Employing ethernet spanning tree protocols in an integrated hybrid optical network

Hybrid optical packet/circuit switched networking architectures combine the high resource utilization of statistically multiplexed packet switched networks with the circuit switched networks low processing requirements and guaranteed quality of service. Ethernet is emerging as one of the most important standards for the metro and core part of the network. This is motivated by cost-efficiency, and a significant effort from operators and system manufactures has been put into Ethernet standardization and research. While Ethernet relies on a loop-free topology, integrated hybrid networks offers multiple redundant paths enabling loops in the network. In this paper, we study how Ethernet´s loop-free topology protocols can be compatible with the redundant paths of an integrated hybrid network, such as OpMiGua. We analyse challenges and limitations of the network architecture. Based on this, we propose a viable loop-free approach through a novel topology solution called the SM chain-connectivity. By emulating Ethernet switches in a logical OpMiGua infrastructure, we confirm the results from our analysis.