LSP partial spatial-protection in MPLS over WDM optical networks

We consider Label Switched Path (LSP) protection for connections with various protection grade requirements in multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) over wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical networks. In full protection, bandwidth needs to be reserved for the backup LSP to protect the failure of any fiber along the primary LSP. In this paper, we study the problem of partial spatial-protection (PSP) where bandwidth is reserved for the backup LSP to protect the failure of a subset of fibers traversed by the primary LSP to satisfy the specified protection grade. We formulate the optimal LSP PSP problem as an ILP and identify three suboptimal problems. For each suboptimal problem, an exhaustive search algorithm and a heuristic are developed. We analyze the probability that a connection can be restored upon a fiber failure and find that it is higher than or equal to the protection grade specified. We also develop a failure recovery protocol which specifies recovery operations upon failure and determines whether a connection can be recovered if the failed fiber is one of its unprotected fibers. Through extensive simulation experiments, we demonstrated that the proposed LSP PSP algorithms perform better than shared LSP protection in blocking probability and resource efficiency.