Dynamic routing in spectrally spatially flexible optical networks with back-to-back regeneration

We focus on dynamic lightpath provisioning in translucent spectrally spatially flexible optical networks (SS-FONs) operating with multi-core fibers and realizing spectral super-channel transmission, in which flexible signal regeneration achieved with transceivers operating in back-to-back (B2B) configurations and modulation conversion is allowed. For optimized allocation of limited spectrum and transceiver resources, we develop a dynamic lightpath routing algorithm called adaptive routing with back-to-back regeneration (ARBR), which we evaluate in comparison to other reference methods. Using the ARBR algorithm, we study potential performance gains in terms of bandwidth blocking probability (BBP) in such flexible network scenarios. To this end, we analyze three alternative scenarios that differ in the way in which dynamic translucent lightpath connections are provisioned, namely a reference scenario in which the use of regenerators is minimized and the modulation conversion is not allowed, and two other scenarios with intentional B2B regeneration. The results of extensive simulation experiments run on two representative network topologies show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the reference ones in terms of the BBP metric. Moreover, the fully flexible B2B regeneration with modulation conversion can be beneficial in terms of both spectrum and transceiver resource utilization, resulting in lower BBP than other scenarios.