4062
16, AUGUST 15, 2019
5G-Ready Multi-Failure Resilient
and Cost-Effective Transport Networks
Bodhisattwa Gangopadhyay , João Pedro , and Stefan Spaelter
(Invited Paper)
Abstract—Data explosion and higher service level agreements
(SLA) are common terminologies in modern communication net-
works. Recent advancements toward 5G networks add to the
complexity where billions of devices, both static and mobile, are
connected generating trillions of megabits of data flooding the
network and where service providers scuffle daily to deliver key
performance indicators: Lower latency, longer battery life, higher
data rates, ultra-high reliability, and more connected devices. The
optical-fiber world simultaneously witnesses a denser, fiber-rich
network infrastructure which is critically challenged in fast eco-
nomically developing countries by heavy construction of roads and
other infrastructures that inflict repeated and unpredictable cuts to
the extent that traffic is simultaneously interrupted in up to 10% of
the optical links. Thus, network resiliency to fiber failures is already
and will continue to be a top priority for operators. Depending on
the SLA, operators choose from various resiliency options, e.g., at
single network layers or across multiple ones, with dedicated pro-
tection or shared restoration, depending on decisive factors like
network availability and total cost of ownership (TCO). With tra-
ditional network architectures, high resiliency comes with signifi-
cantly increased TCO involving optical transport network (OTN)
switches, L1 protection switching, and L1 restoration. This trans-
lates into high CAPEX and excessive space and power consump-
tion, hampering the desirable seamless scalability with the contin-
uously increasing demand for more capacity. This paper explores
an alternative hyperscale network architecture, which is adapt-
able and resilient to multiple fiber failures, thus delivering com-
mitted service levels to the end users and which, at the same time,
significantly reduces network cost compared to a traditional all
OTN-switched network. The hyperscale architecture exploits low
footprint carrier grade, data center interconnect type high-density
transponders and cost-effective optical protection switching and
restoration via software defined networking control. The paper
also describes a routing and grooming algorithm to dimension a
shared resource pool for optical restoration and a statistical simu-
lation method for time effective execution, simulating failures over
a carefully selected sub-set of failure scenarios to guarantee a high
Manuscript received January 3, 2019; revised May 20, 2019; accepted May
27, 2019. Date of publication May 31, 2019; date of current version July
31, 2019. This work was supported in part by the H2020 METRO-HAUL
project under Grant 761727, in part by FCT/MEC through national funds,
and in part by FEDER—PT2020 partnership agreement under the Project
UID/EEA/50008/2019. (Corresponding author: Bodhisattwa Gangopadhyay.)
B. Gangopadhyay is with Infinera Portugal, 2790-078 Carnaxide, Portugal
(e-mail: BGangopadhya@infinera.com).
J. Pedro is with Infinera Portugal, 2790-078 Carnaxide, Portugal, and also
with the Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), Instituto Superior Técnico (IST),
1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal (e-mail: JPedro@infinera.com).
S. Spaelter is with Infinera GmbH, D-81541 Munich, Germany (e-mail:
SSpaelter@infinera.com).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JLT.2019.2920305
0733-8724 © 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 37, NO.
degree of network availability. Via network simulation, the paper
demonstrates that multiple failure resiliency and cost effectiveness
do not necessarily represent a contradiction in transport networks
as long as an appropriate network architecture is chosen and that
efficient network planning and optimization are applied.
Index Terms—Networks, network optimization, network surviv-
ability, protection and restoration.
I. INTRODUCTION
5G network trials and commercial launches are all set to hap-
pen as the telecommunication world gears up towards the fifth
generation of cellular mobile communications, succeeding 4G
(LTE/WiMax), 3G (UMTS) and 2G (GSM) systems [1]. 5G
networks will have to efficiently support billions of devices and
different key performance indicators (KPIs), ranging from ultra-
low latency, very high data rates and ultra-high reliability [2].
Traffic forecasts already hint that by 2023 networks are expected
to generate monthly 107 exabytes of mobile data traffic [3], [4].
Though generally one envisions 5G network of being an intri-
cate wireless technology, integral to the success of 5G deploy-
ment and operation is the extensive optic fiber cable network
that will sustain it [5]. As mentioned before, there are strin-
gent requirements for the 5G network ranging from ultra-low la-
tency to very high data rates and ultra-high reliability [2]. Higher
data rates per cell will require more transmission capacity while
higher transmission rate in the cloud radio access networks will
demand higher capacity in the underlying (fixed) network in-
frastructure. In addition, a 3 ms latency constraint in the cloud
radio access network can constrain the distance between radio
head and baseband unit–which will have a direct impact on net-
work architecture [6]. Cell densification will dictate the fiber
point of presence and ultralow latency (<1 ms) would push de-
ployment of fiber into 5G mobile base stations thus resulting in
deep fiber penetration (in the range of 500 m maximum), mo-
tivating the adoption of a new fronthaul/backhaul fiber based
network. Overall, this will imply deploying significantly more
optical fiber and likely adopting a new flavor of optical transport
technologies, characterized by high capacity and flexibility. The
focus of this paper is the transport network architecture that will
support future 5G and cloud requirements.
