Routing, Modulation and Spectrum Allocation in Elastic Optical Networks

Elastic optical networks are seen as an efficient solution for future optical networks. In these networks, the routing, modulation and spectrum allocation problem consists of finding an optimal network utilization by jointly addressing all three aspects. We examine two different approaches for solving this problem dynamically in a network with a variable traffic. The first approach uses several candidate shortest paths and allows dynamic spectral (re)allocation, while the second approach employs a genetic algorithm for finding the most appropriate path. Our results showed that the second approach could often provide lower average blocking probability and a more efficient spectrum utilization than the first one, particularly for networks with shorter links, indicating that it is a potential solution for future high capacity transport network.