NeTS:Small:Design and Analysis of Survivable Multi-Domain Optical Networks

University Of Texas At Dallas, Richardson TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project investigates the static and dynamic partitioning of optical networks into domains or clusters and addresses the problem of providing survivable end-to-end service provisioning for unicast and multicast traffic over such multi-domain networks. A large optical network, even if administered by a single operator, needs to maintain its state information in a distributed and multi-domain hierarchy for purposes of scalability and fault-tolerance. Moreover, dynamic reconfiguration is often necessary to respond and adapt to sudden unexpected events or changes in network conditions. Other significant challenges in such a heterogeneous multi-domain environment are to implement end-to-end routing and survivability mechanisms, which are complicated by the limited amount of state information shared across domains due to factors related to business, policy, security, and other issues. This project enables a self-organizing framework for survivable optical networks. The project is addressing new methods for defining and reconfiguring domains based on service and performance requirements, introduces several new mechanisms for providing survivability in multi-domain networks, and is introducing new algorithms and protocols for provisioning survivable end-to-end unicast and multicast services in a scalable and cost-efficient manner. The broader impact of this work is that it can lead to a more robust and dynamic optical control layer that will enable the deployment of a greater range of end-to-end optical services to support emerging applications. It envisions greater intelligence in the control plane of optical transport networks, potentially leading to a network that is more autonomous than networks in existing ASON and GMPLS frameworks.