Multiflow application for WDM networks with multicarrier transponders serving superchannels in contentionless OXCS [invited]

Considerable attention from research teams has been paid to telecommunication elastic photonic networks since 2009, mainly by assessing the related extra network capacity or the mitigation of wavelength contention along the optical fibers. Now that more flexible spectral selective switches and significant modulation agile transponders are generally available off the shelf, this assessment of elasticity should become more comprehensive to make this technology even more attractive. In that context, this study examines the optimization of the stages inserting/extracting superchannels in wavelength routing optical cross-connects by using a multicarrier transponder (MC-TRx). The total add/drop capacity of the crossconnects can be dramatically increased if these MC-TRxs feature one sole common access port for all their subcarriers. But this situation calls into question the independent access to each transceiver integrated within each MC-TRx, even when it is connected to a contentionless add/drop stage based on a multicast switch. This is why this paper also describes a partial multiflow application that still complies with multicast switch (unlike the full multiflow application). These 2 multiflow options are then compared in terms of MC-TRx utilization efficiency.