Multi-Vendor Experimental Validation of an Open Source QoT Estimator for Optical Networks

Dramatic increase in data traffic, future diffusion of bandwidth-hungry 5G connectivity and evolving services like virtual reality and cloud will require the implementation of the open and elastic network paradigm on backbone optical networks. To support such growth, operators are aiming at lowering optical network costs by deploying multi-vendor disaggregated optical networks supporting white boxes while maintaining target performances. To make this effort successful, a vendor-agnostic assessment of optical performance is needed, and operators and vendors are working together to achieve this. In this paper, we present the vision of the Open Optical Packet Transport Physical Simulation Environment (PSE) Group of the Telecom Infra Project consortium, which aims at developing an open source framework for quality-of-transmission (QoT) assessment for design and operation of multi-vendor optical networks. We validate the PSE QoT estimator-the optical link emulator (OLE) based on the Gaussian noise (GN) model for nonlinear fiber propagation-by comparison with experimental results on the mixed-fiber test-bed network at Microsoft labs, operated in the C-band by commercial transceivers from eight different vendors, with propagation distances up to 1945 km. An excellent agreement between OLE predictions requiring milliseconds of computational time and measurements has been observed for all channels. The observed ±0.75 dB of accuracy in OLE predictions can be further reduced by including the stimulated Raman scattering in the GN model and with a more accurate capability to estimate power levels and the amount of amplified spontaneous emission noise. Further work will be also required to automate the measurement process of operational parameters from network equipment, especially optical amplifiers, to streamline the overall QoT estimation process.