flexibility and scalability in spectrum allocation and data rate accommodation could be built to support diverse services and the rapid growth of Internet traffic in the future. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey on OFDM-based elastic optical network technologies, including basic principles of OFDM, O-OFDM technologies, the architectures of OFDM-based elastic core optical networks, and related key enabling technologies. The main advantages and issues of OFDM-based elastic core optical networks that are under research are also discussed

Resource Allocation, and Survivability in Network Virtualization Environments

Network virtualization can offer more flexibility and better manageability for the future Internet by allowing multiple heterogeneous virtual networks (VN) to coexist on a shared infrastructure provider (InP) network. A major challenge in this respect is the VN embedding problem that deals with the efficient mapping of virtual resources on InP network resources. Previous research focused on heuristic algorithms for the VN embedding problem assuming that the InP network remains operational at all times. In this thesis, we remove that assumption by formulating the survivable virtual network embedding (SVNE) problem and developing baseline policy heuristics and an efficient hybrid policy heuristic to solve it. The hybrid policy is based on a fast re-routing strategy and utilizes a pre-reserved quota for backup on each physical link. Our evaluation results show that our proposed heuristic for SVNE outperforms baseline heuristics in terms of long term business profit for the InP, acceptance ratio, bandwidth efficiency, and response time

Enabling Technology in Optical Fiber Communications: From Device, System to Networking

This book explores the enabling technology in optical fiber communications. It focuses on the state-of-the-art advances from fundamental theories, devices, and subsystems to networking applications as well as future perspectives of optical fiber communications. The topics cover include integrated photonics, fiber optics, fiber and free-space optical communications, and optical networking

Intelligent Network Infrastructures: New Functional Perspectives on Leveraging Future Internet Services

The Internet experience of the 21st century is by far very different from that of the early '80s. The Internet has adapted itself to become what it really is today, a very successful business platform of global scale. As every highly successful technology, the Internet has suffered from a natural process of ossification. Over the last 30 years, the technical solutions adopted to leverage emerging applications can be divided in two categories. First, the addition of new functionalities either patching existing protocols or adding new upper layers. Second, accommodating traffic grow with higher bandwidth links. Unfortunately, this approach is not suitable to provide the proper ground for a wide gamma of new applications. To be deployed, these future Internet applications require from the network layer advanced capabilities that the TCP/IP stack and its derived protocols can not provide by design in a robust, scalable fashion. NGNs (Next Generation Networks) on top of intelligent telecommunication infrastructures are being envisioned to support future Internet Services. This thesis contributes with three proposals to achieve this ambitious goal. The first proposal presents a preliminary architecture to allow NGNs to seamlessly request advanced services from layer 1 transport networks, such as QoS guaranteed point-to-multipoint circuits. This architecture is based on virtualization techniques applied to layer 1 networks, and hides from NGNs all complexities of interdomain provisioning. Moreover, the economic aspects involved were also considered, making the architecture attractive to carriers. The second contribution regards a framework to develop DiffServ-MPLS capable networks based exclusively on open source software and commodity PCs. The developed DiffServ-MPLS flexible software router was designed to allow NGN prototyping, that make use of pseudo virtual circuits and assured QoS as a starting point of development. The third proposal presents a state of the art routing and wavelength assignment algorithm for photonic networks. This algorithm considers physical layer impairments to 100% guarantee the requested QoS profile, even in case of single network failures. A number of novel techniques were applied to offer lower blocking probability when compared with recent proposed algorithms, without impacting on setup delay time

