Signalling-Based Architectures for Impairment-Aware Lightpath Set-Up in GMPLS Networks

This paper explores the solution space for extending the signaling protocol of a GMPLS control plane for an impairment-aware path setup in transparent optical networks. Four combinations of routing and optical feasibility checking architectures based on modifications of RSVP-TE are proposed and studied. Simulation results show that a combination of hop- by-hop routing and feasibility check can be considered as a good compromise both in term of blocking probability and limited impact on the control plane. The slightly higher lightpath set-up time compared to other architectures can be tolerated especially considering the impact on the RSVP protocol current behavior as well as its independence from parameters strictly related to the network properties and topology.