New and improved approaches for shared-path protection in WDM mesh networks

This paper investigates the problem of dynamic survivable lightpath provisioning in optical mesh networks employing wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM). In particular, we focus on shared-path protection because it is resource efficient due to the fact that backup paths can share wavelength links when their corresponding working paths are mutually diverse. Our main contributions are as follows. 1) First, we prove that the problem of finding an eligible pair of working and backup paths for a new lightpath request requiring shared-path protection under the current network state is NP-complete. 2) Then, we develop a heuristic, called CAFES, to compute a feasible solution with high probability. 3) Finally, we design another heuristic, called OPT, to optimize resource consumption for a given solution. The merits of our approaches are that they capture the essence of shared-path protection and approach to optimal solutions without enumerating paths. We evaluate the effectiveness of our heuristics and the results are found to be promising.     

Physical layer performance benchmarking of two metropolitan area network configurations

This paper investigates the problem of dynamic survivable lightpath provisioning against single-node/link failures in optical mesh networks employing wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM).We unify various forms of segment protection into generalized segment protection (GSP). In GSP, the working path of a lightpath is divided into multiple overlapping working segments, each of which is protected by a node-/link-disjoint backup segment. We design an efficient heuristic which, upon the arrival of a lightpath request, dynamically divides a judiciously selected working path into multiple overlapping working segments and computes a backup segment for each working segment while accommodating backup sharing. Compared to the widely considered shared-path protection scheme, GSP achieves much lower blocking probability and shorter protection-switching time for a small sacrifice in control and management overhead.On the basis of generalized segment protection, we present a new approach to provisioning lightpath requests according to their differentiated quality-of-protection (QoP) requirements. We focus on one of the most important QoP parameters—namely, protection-switching time—since lightpath requests may have differentiated protection-switching-time requirements. For example, lightpaths carrying voice traffic may require 50 ms protection-switching time while lightpaths carrying data traffic may have a wide range of protection-switching-time requirements. Numerical results show that our approach achieves significant performance gain which leads to a remarkable reduction in blocking probability.While our focus is on the optical WDM network, the basic ideas of our approaches can be applied to multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) networks with appropriate adjustments, e.g., differentiated bandwidth granularities.     

Distributed Nonlinear Integer Optimization for Data-Optical Internetworking

We present a novel approach for joint optical network provisioning and Internet protocol (IP) traffic engineering, in which the IP and optical networks collaboratively optimize a combined objective of network performance and lightpath provisioning cost. We develop a framework for distributed multilayer optimization. Our framework is built upon the IP-over-optical (IPO) overlay model, where each network domain has a limited view of the other. Our formulation allows the two domains to communicate and coordinate their decisions through minimal information exchange. Our solution is based on a novel application of Generalized Bender's Decomposition, which divides a difficult global optimization problem into tractable subproblems, each solved by a different domain. The procedure is iterative and converges to the global optimum. We present case studies to demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of our approach in various networking scenarios. Our work builds a foundation for “multilayer” grooming, which extends traditional grooming in the optical domain to include data networks. The data networks are active participants in the grooming process with intelligent homing of data traffic to optical gateways.     

Optical BGP Routing Convergence in Lightpath Failure of Optical Internet

Optical Border Gateway Protocol (OBGP) is an extension to BGP for Optical Cross Connects (OXCs) to automatically setup multiple direct optical lightpaths between many different autonomous domains. With OBGP, the routing component of a network may be distributed to the edge of the network while the packet classification and forwarding is done in the core. However, it is necessary to analyze the stable convergence functions of OBGP in case of lightpath failures. In this paper, we first describe the architecture of the OBGP model and analyze the potential problems of OBGP, e.g., virtual BGP router convergence behavior in the presence of lightpath failure. We then propose an OBGP convergence model derived from an inter‐AS (Autonomous System) relationship. The evaluation results show that the proposed model can be used for a stable OBGP routing policy and OBGP routing convergence under lightpath failures of the optical Internet.     

