On the importance of the detailed transmission layer modelling in optical network design

We investigated a connection provisioning algorithm on an optical infrastructure for three different architectures: fixed grid WDM with fixed-rate multilevel modulation, fixed-grid WDM with time-domain hybrid modulation formats and flexible grid. By comparing the two paradigms of flexible and fixed grid networks, including both pure and hybrid modulation formats, in terms of their spectral efficiency, we show the importance of integrating a detailed physical layer modelling in the network design phase.