Routing and wavelength assignment encompassing FWM in WDM lightpath networks

A dynamic routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) algorithm encompassing physical impairment due to Four-Wave Mixing (FWM) is proposed. The FWM effect is one of the most severe physical impairments to be considered for the future unify either optical or photonic networks since the accumulation of FWM crosstalk causes a fatal degradation in the wavelength-routed optical network performance. A novel cost function is introduced based upon an impairment-constraint-based routing (ICBR) approach, taking into account the network utilization resources and the physical impairment due to FWM crosstalk. Simulations results show that the proposed algorithm leads to a more realistic system performance comparing to those related approaches of dynamic RWA without considering physical impairments into the routing scheme.