◆ Elastic Optical Networks: The Global Evolution to

Software Configurable Optical Networks

Patricia Layec, Annalisa Morea, Francesco Vacondio, Olivier Rival,
and Jean-Christophe Antona

Worldwide operator deployment of high-speed 100G coherent optical

networks is currently underway. To ensure a competitive solution offering
significant performance improvements to cope with the ever-increasing
traffic demand, a novel network concept has been proposed for improved
resource utilization based on “elasticity”; specifically, the ability to make a
number of previously fixed transmission parameters tunable, for example
optical data rate or channel spacing. The benefits are numerous, including
increased network capacity, lower cost per bit, and improved energy
efficiency and scalability. In this paper, we review the work carried out within
the Cooperation for a Sustained European Leadership in Telecommunications
(CELTIC) Elastic-Optical NETwork (EO-Net) project towards advancing the state
of software-configurable optical networking. We identify the key building
blocks for enabling elastic optical networks to provide desired performance
improvements over static optical networks. We examine the design of elastic
transponders capable of data rate adaptation, interfaces between client
packet devices and transponders supporting flexible traffic aggregation, and
associated algorithms for traffic grooming and routing. We also perform
network cost/energy analyses. Finally, we review the experimental
demonstration of such elastic functionalities. © 2013 Alcatel-Lucent.

Introduction To support this traffic growth, higher capacity

The volume of packet traffic has been continu-
ously increasing in core networks for decades, post-
ing a 30 to 60 percent compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) over the last two decades with no sign of
stopping [21]. At the same time, traffic patterns have
become far less predictable [7], and are much more
dynamic in nature, and traffic demands are not uni-
formly spread within the network.
networks are needed, along with higher data rate
optical connections. Due to the limited utilizable
bandwidth in an optical fiber, a higher data rate trans-
lates into a need for higher spectral efficiency. This
can drastically reduce the reach of optical signals and
requires the use of more optoelectronic regeneration
resources. Therefore it is not economically viable to
implement a homogeneous increase of data rate and

