Optimizing Transceiver Usage in Multiband Elastic Optical Networks via SLA-Differentiated Protection

Abstract

The recently proposed band division multiplexing (BDM) technology enables network operators to leverage existing optical fibers more effectively. By expanding from the conventional C-band to the L-band, and potentially to the S and E bands, network capacity improves at least two times. This rate of capacity improvement allows the support of significantly more connections compared to the current elastic optical networks (EONs). However, the increased capacity also means that a network failure might cause huge data loss, making the employment of survivability methods a must. On the other hand, since the required level of protection might vary across different users, the implementation of an effective service level agreement (SLA) mechanism is crucial for enhancing network performance and optimizing costs. Since transceivers are among the most expensive components, in this paper, we aim to modify an SLA-differentiated protection for C+L band networks that we previously proposed, focusing on reducing transceiver usage. The modified SLA-differentiated method is evaluated against the original one in terms of network performance and transceiver consumption. We demonstrate that the introduced variation of the SLA mechanism achieves a significant reduction in the number of utilized transceivers.