A highly interconnected backbone catering 5G fiber-optic
backhaul means seamless streaming of bandwidth-intensive ap-
plications because only fiber will be able to provide capacity
for the most demanding Peak Data Rates bandwidth required
GANGOPADHYAY et al.: 5G-READY MULTI-FAILURE RESILIENT AND COST-EFFECTIVE TRANSPORT NETWORKS
Fig. 1. 5G network architecture.
for 5G at a reasonable TCO, while guaranteeing room for future
capacity needs (i.e., beyond 5G). With per channel data rates
above 100 Gbps and a very low latency this transmission medium
will need to be deployed increasingly closer to the user (i.e., to
the antenna in the case of 5G networks) [7]. With wide scale 5G
deployments expected to start already in 2020, it is paramount
that transport networks evolve to become an enabler of 5G net-
works and its KPIs, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Therefore, guaran-
teeing that transport networks are an integral part of the solution
is a current focus of extensive research [8], [9].
Measurable KPIs in the domain of optical networks can be
defined in terms of capacity, spectral efficiency, cost, reach, con-
nectivity, flexibility and resiliency and these are vital in deliv-
ering cost-effective and efficient network design and operations
[10]. Network availability or network resiliency represented and
will continue to be an utmost important KPI for many network
operators both in fixed and mobile networks and optical net-
works are no exception to it [11]. Especially in fast developing
countries, heavy construction of roads and other infrastructures
can critically challenge network availability, posing a serious
threat to the communications infrastructure. In particular, opti-
cal fiber suffers from repeated and unpredictable cuts inflicted
by the construction industry to the extent that traffic is simulta-
neously interrupted in up to 10% of the optical links [12]. As
a consequence, network resilience to fiber failures represents a
top priority for operators. Thus, depending on the SLA oper-
ators choose from various resiliency options – e.g., single- vs
multi-layer, dedicated protection vs shared restoration – taking
into account fundamental factors such as the resulting network
availability and TCO. However, it brings us to a few questions:
how does cost relate to network resiliency and how does it scale
with the forecasted increase in required capacity? Or, what com-
bination of network elements should be considered in the net-
work architecture such that in any given scenario it can translate
into cost-effective optical networks that achieve certain func-
tionality or an augmented resiliency? And furthermore, what
are the required algorithms or algorithmic extensions that can
efficiently dimension a network with least TCO but addressing
all the inputs and constraints?
Typically, network operators are thus looking at a three dimen-
sional problem while constructing a state-of-the-art transport
4063
network catering to the 5G world: (1) a cost-effective network
architecture with least TCO to conclude upon; (2) a proper
routing and grooming algorithm to dimension the network re-
sources and (3) a time-effective method to cover a maximum
number of failure scenarios, which is essential when not all pro-
tection/restoration mechanisms are pre-planned.
Coming to the first point, in the pre-5G era, traditional
network architectures involving OTN switches accomplish
high resiliency at the expense of significantly increased TCO,
hampering scalability [13]. To elaborate, conventional highly
resilient network architectures involve OTN switches, L1
protection switching and L1 restoration. It has been shown
that, in these conditions, multi-failure survivability requires
a very large amount of additional resources, which translate
into high capital expenditures (CAPEX) and excessive power
and space consumption. As a result, conventional architectures
lack seamless scalability with the continuously increasing
demand for more capacity and higher resiliency. Hence, there
is strong motivation to develop scalable and more cost-effective
architectures, featuring a higher capability to share restoration
resources. This leads to the second point, since state-of-the-art
routing and resource allocation algorithms are not tailored to
address the additional requirement to dimension this shared
resource pool. Finally, dimensioning a network considering
all possible failure scenarios is a computationally intensive
task. For example, simulating a minimum of all two-fiber cut
combinations in a network of 71 links, already results in sim-
ulating 2485 restoration scenarios, each potentially involving
the rerouting of several hundreds of traffic demands. However,
dimensioning being one of the key aspects when it comes to
minimizing TCO, a fast and scalable simulation method is a
valuable tool to estimate resulting failure resiliency.
A suitable alternative to the conventional network archi-
tecture exploits data center interconnection (DCI) optimized
interface technology complemented by reconfigurable optical
add/drop multiplexer (ROADM)-based optical switching, col-
orless/directionless (CD) add/drop terminations and a virtual-
ized control plane for multi-layer protection and restoration.
