Comparing single layer and multilayer approaches to serve multicast requests on flexgrid networks

Advanced services require high bitrate multicast connectivity being provided by core transport networks. Multicast services can be supported by a tree connecting the source to every destination of the multicast request. As a result of the bitrate that might be required, providing them directly on the optical layer could bring benefits. Notwithstanding, with the advent of the flexgrid technology, connections with capacities of 400 Gb/s and beyond can be set up that opens opportunities to create virtual topologies on which multicast services can be provided. In this paper, we compare the performance of providing high bitrate multicast services on the single layer and the multilayer approach; heuristic algorithms for the two considered approaches are developed. Exhaustive simulation results carried out on three national core network topologies show that the tree scheme on the multilayer approach outperforms the rest of options.