Some principles for designing a wide-area WDM optical network

We explore design principles for next-generation optical wide-area networks, employing wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) and targeted to nationwide coverage. This optical network exploits wavelength multiplexers and optical switches in routing nodes, so that an arbitrary virtual topology may be embedded on a given physical fiber network. The virtual topology, which is used as a packet-switched network and which consists of a set of all-optical “lightpaths”, is set up to exploit the relative strengths of both optics and electronics-viz. packets of information are carried by the virtual topology “as far as possible” in the optical domain, but packet forwarding from lightpath to lightpath is performed via electronic switching, whenever required. We formulate the virtual topology design problem as an optimization problem with one of two possible objective functions: (1) for a given traffic matrix, minimize the network-wide average packet delay (corresponding to a solution for present traffic demands), or (2) maximize the scale factor by which the traffic matrix can be scaled up (to provide the maximum capacity upgrade for future traffic demands). Since simpler versions of this problem have been shown to be NP-hard, we resort to heuristic approaches. Specifically, we employ an iterative approach which combines “simulated annealing” (to search for a good virtual topology) and “flow deviation” (to optimally route the traffic-and possibly bifurcate its components-on the virtual topology). We do not consider the number of available wavelengths to be a constraint, i.e., we ignore the routing of lightpaths and wavelength assignment for these lightpaths. We illustrate our approaches by employing experimental traffic statistics collected from NSFNET     

Fault management in IP-over-WDM networks: WDM protection versus IPrestoration

We consider an IP-over-WDM network in which network nodes employ optical crossconnects and IP routers. Nodes are connected by fibers to form a mesh topology. Any two IP routers in this network can be connected together by an all-optical wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) channel, called a lightpath, and the collection of lightpaths that are set up form a virtual topology. In this paper, we concentrate on single fiber failures, since they are the predominant form of failures in optical networks. Since each lightpath is expected to operate at a rate of few gigabits per second, a fiber failure can cause a significant loss of bandwidth and revenue. Thus, the network designer must provide a fault-management technique that combats fiber failures. We consider two fault-management techniques in an IP-over-WDM network: (1) provide protection at the WDM layer (i.e., set up a backup lightpath for every primary lightpath) or (2) provide restoration at the IP layer (i.e., overprovision the network so that after a fiber failure, the network should still be able to carry all the traffic it was carrying before the fiber failure). We formulate these fault-management problems mathematically, develop heuristics to find efficient solutions in typical networks, and analyze their characteristics (e.g., maximum guaranteed network capacity in the event of a fiber failure and the recovery time) relative to each other     

QoS Based Survivable Logical Topology Design in WDM Optical Networks

The need to establish wavelength-routed connections in a service differentiated manner is becoming increasingly important. In the backbone network, support of quality of service (QoS) capabilities at the lightpath level will have to be addressed in the optical domain. Providing a service differentiated connection on an arbitrary virtual topology which does not support any differentiated services will lead to the misuse of network resources. We address the virtual topology design and routing problem, where we minimize congestion in the network. In our work, the service differentiating parameter is bit error rate (BER) in the optical domain. We present a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation for the above problem. We also propose a heuristic based approach to minimize the congestion in the network while satisfying the QoS constraints. These QoS constraints in our case are the differing BER requirements for each connection between each (source, destination) pair. We then present different methods of providing survivability for the virtual topology and compare the performance of these methods.     

Applications drive secure lightpath creation across heterogeneous domains

We realize an open, programmable paradigm for application-driven network control by way of a novel network plane - the "service plane" - layered above legacy networks. The service plane bridges domains, establishes trust, and exposes control to credited users/applications while preventing unauthorized access and resource theft. The authentication, authorization, and accounting subsystem and the dynamic resource allocation controller are the two defining building blocks of our service plane. In concert, they act upon an interconnection request or a restoration request according to application requirements, security credentials, and domain-resident policy. We have experimented with such service plane in an optical, large-scale testbed featuring two hubs (NetherLight in Amsterdam, StarLight in Chicago) and attached network clouds, each representing an independent domain. The dynamic interconnection of the heterogeneous domains occurred at Layer 1. The interconnections ultimately resulted in an optical end-to-end path (lightpath) for use by the requesting grid application.     