To make the architecture more cost-effective, protection and
restoration switching can be moved from Layer 1 to Layer 0,
thus requiring a shared pool of regenerators (3Rs) besides the
colorless/directionless add/drop terminations [12]. This paper
extends the work reported in [12] and (1) explores this alterna-
tive hyperscale network architecture (built upon carrier-grade,
DCI focused high-density transponders and cost-effective opti-
cal protection switching and restoration) adaptable and resilient
to multiple fiber failures, delivering committed service levels
to end-users and significantly reducing network TCO compared
to traditional all OTN-switched network; (2) proposes a rout-
ing and grooming algorithm to dimension the network and the
shared resource pool for optical restoration and (3) proposes a
statistical simulation method for time effective execution, sim-
ulating failures over a carefully selected sub-set to guarantee a
high degree of network availability.
The paper is organized as follows. Section II outlines the
network architecture depicting the conventional OTN switches,
high density DCI-oriented muxponders (a key component of
the hyperscale architecture), and the hyperscale architecture
4064 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 37, NO. 16, AUGUST 15, 2019

which employs DCI-oriented muxponders with ROADM traffic frame-by-frame on every port at any layer (ranging be-
based optical switching, CD add/drop terminations, a virtualized tween L1 and L2.5) and change the way traffic is managed
control plane for multi-layer protection and restoration, as well dynamically without the need to deploy new protocol specific
as with a shared pool of 3R regenerators. Section III describes hardware. Figure 2 illustrates the concept of employing a uni-
design algorithms to: (i) dimension the network with dedicated versal switching fabric.
resources for working and protection; (ii) dimension a shared The advantages of universal OTN switching include: (i) elim-
regenerator resource pool used for restoration and (iii) cover inating all switching boundaries and restrictions by allowing na-
maximum number of failure scenarios used for regenerator pool tive switching and interworking on every universal module port;
dimensioning. Section IV deals with the network simulation re- (ii) maximizing network resources by dynamically adapting to
sults and comparison, which validate the proposed transport ar- changing conditions through a universal matrix; (iii) improving
chitecture. Finally, Section V presents concluding remarks. overall network efficiency by providing aggregated handoffs to
routers and maximizing utilization of both metro and core wave-
II. TRANSPORT NETWORK ARCHITECTURE lengths; (iv) providing traffic grooming at any layer irrespective
of the physical interface and enable grooming of multiple pro-
As we move towards the 5G-era, technological bottlenecks
tocols on a single port; and (v) reducing CAPEX and OPEX
and operational rigidities are to be eradicated to scale up to the
with a minimum number of highly flexible multi-service uni-
traffic volume and quality expected. Optical networks are no
versal interface cards that support all applications [18]. Due to
exception to the same. Developments in the transport network
this, OTN switching is still seen as paramount in future network
specifically in the optical communication world have seen dif-
architectures [14].
ferent network architectures being proposed and opted for. OTN
Taking advantage of grooming in electrical layer, optical
switch based, Muxponder based, Router based, with or without
channel data unit (ODU) protection switching in sub-50 ms and
optical bypass and the list goes on. Obviously, each has their pros
restoration switching within few hundreds of milliseconds could
and cons. However, studies over the last years made it very clear
be achieved in an all OTN switch based architecture contrary to a
that, there is no single winner in all conditions and a mix and
pure transponder/muxponder solution. However, up to recently,
match of a few helps to define the ideal one for the network being
traffic based on 10G or lower client port speeds were being
examined. Recent year’s development around the fast growing
aggregated into 100G wavelengths and thus traffic collection,
DCI space have focused on high density low footprint muxpon-
grooming, switching, protection and restoration were naturally
ders [13]. This forms an important part of the network architec-
executed at (electrical) L1 at the OTN nodes. While there is a
ture proposed in this paper [12]. Alongside, the universal OTN
significant difference between the client and line rate and ex-
switch deserves mention being one of the only kind capable
ists a mesh network with fragmented traffic distribution, OTN
to handle all traffic in a single switching domain, thus enable
switching is a must taking advantage of traffic grooming and
to maximize optical channel fill ratio [14]. In addition, higher
delivering a leaner TCO. But, explosive traffic growth, hinting
order modulation formats and higher symbol rates enabled by
at 100G becoming yesterday’s 10G, is a matter of concern [19].
next-generation line interfaces also have a relevant role in re-
As the client rate (100 GbE, 400 GbE, …) is gearing up to
ducing TCO [15]. In the following sections, we overview each
match with line rates, grooming might deliver less significant
of the key transport network architectures.
savings in TCO and a leaner network element might make more
Previous works have established the benefits of optical layer
economic sense. Particularly, an OTN switch might not be the
restoration in terms of resource savings [16]. Still, concerns exist
best choice at every transport node, as the larger the cross-
regarding the failure recovery times when using this approach.
