The PlaNet-OTN module: A double layer design tool for optical transport networks

PlaNet is a multilayer network planning tool designed and developed at the University of Texas at Dallas. This paper illustrates some of the features of PlaNet-OTN, one of the modules available in the PlaNet tool. PlaNet-OTN can be used to design and plan an optical transport network (OTN), which is comprised of two layers: wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) layer, which deals with wavelength allocation and routing of WDM services, and optical transport network (OTN) layer, which deals with optical data unit (ODU) equipment provisioning and routing of ODU services. Features of the PlaNet-OTN module include: multiple protection schemes and routing constraints for both WDM and ODU services, network equipment cost minimization, load balancing of traffic, and user-controlled run time of the optimization process. As shown in this paper, the PlaNet-WDM and OTN layers and optimizing equipment usage, hence reducing the cost of the whole network.