MCP-RWA: A novel algorithm for QoT-guaranteed online provisioning in Photonic Networks

Wavelength Routed Photonic Networks (WRPNs) with a fully distributed control plane promise to satisfy the increasing infrastructure needs of upper layer clients regarding automatic, on-demand guaranteed services. In this highly dynamic scenario, lightpath provisioning based on classic Routing and Wavelength Assignment (RWA) approaches is inappropriate, mainly due to poor network resource utilization and the lack of Quality of Transmission (QoT) guarantees. In order to fulfill the challenging requirements for WRPNs, online RWAs that consider impairments of the physical layer are needed. These are usually complex algorithms that require intense processing. This paper introduces a new algorithm that assures absolute bandwidth and Bit Error Rate (BER) for lightpaths, and combines the RWA and the impairment validation processes to improve resource utilization. Simple yet efficient novel heuristics based on residual link capacities for a high parallelizable RWA engine are also presented.