connect, the larger is space and power consumption [20]. In-
It is noteworthy that, centralized virtualized control plane is a
dustry trends shows already 25 Tbps switching matrix in the
cornerstone to the cost-effective solution delivering the highly
horizon, but given its expected cost, footprint and power con-
resilient network where the benefits of the distributed gener-
sumption, it is not sustainable to deploy this functionality at ev-
alized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) are preserved
ery node. Still, OTN switches could be useful at the network edge
and the challenges of future networks are addressed and im-
for multi-service and low-rate aggregation onto an OTN infras-
proved resilience is provided through multi-layer L0-L3 co-
tructure and today’s unpredictable bandwidth demands require
ordination in multi-service and multi-domain networks. Com-
flexible network architectures to quickly adapt to changing traf-
pared to traditional distributed automatically switched optical
fic patterns. For example, fabric-based switching solutions are
network (ASON)-GMPLS, this L0 restoration based on cen-
well-suited for metro enterprise networks that require flexible,
tralized ASON delivers a sub-50 ms switching for restoration
on-demand, any-to-any core site connectivity.
once the failure is triggered, by searching and setting up a new
maximum disjoint restoration path after any 50-ms protection
switching event. This scheme is further detailed in Section II.C. B. DCI-Cloud Oriented High-Density Muxponder
Based Architecture
A. OTN Switch Based Architecture
Recent trends in DCI-cloud oriented muxponders saw the in-
Innovations in OTN switches are advancing by leaps and troduction of disaggregated platform based muxponders deliv-
bounds, offering an innovative approach to networking solutions ering up to 9.6 Tbps in 1 rack unit (RU) as per industry standards
by providing completely protocol agnostic switching capabili- [21]. These muxponders simplified the provisioning of 10G,
ties [17]. With these solutions, network operators can groom 40G, and 100G Wide Area Network (WAN) cloud connectivity
GANGOPADHYAY et al.: 5G-READY MULTI-FAILURE RESILIENT AND COST-EFFECTIVE TRANSPORT NETWORKS
Fig. 2. Universal OTN switching concept.
Fig. 3. Coherent "pizza box" architecture.
services for metro, regional, and long-haul DWDM transport
applications (Fig. 4). Designed to meet the scalability require-
ments of today’s cloud and data center networks, these muxpon-
ders feature the industry’s most compelling pay-as-you-grow ap-
proach that enables the lowest initial costs, reduced equipment
sparing costs, and cost-effective scalability.
With data centers rapidly evolving, network equipment man-
ufacturers are developing these disaggregated interface port
shelves, thus delivering high data volume across point-to-point
links between data centers at reasonably low cost. The intro-
duction of these high density disaggregated network elements
(muxponders and transponders) to deliver data between node-
pairs is revolutionizing the optical networking space due to: (i)
their simplified model and architecture; (ii) lowest footprint in
terms of both space and power. Industry leading examples exist-
ing today boasts of delivering the said 9.6 Tbps of capacity in a
compact 1RU form factor with an ultra-low power consumption
of 0.2 W per Gbps of data.
Figure 3 shows an example of disaggregated implementa-
tion in a standardized “pizza box” form factor [22]. This is
a 2.4 Tbps coherent “pizza box” internal architecture where
24-port client interface card on left goes under line interface
card on right so that connectors are aligned and both client and
line ports are on the same edge of the box. Next generation coher-
ent interfaces, including both DSPs and optics, offers significant
improvements in performance, density, and power, and will have
4065
Fig. 4. State-of-the-art DCI-oriented high density optical system.
the flexibility to operate at modes with lower-order modulation
(from QPSK to 64QAM) that provide a software-programmable
tradeoff between reach and data rate to use the same equipment
for metro, regional and long-haul links. The programmability
also allows the interfaces to be used as shared 3R resource pool.
There are many factors contributing to the introduction of
such a high throughput system, including the latest innovations
in high speed optics, photonic/electrical integration, and silicon
photonics. Modularity is a key feature. State-of-the-art consists
of a three tier modular architecture where four service slots in
1RU chassis support up to four single-slot sleds/modules or two
double-slot sleds/modules that are field replaceable, individually
configurable, and hot swappable. Supporting 1.6 Tbps client and
1.6 Tbps line traffic in a compact 1RU high density and scal-
able platform cost effectively scales DC transport capacity up
to 25.6 Tbps per fiber and up to 134 Tbps per 42RU rack. This
enables lowest first cost 10G, 40G and 100G services on the
client side and 100G up to 800G on the line side. Complementing
the pay-as-you-grow, the feature of power-as-you-grow guaran-
tees that there is no phantom power drain for unused capacity.
Another key aspect lies in the fact that these network elements
are designed as an open platform for rapid introduction and in-
tegration within any DC or telecom operating environment and
seamless interoperability with existing metro or long-haul line
system [23].
C. Optical Hyperscale Carrier Architecture
Around 2022, both 5G and cloud traffic will push traffic
growth to 4.8 ZB/yr from all connected devices, contextual
4066
Fig. 5. Hyperscale Carrier Architecture optical transport solution.
automated experiences, 8K video and user-generated content
from cloud hosting [24]. Client traffic rates are pushing from
10G towards 100G and 400G. As the market grew from 10G
towards 100G channels, anything over a 40% filling ratio was
switched to a higher data rate (example, 4 × 10G was revised
to be deliver from 100G router port). To process such a volume
of data in the traditional all OTN based network architecture,
non-blocking switching capacity requirements of up to 25 Tbps
will be required today in the OTN switch and the same will
be needed to scale to 100 Tbps in the next few years to provide
dedicated working and protection paths and augmented network
resiliency at the electrical layer with fast recovery time in the
event of multiple and unpredictable network failures. However
due to operational constraints (e.g., space and power consump-
tion), augmented resiliency and the operator’s imperative of min-
imizing TCO, an alternative architecture is clearly required.
