Dynamic Impairment-Aware Routing and Wavelength Assignment

Abstract

Dynamic impairment-aware routing and wavelength assignment (IA-RWA) applies to dynamic core wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) networks and refers to the process that is responsible for the computation of lightpaths (LPs) for traffic demands arriving during network operation. During this process, the effect of single-channel and multichannel impairments needs to be taken into account so as to compute LPs with strong quality of transmission (QoT) and not to disrupt the traffic that is already established in the network. In addition to ensuring acceptable QoT, the online application of IA-RWA seeks also to minimize the execution time needed per connection. Minimizing the LP setup time is critical during network operation, and the delay experienced due to the LP computation depends largely on the algorithmic implementation and particularly on the way physical-layer impairments (PLIs) are considered. Finally IA-RWA needs to be supported by a properly enhanced control plane that essentially enables the dynamic impairment-aware networking vision.