Distributing Shared Regenerator Information in GMPLS-Controlled Translucent Networks

Sparse opto-electronic regenerators are used in optical networks to overcome optical signal quality degradations. Regenerators can be time-shared by dynamic lightpaths. However, current GMPLS control plane does not distribute regenerator information to network nodes. Three regenerator information distribution methods for GMPLS-controlled networks are proposed. The first one, Regeneration Availability during Signaling (RAS), is based on the RSVP- TE signaling protocol, while the others, Regeneration Capability Advertisement (RCA) and Regeneration Availability Advertisement (RAA), are based on the OSPF-TE routing protocol. Simulations show that RAA obtains the lowest blocking, while RCA the highest. Moreover, RAA only slightly increases the control plane load compared to RAS.