Bell Labs Technical Journal 18(3), 133–151 (2013) © 2013 Alcatel-Lucent. • DOI: 10.1002/bltj.21631
 Panel 1. Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Terms
ASE—Amplified spontaneous emission
AWGN—Additive white Gaussian noise
BER—Bit error ratio
BPSK—Binary phase shift keying
CAGR—Compound annual growth rate
CAPEX—Capital expenditures
CELTIC—Cooperation for a Sustained European
Leadership in Telecommunications
DAC—Digital-to-analog converter
DSP—Digital signal processing
DVFS—Dynamic frequency and voltage scaling
EO-Net—Elastic-Optical NETwork
ERO—Explicit route object
FEC—Forward error correction
FPGA—Field programmable gate array
GFP—Generic framing procedure
GMPLS—Generalized Multiprotocol Label
Switching
HDTV—High-definition television
IA—Impairment-aware
IETF—Internet Engineering Task Force
ILP—Integer linear programming
IP—Internet Protocol
ITU—International Telecommunication Union
ITU-T—ITU Telecommunication Standardization
Sector
LCoS—Liquid crystal on silicon
MPLS—Multiprotocol Label Switching
ODU—Optical data unit
spectral efficiency across the entire network.
Tradeoffs between high capacity and reach are tar-
gets of key interest.
In addition, optical transport networks must
cope with an increasingly heterogeneous and
dynamic environment: 1) connection lengths that
vary from a few hundreds to several thousands of
kilometers, 2) bandwidth requests that vary from
tenths to tens of Gb/s, and 3) connection hold times
that range from quasi-permanent to hour-long or
even shorter timescales. It is well understood that
“static” optical networks are typically dimensioned
based on peak hour traffic with considerable over-
provisioning needed to ensure robust handling of
traffic demands for a number of years. Clearly, the
134 Bell Labs Technical Journal DOI: 10.1002/bltj
OE—Optoelectronic
OFDM—Orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing
OSNR—Optical signal-to-noise ratio
OSPF—Open Shortest Path First
OTN—Optical transport network
OXC—Optical cross-connect
PCE—Path computation element
PCEP—Path Computation Element Protocol
PDM—Polarization division multiplexing
PMD—Polarization mode dispersion
PSK—Phase shift keying
QAM—Quadrature amplitude modulation
QPSK—Quadrature phase shift keying
RDWA—Routing, data rate and wavelength
assignment
RSA—Routing and spectrum assignment
RSVP—Resource Reservation Protocol
RWA—Routing and wavelength assignment
SA—Spectrum allocation
SFP+—10 GbE small form factor pluggable
SMF—Single-mode fiber
SP—Single polarization
SSON—Spectrum switched optical network
TE—Traffic Engineering
VCO—Voltage controlled oscillator
WDM—Wavelength Division Multiplexing
WSON—Wavelength switched optical network
WSS—Wavelength selective switch
introduction of flexible functionality enables better
utilization of deployed transport resources (within
their physical limits) in responding to variable traffic
demands, considering aspects of both bandwidth and
hold time. More dynamic resource allocation permits
better accommodation of traffic fluctuations, limiting
the degree of over-provisioning required to make the
network resilient to failures and also easing network
upgrades. Such capabilities are also expected to mini-
mize energy consumption and cost.
The recent advent of coherent detection in
Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) networks
and the use of digital signal processing (DSP) in
receivers over the last few years has cleared the way
for use of flexible and versatile transceivers in optical
networks. Often referred to as “elastic” [19, 36, 38],
“software-defined” [39] or “bandwidth-variable” [43],
these versatile transceivers can switch between sev-
eral modulation formats and/or spectrum require-
ments according to the requested traffic volumes
and/or the amount of physical impairments that
must be overcome. Adaptive spectral bandwidth
allocation is well coupled with the notion of “flexgrid”
network concepts [19]. The challenge faced by this
architecture is that of spectrum fragmentation which