Virtual network provisioning over flexible optical transport infrastructure

Current transport network owners are focused on offering services on top of the infrastructures they own, while end users have no control over them. Traditionally, this has been their business model, as the cost of building the infrastructures to provide services is considerably high. However, the traffic on Internet has been, and still is, rapidly increasing over the years. Additionally new emerging services are pushing the limits of existing telecommunication infrastructures, particularly transport optical networks. To overcome such situation, network virtualization has been considered as an effective solution for the future optical networks architectures. Thanks to Virtual Optical Networks (VONs), it is possible to create mission-specific logic infrastructures, which fulfil the exact requirements of the applications that will run on top of them, sharing a unique physical substrate. However, the applicability of virtualization techniques to the optical domain is still under research, being on key point the mapping of the virtual resources to the actual physical ones. However, virtualization per se does not provide a solution flexible enough in terms of bandwidth utilization. For this to happen, an equally flexible transport technology must be adopted. Elastic Optical Networks (EONs) have been presented as an efficient solution for flexible bandwidth allocation. Additionally, due to the dinamicity of the traffic patterns that such virtual networks will face, it is highly desirable to provide a physical substrate that will help on keeping the associated operational expenditures (OPEX) at low levels, being a very important parameter the energy consumption. The energy consumption topic has been subject of big research efforts in order to provide more energy efficient optical transport networks, which, at their turn, will help on the creation of less costly virtual infrastructures. This thesis is devoted to the study of resource allocation to VONs, aiming to provide a flexible, efficient and optimized environment for the embedding of the VONs to the actual physical substrate. The considered scenario is composed of an underlying optical transport network and multiple client VONs that have to be allocated on top. In such scenario, a key aspect relates to how actual resources are associated to the virtual ones, guaranteeing the isolation among VONs and satisfying the resources requirements of every one of them. After an introduction to the thesis, chapter 2 surveys nowadays optical network infrastructures, concluding on the need to move towards a more dynamic and efficient optical network infrastructure. Next, it proceeds to summarize the state of the art of the concepts that enable for such network architecture, namely, VONs, EONs and energy efficient optical infrastructures. Then, chapters 3, 4 and 5 focus on providing solutions to optimize specific aspects of these enabling concepts. More in details, chapter 3 studies the main challenges on the VON embedding problem and presents solutions that allow for an optimized resoure assignment to VONs in a physical substrate depending on the VONs characteristics and the sppecific network substrate. Chapter 4 proposes the Split Spectrum (SS) approach as a way to improve the spectrum utilization of EONs. Finally, chapter 5 focuses on provide and evaluate routing and architectural solutions in aims to reduce the energy consumption of the optical substrate so as VONs with lower OPEX can be deployed on top of it.Els actuals propietaris de xarxes de transport es centren en oferir serveis mitjançant les infraestructures que posseeixen, mentre els usuaris finals no tenen cap control sobre aquests. Tradicionalment, aquest ha estat el seu model de negoci, ja que el cost de construir aquestes infraestructures és considerablement elevat. Tanmateix, el tràfic a Internet ha estat creixent de manera ràpida durant els últims anys. A més, l'aparició de nous serveis està portant al límit les actuals infraestructures de telecomunicacions, especialment les xarxes òptiques de transport. Per tal de superar aquesta situació, la virtualització de xarxes és considerada com una solució efectiva per les futures arquitectures de xarxes òptiques. Gràcies a les Xarxes Òptiques Virtuals (VONs), és possible crear infraestructures lògiques específiques en la seva missió, les quals permeten satisfer els requisits de les aplicacions que s'executaran a través d'elles, compartint un únic substrat físic. Tanmateix, l'aplicació de les tècniques de virtualització en el domini òptic encara és subjecte d'investigació, sent el mapeig entre els recursos virtuals i els recursos físics un punt clau que cal adreçar. No obstant això, la virtualització en si mateixa no proporciona una solució prou flexible en termes d'utilització de l'espectre. Per aquest motiu és necessari que el substrat físic adopti una tecnologia igualment flexible. Les Xarxes Òptiques Elàstiques (EONs) es presenten com una solució eficient per a una assignació flexible de l'espectre. A més, a causa del dinamisme dels perfils de trafic als quals s'enfrontaran les VONs, és desitjable proporcionar una infraestructura física que ajudi a mantenir baixes les despeses operatives (OPEX) d'aquestes xarxes, sent un paràmetre molt important el consum energètic. El tema del consum energètic ha estat subjecte de grans iniciatives de recerca per tal de proporcionar xarxes de transport òptiques més eficients energèticament, les quals permetran crear VONs menys costoses. Aquesta tesi està dedicada a l'estudi l'assignació de recursos a les VONs, amb l'objectiu de proporcionar un entorn flexible, eficient i optimitzat per a la incrustació de les VONs al substrat físic. L'escenari considerat es compon d'una xarxa de transport subjacent i múltiples VONs client a col·locar sobre el substrat físic. En aquest escenari, un aspecte clau es refereix a com els recursos reals s'associen als virtuals, garantint l'aïllament entre VONs i satisfent