The hyperscale carrier architecture (HCA) is a disruptive
and alternative solution that relies on the aforementioned
pizza box architecture (which originally only targeted the DCI
segment) complemented by a centralized virtual solution for
multi-layer protection and restoration, as exemplified in Fig. 5.
HCA promises carrier-grade, high throughput and multi-failure
resilience with significantly reduced TCO when compared to
traditional architecture based on OTN switches. Firstly, TCO
is reduced by replacing bulky OTN switches by cost-effective,
high-density DCI-type port shelves. Secondly, as illustrated in
Fig. 6, protection and restoration switching are moved from
Layer 1 to Layer 0, resulting in an optimized cost structure.
As discussed in earlier work [12], this enables to make a better
usage of additional line interfaces deployed in shared pools,
thus reducing their number.
A key ingredient of HCA is the virtualized control plane. It
ensures permanent Optical Channel (OCh) restoration by search-
ing for a new maximum disjoint restoration path after any 50-ms
protection switching event. For an equivalent resiliency level
with OTN switching, line interfaces need to be placed in ev-
ery possible direction and, as a consequence, the required port
count increases significantly (see Fig. 6). In detail, a centralized
SDN-based platform assists in switching within 50 ms to an
already built disjoint protection/restoration path when a failure
is encountered and at the same instance search and provision a
new (third or more) path which is disjoint to the current path
of the traffic. This ensures that, on the next failure, the service
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 37, NO. 16, AUGUST 15, 2019
Fig. 6. Traditional architecture based on OTN switches with L1 shared restora-
tion vs hyperscale carrier architecture with L0 shared restoration.
can switch within 50 ms to this already built path. A traditional
OCh restoration scheme cannot comply with this strict recovery
time, since the path is only provisioned after the failure occurs
and the process is triggered. This scheme benefits operators by:
(i) delivering a high network availability at the expense of mini-
mum network resources; (ii) delivering high optical performance
margins and/or exploiting higher order modulation formats by
using the shared 3R regenerators during a restoration operation
which often requires a longer path; and (iii) operating the net-
work with low blocking probability by also using the shared
3Rs as wavelength converters aided by flexi-grid capable, CD
or colorless/directionless/contentionless (CDC) ROADMs [25].
The Transport Controller residing within the SDN controller
forms the core of the virtualized Control plane and virtual-
ized/centralized ASON service. Based on the requirement of
being a multi-domain multi-layer control plane, a northbound
REST API is an absolute necessity allowing service provi-
sioning over single or multiple domains. During operation, the
network state is continuously supervised and updated in the
transport controller. With the variety of services running across
different domains and layers, a service manager is required to co-
ordinate, monitor and update the status of these services which
resides within the transport controller. During a failure in the
network, alarms are raised and the affected services are identi-
fied. Restoration paths for these services are calculated in the
path computation engine which is always updated with the ac-
tual network state with detailed fault status and other factors
such as utilization, domain specific parameters (resource class),
trunk costs, etc. The restoration path computed can thus avoid
the failed network resources while stay on an optimized end to
end route and further being disjoint from the nominal working
and protection paths, assuming a service is having a “permanent
1 + 1” SLA. The service manager thus can instruct a provision-
ing engine to proceed with the path configuration according to
the calculated restoration path in a time effective manner where
the provisioning engine can execute the path set up with min-
imum network configuration actions. The provisioning engine
takes a two-step approach where in (i) compares failed route to
new restoration route to identify the commonalities in each of
GANGOPADHYAY et al.: 5G-READY MULTI-FAILURE RESILIENT AND COST-EFFECTIVE TRANSPORT NETWORKS 4067

of having appropriate design algorithms, in order to be able to

materialize the objectives of HCA in each specific network and
traffic scenario. In the following, a set of three algorithms is
considered. Particularly, these algorithms target to: (i) optimize
resource dimensioning for working and protection paths, min-
imizing the number of line interfaces deployed; (ii) optimize
resource dimensioning for restoration paths and (iii) speed up
failure simulation by explicitly simulating only a sub-set of fail-
ure combinations.
The first algorithm is based on the multi-layer optimization
framework [14] compatible with flexible-rate line interfaces and
is utilized to perform traffic grooming, optical channel routing
and wavelength assignment tasks, which are key to minimize
the number of expensive line interfaces.