Virtual-topology adaptation for WDM mesh networks under dynamic traffic

We present a new approach to the virtual-topology reconfiguration problem for a wavelength-division-multiplexing- based optical wide-area mesh network under dynamic traffic demand. By utilizing the measured Internet backbone traffic characteristics, we propose an adaptation mechanism to follow the changes in traffic without a priori knowledge of the future traffic pattern. Our work differs from most previous studies on this subject which redesign the virtual topology according to an expected (or known) traffic pattern, and then modify the connectivity to reach the target topology. The key idea of our approach is to adapt the underlying optical connectivity by measuring the actual traffic load on lightpaths continuously (periodically based on a measurement period) and reacting promptly to the load imbalances caused by fluctuations on the traffic, by either adding or deleting one or more lightpath at a time. When a load imbalance is encountered, it is corrected either by tearing down a lightpath that is lightly loaded or by setting up a new lightpath when congestion occurs. We introduce high and low watermark parameters on lightpath loads to detect any over- or underutilized lightpath, and to trigger an adaptation step. We formulate an optimization problem which determines whether or not to add or delete lightpaths at the end of a measurement period, one lightpath at a time, as well as which lightpath to add or delete. This optimization problem turns out to be a mixed-integer linear program. Simulation experiments employing the adaptation algorithm on realistic network scenarios reveal interesting effects of the various system parameters (high and low watermarks, length of the measurement period, etc.). Specifically, we find that this method adapts very well to the changes in the offered traffic.     

Optimal Routing for Protection and Restoration in an Optical Network

In this paper we provide a centralized method for optimally selecting the set of active and backup paths in an optical transport network in the cases of shared-path restoration and 1:1 protection schemes. We provide novel mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulations for both the schemes, for a network with full wavelength conversion capability. The given formulations are not restricted to consider single link failures: the concept of fault event is introduced to handle the possibility that multiple links go simultaneously under fault. The optimization objective includes the total capacity requirement plus an additional term related to the active paths reliability. We use a simple decomposition heuristic to support the resolution process. The optimization is solved for various sample scenarios in order to evaluate the resource saving achieved with the shared-path restoration scheme. The impact of different factors such as topology, traffic demand and structure of failures on the resource saving is analyzed. Also, we provide guidelines about handling differentiated levels of protection within the framework of the proposed formulations.     

Impact of transmission impairments on the teletraffic performanceof wavelength-routed optical networks

In a wavelength-routed optical network, a transmitted signal remains in the optical domain over the entire route (lightpath) assigned to it between its source and destination nodes. The optical signal may have to traverse a number of crossconnect switches (XCSs), fiber segments, and optical amplifiers, e.g., erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). Thus, while propagating through the network, the signal may degrade in quality as it encounters crosstalk at the XCSs and also picks up amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise at the EDFAs. Since these impairments continue to degrade the signal quality as it progresses toward its destination, the received bit error rate (BER) at the destination node might become unacceptably high. Previous work on the lightpath routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) problem assumed an ideal physical layer and ignored these transmission impairments. The main contribution of our work is to incorporate the role of the physical layer in setting up lightpaths by employing appropriate models of multiwavelength optical devices (XCSs and EDFAs) such that the BER of a candidate lightpath can be computed, in advance, to determine if this lightpath should be used for the call. Features from existing RWA algorithms are integrated with our on-line BER calculation mechanism. Our simulation studies indicate that employing BER-based call-admission algorithms has a significant impact on the performance of realistic networks     

Light trees: optical multicasting for improved performance inwavelength routed networks

