Dual routing engine architecture in optical networks for path computation and resource optimization

With the development of large-scale, multi-region and multi-layer networks, policy and constraint-based path computation is more and more complicated and dynamic routing becomes one of the key issues in GMPLS/ASON networks. Then a routing architecture named PCE is proposed to resolve the aforementioned complicated routing problem. However, as the huge bandwidth requirement emerges, capacity of Tbit/s transmission links and Pbit/s switching are necessary for next generation optical networks. According to the current photonics technology level, the node architecture will be very complicated and of large power consumption. Then how to configure the switching architecture in the node will be very important for the entire network performance. Unit engine (UE) is proposed for the management and configuration of resource in the node. PCE and UE constitute dual routing engine architecture (DRE) in GMPLS/ASON optical networks for path computation and resource optimization. The collaboration of PCE and UE makes it effective to optimize path computation especially under the condition of complex multi-constraints. The functional architecture of DRE is described in detail. Performance of PCE-based path computation in multi-region optical networks is simulated and analyzed.