A Novel Offline PLI-RWA and Hybrid Node Architecture for Zero Blocking and Time Delay Reduction in Translucent Optical WDM Networks

In this paper, we contrive a model that underpins the offline Physical Layer Impairment-Routing and Wavelength Assignment (PLI-RWA) issue in translucent networks. We introduce an innovative PLI-Signal Quality Aware RWA (PLI-SQARWA) algorithm that (a) guarantees zero blocking due to signal degradation and wavelength contention and (b) aims at minimizing the total required number of network components i.e. regenerators and all-optical wavelength converters (AOWCs). Further, in view of reducing the time delay due to optical-electrical-optical (OEO) conversions, we propose a novel electro-optical hybrid translucent node architecture. We show that PLI-SQARWA outperforms a recent heuristic for RWA and regenerator placement (RP) in terms of capital expenditure (CapEx) and time delay; while demonstrating superior blocking performance at all traffic loads. In addition, at high traffic loads, PLI-SQARWA also starts to provision savings on operational expenditure (OpEx). We proceed to the performance comparison of network equipped with the proposed hybrid node and existing translucent and transparent node architectures. The results clearly show that use of the hybrid node incurs less time delay at a similar blocking performance shown by nodes which use OEO conversion for both, regeneration and/or wavelength conversion. The results presented also highlight the significance of equipping the PLI-RWA routing phase with signal quality awareness in order to reduce the network component count and the use of AOWCs to minimize time delay due to OEO conversions.