Energy efficient multipath routing in space division multiplexed elastic optical networks

This paper introduces a novel dynamic multipath routing, modulation level, spatial and spectrum assignment algorithm for space division multiplexing (SDM) enabled elastic optical networks (EON) with the aim of minimizing the blocking probability and the energy consumed by bandwidth variable transponders (BVTs). The adopted multipath routing strategy allows the splitting of the demand into several sublightpaths using different fiber cores but ensuring that all of them utilize the same set of fibers in order to avoid differential delay. The method also imposes continuity constraints in both spectrum and core location in order to use cost-effective SDM Reconfigurable Optical Add and Drop Multiplexers (ROADMs) without lane change support. The complete usage of multi-core fibers (MCFs) in this kind of networks is restricted due to inter-core crosstalk (XT), which can reduce the quality of received signals. Therefore, the method besides using the most effective modulation format, also ensures that the XT of the lightpaths (or sublightpaths) does not exceed the threshold for each modulation format. A simulation study comparing our method with another similar proposal from the literature is presented for different types of topologies in terms of link distances. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed multipath routing algorithm in networks including links close to or beyond 1000 km significantly boost the dynamic performance in terms of blocking probability, energy consumption, and latency. © 2024 The Author(s)