International audienceThe exponential traffic growth in optical networks has triggered the evolution from Fixed-Grid to Flex-Grid technology. This evolution allows better spectral efficiency and spectrum usage over current optical networks in order to facilitate huge dynamic traffic demands. The promise of Flex-Grid technology in terms of increasing the number of optical channels established over optical links may however not be sustainable because of the associated increase in optical amplification power. In this work, we detail a power control process that takes advantage of link optical power and channel optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) margins to allow network operators to support this optical power increase while maintaining the use of legacy optical amplifiers. New GMPLS protocol extensions are proposed to integrate the optical power control process in the control plane. The performance of the process is evaluated in terms of the blocking ratio and network throughput over Fixed-Grid and Flex-Grid networks. Results show that controlling optical power benefits from the Flex-Grid technology in terms of spectrum and capacity gain and reduces optical connection blocking

The exponential traffic growth in optical networks has triggered the evolution from Fixed-Grid to Flex-Grid technology. This evolution allows better spectral efficiency and spectrum usage over current networks in order to facilitate dynamic and huge traffic demands. The integration of Flex-Grid technology increases the number of optical channels established over optical links, leading, however, to an increase in amplification power and possibly saturating optical amplifiers. In this work, we propose a power adaptation process that takes advantage of link optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) margins to allow network operators to support this power increase while maintaining the use of legacy amplifiers. Results show that controlling channel optical power benefits from the Flex-Grid in terms of spectrum and capacity gain using in-place amplifier infrastructure.

Flexgrid technology is an interesting solution to improve network capacity. However, for a given spectral band, it gives rise to the increase of the number of channels, requiring more amplification power in respect with the conventional fixed grid technology. In this work, we demonstrate that re-engineering the link margins allows supporting this increase while keeping in use legacy amplifiers.

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