Queue-aware Network Control Algorithm with a High Quantum Computing Readiness—Evaluated in Discrete-time Flow Simulator for Fat-Pipe Networks

The emerging technology of quantum computing has the potential to change the way how problems will be solved in the future. This work presents a centralized network control algorithm executable on already existing quantum computer which are based on the principle of quantum annealing like the D-Wave Advantage™. We introduce a resource reoccupation algorithm for traffic engineering in wide-area networks. The proposed optimization algorithm changes traffic steering and resource allocation in case of overloaded transceivers. Settings of active components like fiber amplifiers and transceivers are not changed for the reason of stability. This algorithm is beneficial in situations when the network traffic is fluctuating in time scales of seconds or spontaneous bursts occur. Further, we developed a discrete-time flow simulator to study the algorithm’s performance in wide-area networks. Our network simulator considers backlog and loss modeling of buffered transmission lines. Concurring flows are handled equally in case of a backlog. This work provides an ILP-based network configuring algorithm that is applicable on quantum annealing computers. We showcase, that traffic losses can be reduced significantly by a factor of 2 if a resource reoccupation algorithm is applied in a network with bursty traffic. As resources are used more efficiently by reoccupation in heavy load situations, overprovisioning of networks can be reduced. Thus, this new form of network operation leads toward a zero-margin network. We show that our newly introduced network simulator enables analyses of short-time effects like buffering within fat-pipe networks. As the calculation of network configurations in real-sized networks is typically time-consuming, quantum computing can enable the proposed network configuration algorithm for application in realsized wide-area networks.