Dynamic LightPath Allocation in WDM Networks Using an SDN Controller

Abstract

Core wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) networks are widely used to provide fixed physical connectivity and bandwidth to the logically connected upper electronic layer devices using optical signals. However, growing demands for bandwidth-intensive applications and cloud-based services push optical networks carriers' to provide scalable and flexible services dynamically. Software defined networking (SDN) has the potential to program electronic layers by dynamically controlling and managing network resources using SDN controller applications. SDN's on-demand characteristics combined with the optical circuit-switching can enable optical network service providers to customize their service provisioning dynamically to the user's requirements. They enable fast provision of new services, and minimize under-utilization of resources. In this paper, a model is proposed to bring the dynamic allocation of resources which is a layer 2+ functionality, to the WDM layer using SDN. A middle-ware application based on SDN and OpenFlow for dynamic switching and provisioning of optical service is presented. The application abstracts the optical layer's connectivity, also accounting for the switching constraints. Details of the model's implementation are discussed considering classically used equipment and its performance in terms of CPU and memory utilization, topology emulation time, and latency is evaluated. Finally, the application is tested with a Cisco layer one switch. Performance results show that the latency doubles when increasing the number of fibers of an optical cross connect from 5 to 7 and keeping wavelengths equal to 8, with Clos fabric topology.INDEX TERMS Wavelength division multiplexed network (WDM), Software Defined Networking (SDN), OpenFlow protocol, dynamic path allocation, optical cross connect (OXC).

Open Networking Engine (ONE): An Orchestration Tool for Open Optical Line System

“…Our research differs from [28] primarily concerning the application focus, while their study delved into investigating the processing limits of baseband units (BBU), our work focuses on ONE and its usefulness e.g exploring the impact of channel bandwidth on transmission quality through varying numbers of TCP sessions as a use-case. The study conducted by the authors in [30] introduced an SDN-based application that utilizes OpenFlow [5] to implement resource allocation functions within the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) layer. To achieve this, they harnessed the power of the optical switch fabric's mirror [31] and created simulations of a CLOS data center topology within Mininet.…”