may decrease the spectrum utilization efficiency. To
avoid isolated small frequency blocks, spectrum
defragmentation techniques are usually proposed for
use with flexgrid networks [32]. However, imple-
mentation of such techniques often requires addi-
tional devices such as wavelength converters or
transponders and impacts the control plane since
additional signaling is needed.
From a network architecture perspective, auto-
matic reconfiguration of the optical transport infra-
structure (data plane) is enabled by using Generalized
Multiprotocol Label Switching (GMPLS) control
plane protocols, accordingly enhanced for support-
ing elastic features. Photonic media entities of the
data plane include WDM fiber links connecting flex-
ible photonic network elements such as optical cross-
connects (OXCs) through a grid of several tens of
wavelengths. The associated end-to-end photonic
network media channels (i.e., lightpaths) are estab-
lished in the photonic domain and switched by OXCs
at wavelength granularity [3, 23]. The GMPLS con-
trol plane enables the automation of provisioning
and recovery in the data plane. Note that while con-
trol plane signaling is distributed, routing functions
may be performed in a distributed or centralized
manner; the latter approach, for example, via remote
path computation performed by a path computation
element (PCE) [31].
This paper summarizes the latest advances in
elastic optical networks considering research carried
out within the CELTIC EO-Net project. EO-Net’s goal
is to improve the energy efficiency and scalability of
optical networks through the dynamic allocation
of bandwidth, data rates, and lightpaths according to
capacity demands and the physical properties of the
optical layer, based on evolution from 100 Gb/s sys-
tems using the polarization division multiplexed
quaternary phase shift keying (PDM-QPSK) format
and DSP-assisted coherent detection. Within this
paper, we introduce the key building blocks for
enabling support of elastic functionalities and briefly
describe related EO-Net project accomplishments, as
of the date of submission of this paper. Many of those
key building blocks are software-configurable, which
facilitates smooth integration into products and ease
of adoption by operators. We next analyze the oppor-
tunities offered by the introduction of elastic devices
through techno-economic studies. Finally, the paper
describes the first prototype of a real time bandwidth-
variable coherent muxponder aggregating multiple
10 GbE clients onto a symbol-rate-variable PDM-
QPSK optical signal. This technology enables the
power consumption of optical transport to scale in a
manner linearly proportional to the actual traffic
demands.
Key Building Blocks for Elastic Transmission
Realizing the benefits introduced by the afore-
mentioned elasticity concepts, which will be detailed
in the next section, requires the evolution of under-
lying hardware and software. A simplified architec-
ture example, which does not illustrate optical
transport network flexibility at the digital layer (i.e.,
optical data unit (ODU) switching [10]), is provided
in Figure 1 to highlight the main technology evolu-
tion challenges for both data plane and control plane
elements. First, optical cross-connects may have to
be capable of handling flexible channel spacing and
spectrum allocation so as to support flexgrid scenar-
ios. Second, elastic transmission requires the design
of cost- and energy-efficient flexible transponders for
encapsulating either circuit or packet traffic over
WDM interfaces (standardized encapsulations are
provided in ITU Telecommunication Standardization
Sector (ITU-T) Recommendation G.709 [17]). The
flexible transponders are interconnected with (fixed
rate) ports on packet devices (Internet Protocol/
Multiprotocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS) routers,
Ethernet switches), where it is desirable to achieve
elasticity. It is also beneficial to understand the
DOI: 10.1002/bltj Bell Labs Technical Journal 135

