Dynamic Optical Path Provisioning for Alien Access Links: Architecture, Demonstration, and Challenges

With the spread of datacenter interconnect (DCI) and private 5G, there is a growing demand for dynamically established connections between customer locations via high-capacity optical links. However, link parameters, such as signal power profile and amplifier gains, are often unknown and have to be measured by experts, which prevents dynamic path provisioning because of time-consuming manual measurements. Several techniques have been proposed for estimating the unknown parameters of such alien access links; however, no work has presented the architecture and protocol driving the estimation techniques to establish an optical path between the customer locations. This study aims to automatically connect customer-owned transceivers via alien access links with maximum data rate. First, we propose an architecture and protocol for cooperative optical path design between a customer and carrier, utilizing a state-of-the-art technique for estimating link parameters. Second, we implement the proposed protocol in a soft-ware-defined networking controller and white-box transponders using an open API. The experiments demonstrate that the optical path is dynamically established via alien access links in 137 seconds from the transceiver's cold start. Finally, we discuss the possible reduction of required OSNR margin with this method and the remaining issues.