Fig. 7. Centralized virtualized control plane benefits. BASELINE ROUTING, GROOMING AND SPECTRUM ASSIGNMENT

them to identify where it must tear down network configurations

and rig up new ones for the restoration route and in (ii) issues
commands for tear down actions followed by rig up actions. This
parallel processing is key to speed up the restoration path set-up.
Further insight can be gained by a qualitative comparison
between the centralized virtualized control plane and the tradi-
tional distributed GMPLS control plane (see Fig. 7). In a dis-
tributed GMPLS control plane, all the network elements need
detailed network information along with computational abili-
ties to calculate optical performance and perform path compu-
tation. Introducing a new restoration scheme requires a longer
time as this is closely tied to the telco development cycle.
Further in this traditional scheme, during operation if there
would be a contention among two services, this would only
be discovered after signaling and path set-up and a crank back
would be necessary for re-calculation adding to the delay. Con-
trary to this, the centralized virtualized ASON solves many of
these issues and preserves the benefits. To list a few of them,
improved resilience can be achieved through multi-layer L0-L3
coordination in multi-service and IP-Optical networks. Better
network resource utilization is attained through optimized multi-
layer and multi-domain routes and operations became simplified
through simpler protocols/functions [26]. As any new function-
ality/feature can be introduced through centralized software up-
grade, this allows shorter time-to-market following software de-
velopment cycle.
In summary, HCA for optical transport networks is a cost-
effective alternative to guarantee scalability when supporting
multi-failure resiliency. It achieves this by taking advantage of
high density high capacity cost-effective compact DCI-oriented
muxponders, parsimonious usage of universal OTN switch for
sub-rate <10G, CD/CDC ROADMs, sub-50 ms protection, op-
tical restoration reusing same line interface and shared pool of
3Rs and a centralized virtualized SDN control plane for efficient
multi-layer protection and restoration.

III. NETWORK DESIGN ALGORITHMS

The first part of the problem being covered with the scalable The baseline design algorithm described above is sequential in
and cost-effective HCA architecture, the next challenge consists nature and, therefore, can be utilized both for network planning
4068
and online operation. For simplicity, the description assumes
that line interfaces can be operated at either 100 G or 200 G, but
it can be easily extended to support a wider array of optical chan-
nel formats. Grooming of a given traffic demand into a sequence
of existing and/or new lightpaths is modelled by representing in
the auxiliary graph both existing lightpaths with enough free ca-
pacity to accommodate the demand and possible (i.e., feasible)
new lightpaths that can be created to carry the demand. This al-
gorithm is used to route all demands and determine the resources
required for working and protection paths. The restoration re-
sources (e.g., number of shared 3Rs at each node) can only be
determined taking into account specific failure scenarios. For
that purpose, the following algorithm was developed.
RESTORATION ROUTING, GROOMING AND SPECTRUM ASSIGNMENT
Importantly, this algorithm must be executed for all the mean-
ingful link failure combinations in order to determine the total
number and location of the shared resources. For instance, to
ensure survivability against up to three link failures and assum-
ing protection is used to recover from the first link failure, all
combinations of two link failures have to be considered and for
each one the design algorithm is executed.
The effort required to compute the shared resources will grow
with the network size, number of traffic demands and number
of simultaneous link failures to be considered. This can imply
a very long process, especially when the number of simultane-
ous link failures the traffic demands must survive to increases.
Consequently, in order to guarantee that it is possible to design
a transport network based on the proposed HCA architecture,
and more generally to design a transport network relying on
optical restoration, it is useful to investigate methods that can
reduce the number of failure combinations that need to be explic-
itly simulated. In the following, an algorithm to sort the failure
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 37, NO. 16, AUGUST 15, 2019
combinations by expected importance and then shortlist them
according to a given budget (i.e., maximum number of failure
combinations that can be explicitly considered) is described. Al-
though it cannot guarantee in advance that all the required shared
resources are identified, especially if the failure simulation bud-
get is very small, it has been recently shown that in a reference
network it was possible to approximately dimension the shared
resources when the failure simulation budget covers at least 10%
of the total number of possible failure combinations [27].
IV. NETWORK SIMULATION STUDIES
This section aims at quantitatively validate the effectiveness
of the HCA in reference transport networks. The algorithms have
been implemented in C language and were run on a computer
with an Intel Core i7 and 16 GB RAM. Execution time was found
to be in 10 s of minutes for all the three networks. In this study, all
traffic demands have high resiliency requirements making use of
a 1 + 1 + Restoration scheme with client traffic signals of 100
GbE. Under these assumptions, two architectural choices – a
conventional and the HCA – are compared with each other: The
first one is based on OTN switches at all ROADM nodes with
1 + 1 ODU layer protection for the first failure followed by ODU
restoration. The second one relies on high-density muxponders
at all ROADM nodes (for traffic aggregation or electrical signal
regeneration) with 1 + 1 client side protection for the first failure
followed by OCh restoration. For both architectures, DWDM
ports (i.e., line interfaces) are dimensioned such that link failure
survivability is about the same in both cases.