(3) Interface between
transponders and routers
TSP
(2) Flexible transponder (TSP) A OXC
(1) Optical cross-connect (OXC)
OXC—Optical cross-connect
TSP—Transponder
Figure 1.
Main challenges with introducing elastic properties in photonic networks.
impairments of the candidate lightpaths during the
network planning phase, considering data rate,
bandwidth, and path characteristics, to be able to
select those lightpaths that could allow the digital cli-
ent to be carried with a satisfactory bit error ratio
(BER). This allows optimization of the system design
during the planning phase. Finally at a network
level, the development of impairment-aware algo-
rithms for routing, rate selection, and spectrum allo-
cation is essential to estimate the number of
optoelectronic interfaces to be provisioned. At this
step, for example, performance estimation with BER
prediction models might eventually be used in
impairment-aware routing algorithms. Regarding
the control plane, extension of proposed protocols
would be necessary to enable the associated dynamic
connection management (e.g., accommodating new
connection requests or traffic variations) in this
context.
In the following sections, we outline the key
required technology concepts with an emphasis on
the EO-Net project choices and realizations. The pro-
posed solutions build upon existing coherent detec-
tion 100 Gb/s PDM-QPSK transponder technology,
as this technology can become flexible in various
ways.
136 Bell Labs Technical Journal DOI: 10.1002/bltj
+ (6) Control plane
Core
routers
(5) Network architecture
TSP
→ new resource allocation
B algorithms for (multi-layer)
OXC elastic networks
TSP
C OXC
TSP
TSP
(4) Performance prediction
OXC OXC
E D → new models required
Optical Cross-Connect
In this paper, an optical cross-connect is a switch-
ing device capable of multiplexing/demultiplexing
signals in both the wavelength and space domain,
i.e., incoming signals on wavelength w from direc-
tion d can be switched to direction d’ potentially
on another wavelength w’. A mesh network
improves its efficiency and capacity through the
use of OXCs, which are essentially made up of
wavelength selective switch (WSS) components.
Current WSSs are bandwidth selective devices
based on a 50  GHZ or 100 GHz grid. Therefore,
they can already support elastic transmission
implementing fixed channel spacing on standard
50 GHz or 100 GHz grids [16], which was the main
focus of the EO-Net project.
However, if one intends to deploy an elastic net-
work based on the flexgrid approach (see [16] for
standard flexible grid definition), the OXCs will
require changes in their hardware and especially in
optical filtering. Current filters reject all signal fre-
quencies outside the existing 50 GHZ or 100 GHz
spectrum mask, thus introducing significant penal-
ties if a transmission tries to occupy more spectrum
than allowed. To accommodate flexgrid for OXCs, a
newer WSS technology is needed. As of today, the
most likely solutions involve the use of liquid crystal
on silicon (LCoS) technologies supporting fine band-
width granularity (12.5 GHz or 6.25 GHz) where
spectral slots can be concatenated to create much
larger spectrum chunks. It offers good spectral effi-
ciency if channels are compactly packed. Additionally,
flexgrid networks need a mechanism also known as
spectrum defragmentation capable of removing small
frequency blocks in order to generate a sufficiently
large frequency block by moving the central fre-
quency of connections. Note that the primary focus
of the EO-Net project was fixed-grid scenarios for
elastic networking.
Elastic Transponder
Numerous elastic transponder designs have been
proposed, notably based on single-carrier technolo-
gies [38, 39], on Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing (OFDM) [19, 20], or even on optical
arbitrary waveform generation [11]. We chose to
focus on implementations associated with 100 Gb/s
PDM-QPSK coherent detection since this technology
can be made adaptive in various ways with little
added complexity. Transponder elasticity is enabled
by either modulation format, symbol rate, channel
spacing, forward error correction (FEC) adaption, or
a combination of these options.
Before depicting the various adaptations on the
hardware design, Figure 2 briefly recalls the archi-
tecture of a 100 Gb/s PDM-QPSK transceiver.
The 100 Gb/s transport frame can carry a single
100 Gb/s Ethernet client signal or ten 10 Gb/s
Ethernet client signals. This transport frame includes
FEC encoding to mitigate against physical impair-
ments on the lightpath. The encoded bit stream is
mapped onto four electrical 28 Gb/s lanes going to
the optical module, including the 100 Gb/s payload
plus additional framing and FEC overhead. Each sig-
nal, represented by I1, Q1, I2, and Q2 on the block
diagram, is then independently modulated to binary
phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation thanks to
Mach-Zender modulators. The resulting four BPSK
signals are then combined through phase shifters
and polarization beam combiners so as to produce a
28 Gbaud PDM-QPSK signal.
After transmission, the received signal is detected
by using a local oscillator which allows linear
sampling of the in-phase and quadrature compo-
nents of the optical signal along two arbitrary orthog-
onal polarizations [38]. The entire optical field
(amplitude, phase, and polarization states) can thus
be reconstructed. A clock frequency is then extracted
from the digital signal before going to the DSP stage.
The DSP allows a wide range of techniques to com-
pensate for signal distortions such as chromatic dis-
persion and polarization mode dispersion (PMD),
and also permits us to recover an estimate of the fre-
quency and phase carrier. Then, a symbol-to-bit
decision stage is performed before decoding the FEC.
In the following we discuss the different modifi-
cations of the 100 Gb/s transceiver to make it elastic
in various manners:
• Modulation format adaptation. The emitter side can
straightforwardly support various modulations
by adjusting the sequences I1, Q1, I2, Q2. For
instance, single polarization-BPSK (SP-BPSK)
transmission can be generated by sending signals
such as I1 = Q1 = I2 = Q2. In addition, much of
the DSP processing can be reused between differ-
ent modulations and in particular in the chro-
matic dispersion block which accounts for a very
large part of the total DSP block [40]. The achiev-
able optical reach is very dependent upon the
chosen modulation and when the symbol rate
R = 28 Gbaud, simulations show that PDM-
QPSK could reach L = 1200 km [38]. Figure 3
illustrates several choices of modulation formats
together with the optical reach. Note that higher
order modulations such as 8 phase shift keying
(PSK), 16 quadrature amplitude modulation
(QAM) or even 64 QAM require digital-to-analog
converter (DAC) modules prior to the Mach-
Zender modulators. Recently, alternative coded
modulation schemes [35] (e.g., set partitioning
formats) have gained interest as they provide
smooth variations between the data rate and
optical reach.
• Symbol rate adaptation. The emitter and receiver
architecture can be kept almost identical to that
of a 100 Gb/s transceiver except for the need for
DOI: 10.1002/bltj Bell Labs Technical Journal 137
 (a) Emitter
28 Gbit/s
RF amp
I1
T.E.

