A cost-effective traffic aggregation scheme in all-optical networks

In this paper, we propose and evaluate a new concept of traffic aggregation in wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) optical networks that aims at eliminating both the bandwidth underutilization and the scalability concerns that are typical of all-optical wavelength-routed networks. Our objective is to reduce the network cost while preserving the benefits of all-optical wavelength-routed networks. In order to assess the efficiency of our proposal, all underlying network costs are compared. These costs include that of the transceivers and cross-connect ports required at node level, as well as the number of wavelengths. Our results show that the proposed aggregation technique can significantly reduce the network cost