GANGOPADHYAY et al.: 5G-READY MULTI-FAILURE RESILIENT AND COST-EFFECTIVE TRANSPORT NETWORKS
Fig. 8. IBN topology.
Fig. 9. IBN traffic distribution.
The first network topology considered is a reference opti-
cal transport network defined by Telecom Italia/TIM. Particu-
larly, this Italian national backbone network (IBN) has 44 nodes
and 71 fiber links (mainly G.655, with some G.652 and G.653
fiber types) and has already been used in previous studies [14],
[28], [29]. It meets the needs of circuits at a national level,
mainly for IP router interconnection and for connectivity of
large size clients. With its shortest routing paths under 2200
km and backup routing paths (disjoint from the shortest one)
under 2600 km, it can be classified as a long-haul transport net-
work. Figure 8 depicts the topology of IBN. More detailed in-
formation is available in a FP7 IDEALIST project deliverable
[30] and in [31]. In the study reported here, the 100 GbE client
traffic distribution, as illustrated in Fig. 9, amounts to a total
traffic load of 27 Tbps. Fig. 9 displays the spatial distribu-
tion of the traffic among 13% node pairs in the entire network
(123 node pairs have traffic out of 946 node-pairs), as defined
in [30].
The second network, whose topology is depicted in Fig. 10, is
based on TIM Sparkle Pan-European backbone network (SPN)
[31], [32], a geographically expanding network that currently
covers Central, Southern and Eastern Europe with 49 nodes and
72 fiber links. It classifies as an ultra-long-haul network (shortest
paths under 5500 km and backup paths under 7000 km).
For the purpose of this study, the 100 GbE client traffic dis-
tribution assumed for SPN, as illustrated in Fig. 11, amounts to
a total load of 18 Tbps. Fig. 11 displays the spatial distribution
4069
Fig. 10. SPN topology.
Fig. 11. SPN traffic distribution.
Fig. 12. GBN topology.
of the traffic among the 5% node pairs in the entire network (69
node pairs have traffic out of 1176 node-pairs) , as defined in
[30].
The third network covers Germany and is based on the na-
tional backbone network operated by Deutsche Telekom. The
German national backbone network (GBN) [33], shown in
Fig. 12, has 17 nodes and 26 fiber links, with the longest rout-
ing path under 2000 km. The 100 GbE client traffic distribution
illustrated in Fig. 13 corresponds to an approximate total load of
23 Tbps. Fig. 13 displays spatial distribution of the traffic among
85% node pairs in the entire network (116 node pairs have traffic
out of 136 node-pairs), as defined in [30].
In this study, the line interfaces utilized operate at 34 Gbaud
and support two modulation formats to realize two line rates
with different reach: quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK),
used to create 100 Gbps lightpaths, and 16 quadrature amplitude
modulation (16QAM), enabling 200 Gbps lightpaths. In order
to estimate the maximum reach with each format, the simplified
4070
Fig. 13. GBN traffic distribution.
TABLE I
RELATIVE POWER CONSUMPTION, SPACE OCCUPATION
AND CAPEX OF OTN SWITCH AND DCI MUXPONDER
Fig. 14. Comparative analysis OTN vs HCA for IBN.
optical performance model described in [34] is used. This model
is based on the well-known Gaussian noise (GN) for nonlinear
interference (NLI) caused by the Kerr effect and includes ad-
ditional penalties and margins to account for optical filtering,
crosstalk, aging, polarization dependent losses, among other ef-
fects not considered in the GN model.
The architectures are compared in terms of key metrics such
as CAPEX, power consumption and footprint. Table I shows the
elemental values, which have been normalized. Part of the actual
values used are available in [18] for the OTN switch and in [23]
for the DCI Muxponder.
The dimensioning results are shown in Fig. 14, Fig. 15 and
Fig. 16 for the IBN, SPN and GBN, respectively. The figures
show a comparison between HCA and conventional OTN ar-
chitecture and the mentioned savings are with respect to OTN
architecture. In addition to CAPEX, footprint and power con-
sumption, the total number of ports (i.e., line interfaces) required
and the number of ports required for restoration are also shown.
In both cases, the values are also normalized.
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 37, NO. 16, AUGUST 15, 2019
Fig. 15. Comparative analysis OTN vs HCA for SPN.
Fig. 16. Comparative analysis OTN vs HCA for GBN.
In the IBN, the HCA provides about 80% savings in DWDM
port count (i.e., line interfaces) for restoration, about 33% sav-
ings in overall DWDM port count, 80% savings in CAPEX, 78%
savings in typical power consumption and 90% savings in foot-
print. It should be noted that the routing solution obtained in this
network mostly relies on 200G lightpaths.
