Designing reliable WDM networks — A global approach

In this paper, we address the global problem of designing reliable wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks including the traffic grooming. This global problem consists in finding the number of optical fibers between each pair of optical nodes, finding the configuration of each node with respect to transponders, finding the virtual topology (i.e., the set of lightpaths), routing the lightpaths, grooming the traffic (i.e, grouping the connections and routing them over the lightpaths) and, finally, assigning wavelengths to the lightpaths. Instead of partitioning the problem into subproblems and solving them successively, we propose a mathematical programming model that addresses it as a whole. This approach has the advantage of providing better results since, in general, optimal solutions to all subproblems do not provide an optimal solution to the global problem. Numerical results show the relevance of designing the physical layer and finding the traffic grooming simultaneously.