We introduce the concept of a light-tree in a wavelength-routed optical network. A light-tree is a point-to-multipoint generalization of a lightpath. A lightpath is a point-to-point all-optical wavelength channel connecting a transmitter at a source node to a receiver at a destination node. Lightpath communication can significantly reduce the number of hops (or lightpaths) a packet has to traverse; and this reduction can, in turn, significantly improve the network's throughput. We extend the lightpath concept by incorporating an optical multicasting capability at the routing nodes in order to increase the logical connectivity of the network and further decrease its hop distance. We refer to such a point-to-multipoint extension as a light-tree. Light-trees can not only provide improved performance for unicast traffic, but they naturally can better support multicast traffic and broadcast traffic. In this study, we shall concentrate on the application and advantages of light-trees to unicast and broadcast traffic. We formulate the light-tree-based virtual topology design problem as an optimization problem with one of two possible objective functions: for a given traffic matrix, (i) minimize the network-wide average packet hop distance, or (ii) minimize the total number of transceivers in the network. We demonstrate that an optimum light-tree-based virtual topology has clear advantages over an optimum lightpath-based virtual topology with respect to the above two objectives     

Routing and dimensioning in optical networks under traffic growth models: an asymptotic approach

We consider the problem of routing and dimensioning in a large optical network where traffic is growing over time. A model of traffic in optical network lightpaths is presented. Lightpaths arrive randomly according to a time-varying Poisson process and hold for a random time with a general distribution. We propose a wavelength division multiplexing network that requires no capacity upgrading in a given time period T while allowing the operator to accommodate all the lightpath requests. We obtain an exact solution of the routing and dimensioning problem under an asymptotic regime where both the capacities and the arrival rates are large. For moderate link capacities, we propose a method to dimension the links so that the first lightpath request rejection occurs, with high probability, after the specified time T. This involves the computation of capacity-exhaustion probability $the probability that at least one lightpath request is rejected in the time period (0, T) due to lack of bandwidth/capacity on some link. Computation of the exact capacity-exhaustion probability is possible for a few specific holding time distributions (e.g., exponential). Since this requires large computing resources, it is feasible only for small networks. We propose a method to estimate the capacity-exhaustion probabilities for a large optical network with general holding time distribution based on the results of an asymptotic analysis. We show that this method has a low computational complexity and is quite accurate in the desired range of low capacity-exhaustion probabilities.     

Lightpath routing for intelligent optical networks

An overview of current issues and challenges in lightpath routing for optical networks is given. An architecture is presented in which optical switches are deployed, usually in the core, to interconnect IP routers at the edges. Lightpath routing within this architecture follows the framework of generalized multiprotocol label switching. Our discussion pays particular attention to the aspects of optical routing that differ from routing in irrational IP networks. Such aspects include physical layer constraints, wavelength continuity, the decoupling of the control network topology from the data network topology, explicit routing with wavelength assignment, and diversity routing for fast protection. We also present an algorithmic framework for lightpath computation, highlighting the issue of wavelength continuity and the differences between lightpath computation and traditional IP route computation     

Optical Network Design for a Multiline-Rate Carrier-Grade Ethernet Under Transmission-Range Constraints

Ethernet is a success story in local area networks (LAN). Efforts for extending its boundaries beyond LAN to the carriers' backbone networks are in progress. We study the problem of designing reliable and cost-efficient high-rate (100 Gbit/s) carrier-grade Ethernet in a multiline-rate optical network under signal transmission-range constraints. Reliability is achieved using shared-path protection at the connection level (Ethernet tunnel in this study). We construct an auxiliary graph, called mixed topology (MT), using which it is possible to: 1) identify traffic grooming possibilities; 2) select a path which requires the minimum amount of 3R regeneration; and 3) effectively choose the data rate of the channel to be established. Our algorithms, tested on the 17-node German network, resulted in lower network cost and higher resource utilization compared with other schemes.     

Protection approaches for dynamic traffic in IP/MPLS-over-WDM networks

Due to the explosive growth of data-related traffic driven by the Internet, network reliability becomes an important issue. We investigate various protection approaches to handle failures for dynamic traffic demands in IP/MPLS-over-WDM networks. An LSP can be protected at either the IP/MPLS layer or the optical layer. In IP/MPLS layer protection, an LSP is protected by providing a link-disjoint backup LSP between its end nodes. In optical layer protection, an LSP is protected by the backup lightpath of each lightpath traversed by the LSP. We present two integrated routing algorithms: hop-based integrated routing algorithm and bandwidth-based integrated routing algorithm (BIRA) to set up the restorable bandwidth-guaranteed paths efficiently. Then we present a multilayer protection scheme for multiclass traffic in such networks. This scheme takes into account the different QoS and recovery requirements of the traffic to provide protection capability either at the MPLS layer or at the optical layer in a cost-effective manner. We use the connection blocking probability and number of optical-electrical-optical conversions as performance metrics to compare various protection approaches.     

