Migrating elastic optical networks from standard single-mode fibers to ultra-low loss fibers: Strategies and benefits

We consider the replacement of standard single-mode fibers with ultra-low loss (ULL) fibers in an elastic optical network (EON). Different replacement strategies are proposed and compared in terms of bandwidth blocking probability. Simulations show that the OSNR-blocking-based strategy is the most efficient and that there is a saturation trend between the attenuation coefficient of ULL fibers and blocking performance improvement.