Dynamic virtual link mesh topology aggregation in multi-domain translucent WSON with hierarchical-PCE

Area of Science:

• Telecommunications Engineering
• Computer Networking
• Optical Network Architectures

Background:

• Multi-domain Wavelength Switched Optical Networks (WSON) require efficient path computation.
• Existing methods struggle with scalability and dynamic topology changes across domains.
• Hierarchical Path Computation Elements (H-PCE) offer a potential solution for managing network complexity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a lab-trial of a designed path computation architecture for multi-domain WSON.
• To evaluate the performance of hierarchical Path Computation Elements (H-PCE) in dynamic WSON environments.
• To demonstrate the benefits of dynamic topology aggregation and parallelization for path computation.

Main Methods:

• Designed and implemented a path computation architecture using H-PCE.
• Employed dynamic aggregation of domain topologies into virtual link meshes.
• Developed extended path computation procedures including domain selection and impairment-aware segment expansion.
• Proposed control plane protocol extensions to support the architecture.

Main Results:

• Successfully validated the path computation architecture in a lab trial.
• Demonstrated effective dynamic domain sequence selection through topology aggregation.
• Showcased impairment-aware path computation across multiple domains.
• Highlighted significant reductions in end-to-end path computation latency due to parallelization.

Conclusions:

• The H-PCE based architecture is effective for multi-domain WSON path computation.
• Dynamic aggregation and parallelization significantly improve path computation efficiency.
• The proposed approach offers a scalable and robust solution for complex optical networks.