A Study of Path Protection in Large-Scale Optical Networks

We consider the problem of designing a network of optical cross-connects (OXCs) which provides end-to-end lightpath services to large numbers of client nodes, under the requirement that the network will survive any single-link failure. Our main objective is to quantify the additional resource requirements of implementing path protection schemes over a network with no survivability properties. To this end, we present heuristic routing and wavelength assignment algorithms for dedicated path protection and two variants of shared path protection, and integrate them into the physical and logical topology design framework we developed in an earlier study. We apply our heuristics to networks with up to 1000 client nodes, with a number of lightpaths that is an order of magnitude greater than the number of clients, and for a wide range of values for system parameters such as the number of wavelengths per fiber, the number of optical transceivers per client node, and the number of ports per OXC. Our results provide insight into the relative resource requirements of dedicated and shared path protection schemes. We also find that, using shared path protection schemes, it is possible to build cost-effective survivable networks that provide rich connectivity among client nodes with only a modest additional amount of resources over a network with no survivability properties.     

The interface between IP and WDM and its effect on the cost of survivability

A summary of research on survivable IP networks overlaid over WDM networks is presented. The WDM networks are part of optical transport service providers, who lease lightpath services to institutions with IP networks. The lightpath services realize IP links for IP networks, and they have different protection grades such as unprotected and protected. The research included considering new network survivability requirements and incorporating them into network design problems. The cost of survivable IP over WDM networks is compared over three scenarios. Each succeeding scenario has the WDM network provide more flexible services, and the IP and WDM networks become more integrated. We consider the problem of setting up lightpaths for an IP network so that the network will remain connected after a fiber link fault. Algorithms to find the lightpaths and minimize cost are given. The network costs under the three scenarios are compared by simulations.     

Survivable spectrum-shared ability in flexible bandwidth optical networks with distributed data centers

The survivable spectrum-shared ability problems are addressed by considering the shared-path protection in flexible bandwidth optical networks with distributed data centers. The overall objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of the spectrum-shared ability on the spectrum efficiency and the blocking probability of cloud service requests. We propose a survivable algorithm with the spectrum-shared ability (SA_SSA) to minimize blocking probability of cloud service requests and to improve the spectrum efficiency in shared-path protection. For comparison, an existing shared-path protection algorithm named Aggressive algorithm with spectrum-shared ability is also introduced. Simulation results show that, considering the different spectrum-shared abilities, our proposed SA_SSA has a better performance in terms of blocking probability, number of frequency slots/Erlang, spectrum occupation ratio, and spectrum redundancy ratio compared to Aggressive algorithm in flexible bandwidth optical networks with distributed data centers. Meanwhile, the spectrum efficiencies of the SA_SSA and Aggressive algorithms improve as the spectrum-shared abilities are strengthened.     

Dynamic Routing and Wavelength Assignment in Optical Networks by Means of Genetic Algorithms

We propose a novel genetic algorithm for solving the dynamic routing and wavelength assignment (DRWA) problem in wavelength-routed optical networks. The algorithm not only obtains low call blocking probability, but it also employs a very short computation time. Moreover, it is capable of providing fairness among connections, that is, to offer approximately the same quality of service (in terms of blocking probability) for all source-destination node pairs. Since requirements on optical network availability are highly severe, we also propose an extension of the algorithm to provide fault-tolerance capability at the optical layer. It is achieved by means of protection, where each optical connection request is provided with a pair of lightpaths (a primary and a backup lightpath). Again, the genetic algorithm proves to be highly efficient, in this case, at performing routing and wavelength assignment of pairs of lightpaths.