Availability Design of Optical Transport Networks

A design technique for reliable optical transport networks is presented. The network is first dimensioned in order to carry a given set of static protected optical connections, each one routed maximizing its availability. The network can be further optimized by minimizing the number of fibers to be installed, while keeping a control on connection availability, which can remain the same or decrease by a prefixed margin factor. Design and optimization algorithms are provided for networks adopting dedicated and shared path-protection. The optimization approach is heuristic. Results obtained by applying the proposed technique to two case-study networks are shown and discussed. These two case-study experiments are carried out exploiting a realistic model to evaluate terrestrial and submarine optical link availability.