els recursos demanats per cada una d'elles. Després d'una introducció a la tesi, el capítol 2 revisa les infraestructures de xarxa òptica actuals, concloent en la necessitat d'avançar cap a infraestructures més dinàmiques i eficients. Tot seguit, es procedeix a resumir l'estat de l'art dels conceptes que habilitaran aquesta arquitectura de xarxa, bàsicament, VONs, EONs i les xarxes òptiques de baix consum. A continuació, els capítols 3, 4 i 5 es centren en proporcionar solucions per optimitzar aspectes específics d'aquests conceptes. Més en detall, el capítol 3 estudia els principals reptes en el problema de la incrustació de VONs i presenta solucions que permetin assignar recursos de manera optimitzada a les VONs en un substrat físic. El capítol 4 proposa el concepte de l'Split Spectrum (SS) com una forma de millorar la utilització de l'espectre en les EONs. Finalment, el capítol 5 es centra en proporcionar i avaluar solucions arquitectòniques i d'enrutament amb l'objectiu de reduir el consum d'energia del substrat òptic de tal manera que VONs amb menor OPEX puguin ser desplegades a través d'ell.Los actuales propietarios de las redes de transporte se centran en ofrecer servicios mediante las infraestructuras que poseen y gestionan, mientras que los usuarios finales no tienen ningún control sobre estos. Tradicionalmente, este ha sido el modelo de negocio adoptado por los operadores de redes, ya que el coste de construir y mantener las infraestructuras correspondientes por tal de ofrecer servicios mediante ellas era, y aun es, considerablemente elevado. No obstante, el tráfico en Internet ha crecido de manera rápida y sostenida durante los últimos años y se prevé que continuara con este crecimiento en el futuro. Además, la aparición de nuevos servicios y paradigmas, están llevando al límite las actuales infraestructuras de telecomunicaciones, especialmente las redes de trasporte óptico. Por tal de superar dicha situación, la virtualización de redes ha sido considerada como una solución efectiva para las futuras arquitecturas de redes ópticas. Gracias a las Redes Ópticas Virtuales (VONs), es posible crear infraestructuras lógicas especificas en su misión, las cuales podrán satisfacer los requisitos de las aplicaciones que se ejecutaran a través de ellas, usando y compartiendo un único sustrato físico. No obstante, la aplicación de las técnicas de virtualización en el dominio óptico aun es sujeto de investigación, siendo el mapeo entre los recursos virtuales y los físicos (también conocido como incrustación de la red virtual) un punto clave a solucionar. No obstante, la virtualización por si misma no ofrece una solución suficientemente flexible en términos de utilización del ancho de banda. Por tal de proporcionar un entorno de virtualización suficientemente flexible para acomodar cualquier ancho de banda con suficiente granularidad, es necesario que el sustrato físico adopte una tecnología de transporte igual de flexible. Las Redes Ópticas Elásticas (EONs) se presentan como una solución eficiente para una asignación flexible del ancho de banda en redes ópticas. Además, debido a la heterogeneidad y dinamismo de los perfiles de tráfico a los cuales se enfrentaran las redes virtuales, es altamente deseable proporcionar una infraestructura física que ayuda a mantener bajos los gastos operativos (OPEX) de estas redes, siendo un parámetro muy importante el consumo energético asociado a la operación de las VONs. El tema del consumo energético ha sido, y aun es, sujeto de grandes iniciativas de investigación centradas en desarrollar nuevas arquitecturas de dispositivos o algoritmos de asignación de recursos conscientes del consumo energético por tal de proporcionar redes de transporte ópticas más eficientes energéticamente que, a su vez, permitan crear infraestructuras virtuales menos costosas des del punto de vista energético. Esta tesis se centra en el estudio de la composición y asignación de recursos a las VONs, con el objetivo de proporcionar un entorno flexible, eficiente y optimizado para la incrustación de las VONs en el sustrato físico real. El escenario considerado se compone de una red de transporte subyacente, ya sea una Red Óptica de Conmutación de Longitud de Onda (WSON) o EON, y múltiples VONs cliente, las cuales se colocaran encima del sustrato físico. En este escenario, un aspecto clave se refiere a como los recursos reales se asocian a los virtuales, garantizando el aislamiento entre VONs y satisfaciendo los recursos pedidos (por ejemplo, capacidad de enlace) por cada una de ellas. Después de una introducción a la tesis, el capítulo 2 revisa las infraestructuras de redes ópticas actuales, concluyendo en la necesidad de avanzar hacia una infraestructura de red óptica más dinámica y eficiente por tal de afrontar el crecimiento del tráfico en Internet y la aparición de nuevos servicios y paradigmas. Seguidamente, se procede a resumir el estado del arte de los conceptos y paradigmas que permitirán habilitar esta arquitectura de red, básicamente, VONs, EONs y las infraestructuras ópticas de bajo consumo energético. A continuación, los capítulos 3, 4 y 5 se centran en proporcionar soluciones para optimizar aspectos específicos de estos conceptos con la finalidad de proporcionar un marco optimizado que ayudara en la configuración de las futuras infraestructuras de redes ópticas y sus modelos de negocio. Concretamente, el capítulo 3 estudia los principales retos en el problema de la incrustación de VONs y presenta soluciones que permiten una asignación de recursos optimizada a las VONs en un sustrato físico dependiendo de las características de las VONs y del sustrato de red. El capítulo 4 propone el concepto de Split Spectrum (SS) como una forma de mejorar la utilizaci_on del espectro en las EONs. Finalmente, el capítulo 5 se centra en proporcionar y evaluar soluciones arquitectónicas y de enrutamiento con el objetivo de reducir el consumo energético del sustrato óptico de tal manera que VONs con menor OPEX puedan ser desplegadas mediante este sustrato