Energy-aware multi-layer flexible optical network operation

This work studies the energy-minimized multi-layer operation of IP over flexible optical networks, under a dynamic traffic scenario. We extend a multi-layer connection establishment algorithm to jointly optimize the energy consumption of both IP and optical layers. We compare the performance of the proposed energy-aware multi-layer connection establishment algorithm when applied to fixed-grid MLR and flexible optical networks, with that of an energy-unaware solution. We observe that energy savings can be achieved especially at the optical layer, when the proposed energy-aware algorithm is applied to a flexible, as opposed to a fixed-grid MLR optical network, while we also observed a tradeoff between blocking probability and energy efficiency in the case of flexible optical networks.