Q1 π/2

FEC/mapper
28 Gbit/s
RF amp T.M.
Client
Laser
RF amp
28 Gbit/s I2

Q2 π/2
28 Gbit/s
RF amp

(b) Receiver

Local
oscillator
Carrier phase estimation

T.E
Chromatic dispersion
Carrier frequency

.
demultiplexing
Demapper/FEC

ADC sampling
compensation
Equalization
Polarization

T.M
estimation

-Polarization
Decision

°diverse 90
Client

.
hybrid

ADC—Anallog-to-digital converter
FEC—Forward error correction
PDM—Polarization division multiplexing
QPSK—Quadrature phase shift keying
RF—Radio frequency
T.E.—Traverse electric
T.M.—Traverse magnetic

Figure 2.
Block diagram of a 100 Gb/s PDM-QPSK transceiver.

a tunable clock reference. To obtain data rates of • Channel spacing adaptation. The challenge for the
25, 50, 75 and 100 Gb/s, the symbol rate will transceiver is rather limited to the need for a
vary respectively between 7, 14, 21 and 28 (fully) tunable laser and local oscillator. However,
Gbaud. Simulations have shown that the achiev- all filtering elements such as optical filters and
able optical reach is only weakly dependent wavelength selective switches must be tolerant
upon the chosen symbol rate [29]. Therefore, of a non-standard ITU grid. If such optical filters
one of the main interests in symbol rate adapta- are not good enough or if the chosen channel
tion is to trade-off capacity versus energy sav- spacing is very tight to reach high spectral effi-
ings. The next few sections will quantify the gain ciency, further constraints can be put on the
with day/night traffic fluctuations and will show transceiver. In the former case, signal processing
a prototype of energy-proportional transport. blocks can indeed help to compensate for physical

138 Bell Labs Technical Journal DOI: 10.1002/bltj

 Format name SP-BPSK PDM-QPSK PS-QPSK PDM-QPSK PDM-16QAM

Polarization X

Polarization Y

Data rate @
1R 2R 3R 4R 6R
symbol rate R

I1, Q1, I2, Q2

I1, Q1, I2, Q2 I1=Q1 Q2=I1 XOR I1, Q1, I2, Q2 multi-level
Encoding scheme
all equal I2=Q2 Q1 XOR I2 all different sequences
(DACs required)

Distance L @
3L 2L 1.5L L L/5
optimum power

BPSK—Binary phase shift keying QAM—Quadrature amplitude modulation

DAC—Digital-to-analogconverter QPSK—Quadraturephase shift keying
PDM—Polarization division multiplexing SP—Single polarization
PS—Polarization-switched XOR—Exclusive OR

Figure 3.
Modulation formats and achievable data rate and optical reach.

impairments, for which the emitter can imple- Performance Predictions

ment DAC for pre-compensation purposes while
the receiver can enhance the equalization. On
the other hand, the latter case can rely on Nyquist
WDM pulse shaping.
• FEC adaptation. The only impact is on the FEC
modules (i.e., coding and decoding modules) in
which varying the overhead, i.e., data rate, is
often investigated [12]. We have also shown that
elastic FEC could be useful for energy savings
[8]. In this latter case, the aim is a power con-
sumption at the FEC module that follows the
connection length. Indeed, transponders are
designed to achieve a given reach for a target
quality. However, in a real network the connec-
tions are heterogeneous in length and a signifi-
cant number of them do not need the full
capability in the optical reach to achieve the tar-
In an elastic network, the performance predic-
tions for routing and management systems are of
utmost importance to optimize overall network
functionality. For non-dispersion managed systems,
[14], [33], and [42] present a system model, valid
for coherent optical links, in which non-linear Kerr
effects and linear amplified spontaneous emission
(ASE) noise are both well-approximated by an addi-
tive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) model. These
models are derived from perturbative theories of
the non-linear Schrödinger equations. The model
developed in [22] and [42] is a cumulative model based
on simple statistics of non-linear distortions. The
total linear noise is the sum of the contributions
of each span, as explicitly formulated below in
equation 1.

