An Evolutionary Method to Optimize OSNR Margin in Elastic Optical Channels Subject to Nonlinear Physical Impairments

This paper proposes a metaheuristic optimization method based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) that can be conveniently used to determine launch power profiles of elastic optical channels subject to nonlinear physical impairments. The method focuses on optimizing the overall OSNR margin of heterogeneous connections in a single-link network. The evolutionary method is contrasted to an analytical process widely used for WDM channels and shows a disruptive behavior to what is expected as well as a relevant gain in terms of additional propagated spans when applied to flexible-grid links.