Project Description

Elastic Optical Network (EON) is an emerging technology that facilitates flexible allocation of fiber spectrum by leveraging finer-grained channel spacing (e.g., 6.25GHz or 12.5GHz), tunable modulation formats (e.g., ranging from BPSK to 128QAM) and Forward Error Correction (FEC) overheads (e.g., 7%, 20%, or even more), and baud-rate assignment (e.g., 28, 47.5, 66 Gbaud/s etc.), to right size spectrum allocation to customer needs. EON virtualization is currently gaining interest, especially because of its importance in future 5G network slicing. A core problem in EON virtualization is to efficiently map a virtual network on the substrate optical network, also known as the Virtual Network Embedding (VNE) problem. VNE has been extensively studied for layer-2/3 electrical and fixed-grid optical networks. However, VNE over EON introduces unique challenges and complexities due to the large number of flexible transmission parameters made available by EONs. In this project, we intend to devise effective and scalable solutions to the VN embedding problem in EON. We will particularly focus on: a) VNE with delay guarantees, b) VNE with differentiated reliability, c) dynamic VNE adaptation in real-time, d) EON VNE re-optimization. Advances in these research avenues in collaboration with our industrial partner Huawei Canada will have a lasting impact on the design principles and management paradigms of the future EONs.

Related Publications

• S. Taeb, N. Shahriar, S. R. Chowdhury, M. Tornatore, R. Boutaba, J. Mitra, M. Hemmati. Reoptimizing Network Slice Embedding on EON-enabled Transport Networks. IEEE/ACM/IFIP Conference on Network and Service Management (CNSM). Accepted July 2021.
• N. Shahriar, M. Zulfiqar, S. R. Chowdhury, S. Taeb, M. Tornatore, R. Boutaba, J. Mitra, and M. Hemmati. Disruption Minimized Bandwidth Scaling in EON-enabled Transport Network Slices. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications - Special Issue on Latest Advances in Optical Networks for 5G Communications and Beyond. IEEE Press. Vol. 39(9), pp. 2734-2747, September 2021.
• N. Shahriar, S. Taeb, S.R. Chowdhury, M. Zulfiqar, M. Tornatore, R. Boutaba, J. Mitra, and M. Hemmati. Reliable Slicing of 5G Transport Networks with Bandwidth Squeezing and Multi-path Provisioning. IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management. IEEE Press. Vol. 17(3), pp. 1418-1431, September 2020.
• N. Shahriar, M. Zulfiqar, S.R. Chowdhury, S. Taeb, M. Tornatore, R. Boutaba, J. Mitra, and M. Hemmati. Disruption-minimized Re-adaptation of Virtual Links in Elastic Optical Networks. OSA Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC). San Diego, CA, USA, March 8-12, 2020.
• N. Shahriar, S. Taeb, S.R. Chowdhury, M. Zulfiqar, M. Tornatore, R. Boutaba, J. Mitra, and M. Hemmati. Reliable Slicing of 5G Transport Networks with Dedicated Protection. IEEE/ACM/IFIP Conference on Network and Service Management (CNSM). Halifax, Canada, October 21-25, 2019. Recipient of the Best Paper Award.
• S. Taeb, N. Shahriar, S.R. Chowdhury, M. Tornatore, R. Boutaba, J. Mitra, and M. Hemmati. Virtual Network Embedding with Path-based Latency Guarantees in Elastic Optical Networks. IEEE International Conference on Network Protocols (ICNP). Chicago, IL, USA, October 7-10, 2019.
• N. Shahriar, S. Taeb, S.R. Chowdhury, M. Tornatore, R. Boutaba, J. Mitra, M. Hemmati. Achieving a Fully-Flexible Virtual Network Embedding in Elastic Optical Networks. IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications (INFOCOM). Paris, France. April 29 - May 2, 2019.

Sponsors and Partners