{∑ }
N Ν
get quality. Hence, by reducing the FEC effi- 1 = var
______
SNRNL
uk = ∑ var(uk)
ciency, power savings are possible and promising. k=1 k=1

[8] shows 82 percent savings in the FEC module! +2 ∑ℜ(cov(u , u' ))

k<k’
k k (1)

DOI: 10.1002/bltj Bell Labs Technical Journal 139

where SNRNL denotes the signal-to-noise ratio dedi-
cated to the non-linear effects, N is the number of
spans, and uk is the normalized noise per span. The
simplicity of the model makes it very attractive for
path allocation in elastic networking, and the cumu-
lative nature of the model renders it particularly well
adapted to a distributed control plane.
Elastic Aggregation
Aggregation is an inherent element of the link-
age between the client side (e.g., packet switches/
routers) and the server transport side. In static opti-
cal transport networks, in the event of client traffic
changes (e.g., bandwidth, demand) unforeseen in
the planning process, server transport WDM signals
may operate well below their maximum capacity in
some portions of the network, while demonstrating
insufficient capacity in other areas of the network.
With the introduction of elastic WDM transmission
with a flexible data rate, there are additional oppor-
tunities on the transport side to be more responsive
to data rate requirements from the client side. This
may be used to complement existing client signal
grooming and aggregation capabilities using digital
capabilities of the optical transport network (OTN),
e.g., ODU multiplexing [10, 17].
A novel approach was considered for interfacing
between the client and the elastic transport for sup-
porting varying traffic. In particular, in EO-Net we
focused upon 100 GbE. The interface takes incoming
IP traffic via 10 lanes of 10 Gb/s each and sends a
variable bit rate signal to the transponder. Based
upon this, an elastic output interface was proposed
in the context of EO-Net where the bit rate could be
varied up to 100 GbE. (Note that the standard 100
GbE signal [15] defines transmission in a parallel
fashion on single-mode fiber (SMF) comprised of
four lanes of 25 Gb/s each.) This output of the aggre-
gation interface was directly used to modulate the
two polarization components of light from the trans-
mitter laser (I1, Q1, I2, Q2) as depicted in Figure 2.
Several aggregation architectures are possible in
which elasticity can be achieved by varying:
• The number of active lanes. In such a case, lanes are
able to switch between on and off states. This
140 Bell Labs Technical Journal DOI: 10.1002/bltj
operation should be done without losing any
data.
• The bit rate per lane. These variations are handled
at a given granularity (e.g., 1 Gb/s). This approach
has been implemented and demonstrated in
[41].
• The combination of the two previous modes. This
offers the most flexible and promising approach,
but also results in the highest complexity.
Note that the desired elasticity may also be achieved
by varying the size of the aggregate packet flow
mapped into a resizable ODUflex(GFP) [17, 18].
Routing Algorithm
Resource allocation needs to be done at several
points across the network life cycle: when the net-
work is deployed for the first time (“greenfield”), and
when the network state changes, whether the change
is planned, for instance in the case of a network
upgrade, or when the change of state is not planned.
A resource allocation technique should minimize the
cost (expressed in terms of capital expenditures
(CAPEX) or energy) of an elastic network while at
the same time transporting all connection requests
from the traffic matrix. Resource allocation algo-
rithms rely on either the sequential (often relying on
heuristics) or the joint (typically using integer linear
programming (ILP)) allocation of connection
requests. The former requires low computation time
but the returned solution is sub-optimal, while the
latter yields an optimal solution.
Routing algorithms for translucent networks
have to account not only for the availability of OE
devices in a node and free capacity on links, but also
for wavelength continuity and physical feasibility
constraints. This problem is known in the literature
as an impairment-aware routing and wavelength
assignment (IA-RWA) problem [1, 24, 34]. In elastic
optical networks, connections are further character-
ized by their data rate. The resulting routing algo-
rithms are thus called impairment-aware routing,