The dimensioning results from SPN also show consistent sav-
ings when comparing the HCA with a traditional OTN-based ar-
chitecture. Particularly, the hyperscale architecture enables 27%
savings in overall port count, around 50% savings in restoration
port counts, 66% savings in CAPEX, 73% savings in power
consumption and 90% savings in footprint. The slightly smaller
advantage of the HCA in this network, when compared to the
same results obtained in IBN, can be a consequence of having a
smaller total traffic load in SPN. In addition, it should be noticed
that the routing solution of SPN requires significantly longer
routing paths. As a result, this solution comprises a majority
of 100G lightpaths. Further details on the number of dedicated
and shared lightpaths and their rate can be observed for all three
reference networks in Fig. 17.
For the GBN, the results are also encouraging, with around
75% savings in CAPEX, approximately 90% savings in power
consumption and 95% savings in footprint. Noteworthy, there
are smaller savings in the overall port count (8%) and in the
restoration port count (43%). This may be explained by the fact
that routing paths are typically small and there is little need for
intermediate regeneration, decreasing the potential for savings
in the number of shared 3R devices.
GANGOPADHYAY et al.: 5G-READY MULTI-FAILURE RESILIENT AND COST-EFFECTIVE TRANSPORT NETWORKS
Fig. 17. Port count analysis OTN vs HCA.
V. CONCLUSION
The overriding purpose of this paper is to depict the relative
importance of the hyperscale architecture complemented by cen-
tralized virtual control plane in the context of different network
scenarios and traffic conditions. It is evident that DCI concepts
and technologies will penetrate into traditional carrier network
driven by 5G and to exploit the benefits from a disaggregated
network architecture. The proposed HCA solution is a similar
concept built on the building blocks of DCI-oriented muxpon-
ders, a flexible optical line system and a virtualized (central)
control plane for ASON. By means of network simulations over
reference transport networks, it has been shown that there are
significant savings in CAPEX, footprint and power consumption
when compared to the traditional all OTN switch based architec-
ture while maintaining similar network resilience. This provides
evidence that is feasible to conciliate augmented multi-failure
resiliency and cost-effectiveness in transport networks. An av-
erage of around 65% savings in CAPEX, around 70% savings in
power consumption and around 85% savings in space utilization
could be attained delivering a similar degree of failure resiliency.
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Bodhisattwa Gangopadhyay was born in Haldia, India, in 1981. He received
the B.E. degree in instrumentation technology from Siddaganga Institute of
Technology, Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum, India, in 2005
and the M.Tech degree in digital electronics and advanced communication from
Manipal University, Manipal, India, in 2007. After his initial years as an In-
tern, an Engineer, and a Ph.D. student (2006–2011) with Siemens (2006–2007)
and with Nokia Siemens Networks (2007–2011), he served as Research Engi-
neer, System Architect, and Solutions Consultant with Nokia Siemens Networks
(2011–2013) and Coriant (2013–2018) for network planning tools, network plan-
ning services, network migrations, multi-layer planning, and optimization of cus-
tomer networks. At present, he is a Principal Solution Consultant with Infinera,
Carnaxide, Portugal, where he is involved in multi-layer planning and optimiza-
tion of transport networks, focusing toward 5G. He has authored several book
chapters, journals, and conference papers in these fields. He has participated in
EU project FUTON. His research interests include transport networks for 5G
roll outs and planning/operation of network protection/restoration in multi-layer
networks (L3-L0).
Mr. Gangopadhyay has served as a reviewer for JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE
TECHNOLOGY.
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 37, NO. 16, AUGUST 15, 2019
João Pedro received the M.Sc. and the Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer
engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon, Lisbon,
Portugal. He was a Research Engineer and a System Architect for Network Plan-
ning Tools with Nokia Siemens Networks from 2008 to 2013 and with Coriant
from 2013 to 2018. He currently leads the Multilayer Performance Optimization
team with Infinera, Carnaxide, Portugal, which investigates future-looking op-
tical and multi-layer network architectures and design algorithms and supports
both algorithmic development and optical performance for planning tools and
SDN controller. He has also been a lecturer of courses on network planning
and transport networks. He holds 6 patent applications and has co-authored over
150 publications in international conferences and journals, participated in EU
projects FUTON, IDEALIST, and METRO-HAUL. Currently, his research in-
terests include high capacity optical networks, node architectures, routing and
spectrum assignment, multi-layer optimization, disaggregated networks, and
machine learning applications.
Dr. Pedro served as a reviewer for IEEE/OSA JOURNAL OF OPTICAL COM-
MUNICATIONS AND NETWORKING, JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, and
IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS. He has also served as a TPC member
of OFC from 2015 to 2018.
Stefan Spaelter received the Ph.D. degree in the field of quantum fiber optics.
He has held various leadership positions in research, system engineering, op-
tical engineering, and technical sales with Lucent Bell Labs, Siemens, Nokia
Siemens Networks, and Coriant. He is currently the Vice President of Solutions
Product Line Management with Infinera, Munich, Germany, where he is globally
responsible for defining innovative and competitive solutions to packet optical
transport networks. To his role, he brings more than 25 years of experience in
optical communications. He has published more than 75 reviewed conference
papers and journal articles.