Self-Organization in Transparent Optical Networks: A New Approach to Security

Self-organization is a phenomenon that has been observed in many real-life complex networks and the associated concepts have been utilized in various branches of science. As capacity requirements in transparent optical networks (TONs) increase, so does their complexity. This in turn makes designing scalable security mechanisms critical, particularly due to the high speeds and transparency inherent in TONs. These security mechanisms should be able to handle unforseen attacks, as well as component faults. In this paper, we explore the possibilities of applying self-organizing concepts to failure management in transparent optical networks. With further investigation, we hope to develop a network architecture which can self-organize into a functional structure in the presence of failures and other changes in the environment. If successful, this could significantly improve the scalability and robustness of such networks.