A novel elastic optical path network that utilizes bitrate-specific anchored frequency slot arrangement

Area of Science:

• Optical networking
• Telecommunications engineering

Background:

• Flexible grid networks offer high spectral efficiency but require complex hardware.
• Current elastic optical networks face challenges in balancing performance and hardware costs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel elastic optical path network architecture.
• To reduce hardware requirements in elastic optical networks while maintaining performance.

Main Methods:

• Designing a network where each specific bitrate signal utilizes a dedicated fixed frequency grid.
• Anchoring one edge of each frequency grid at a specific frequency.
• Conducting numerical evaluations with diverse bitrate signal patterns and network topologies.

Main Results:

• The proposed network achieves performance comparable to conventional flexible grid networks.
• Significant mitigation of hardware requirements is demonstrated.
• The system allows the use of tunable filters for fixed grid systems.

Conclusions:

• The novel fixed grid elastic optical network offers a practical solution for efficient optical communication.
• This architecture presents a viable alternative to flexible grid systems, reducing costs and complexity.