data rate, and wavelength assignment (IA-RDWA).
Further note that the cost of elastic transponders is
independent of the traffic carried, therefore the net-
work cost optimization is reduced to minimizing the
number of optoelectronic (OE) devices, which are
used for both add/drop (requiring one OE device at
source and destination nodes) and for regeneration
(requiring two OE devices at the regeneration site).
In the following, we introduce an IA-RDWA
routing algorithm for the network planning phase.
The algorithm uses a heuristic based on Dijkstra-like
path searches in network graphs [25]. The physical
feasibility is based on the optical reach. If the path is
longer than the reach (which depends on the bit
rate) then a regenerator is provisioned along the
path. Demands are routed sequentially following
their order of arrival in the traffic matrix. Since path
search is time-consuming, for each demand, we
allow combinations of two data rates only; this is
expected to encompass most practical cases: one
(larger) data rate is used to transport the bulk of the
capacity and a second (smaller) data rate handles
the remainder. Further details of this heuristic
derived from [27] can be found in [36].
In addition, we evaluate the performance of the
proposed heuristic through comparison to an ILP,
considering three main metrics: the number of OE
devices, demand blocking probability, and computa-
tion time. The comparison was performed over a
European optical backbone network as proposed in
[2]. Results show that the proposed heuristic is on
average two orders of magnitude faster and solutions
are very close to those obtained with ILP, i.e., for
most traffic matrices the heuristic only requires two
percent more OE devices.
So far we presented a routing algorithm for a
static scenario, but a key benefit of elasticity is the
ability to dynamically adapt equipment data rates to
the evolution of the network state. If a new connec-
tion has to be established, any deployed elastic inter-
face can be used without first needing to check
whether the interface can support the required data
rate. The RDWA previously described can therefore
be adapted to dynamic networks. In the sections fol-
lowing, we present in an enhanced routing algorithm
for use with planned upgrades.
Planned evolution involves deployment of
resources at T0 (greenfield deployment) but also at
each subsequent time period Ti. At T0, we use a static
scenario routine. Then, we take advantage of the
built-in flexibility of elastic transponders, e.g., a tran-
sponder initially deployed in “low-capacity long-
reach” mode may be reconfigured to “high-capacity
short-reach” at no added cost. Therefore at each time
period Ti, we re-run the cost minimization process
first applied at T0 to account both for previously
deployed resources and price erosion if new resources
need to be provisioned. We used the pseudo-code
below for the upgrade scenario:
Let N be the number of time periods
For all demands at T0: call RDWA
routine and record the number of OE
interfaces in each node
For i = 1;i < N
1. For all demands at Ti: call
RDWA routine with inputs of
already provisioned OE inter-
faces
2. Save the number of OE inter-
faces in each node
End for
Note that as OE interfaces can support any data rate,
at each Ti we optimize the routing without account-
ing for the data rate of already deployed OE
interfaces.
Control Plane
Due to the introduction of new technologies
such as adaptive transponders and narrower filter
functionalities, new control functionalities have to
be introduced in wavelength switched optical net-
works (WSONs) [19]. When channel spacing and
occupied spectrum is adapted, a WSON is referred to
as a spectrum switched optical network (SSON),
which involves the computation of a contiguous
optical spectrum (measured in terms of frequency
slots).
Control plane signaling protocol enhancements
are important in order to guarantee the dissemination
DOI: 10.1002/bltj Bell Labs Technical Journal 141
of the network state information and to be able to
route connections for any required reconfiguration.
Routing may be performed in a centralized manner,
such as offered by a path computation element
(PCE), to benefit from high computation power at
the expense of reduced scalability, or it may be per-
formed in a distributed manner. In EO-Net we chose
the latter approach in order to avoid the extra imple-
mentation effort to support the Path Computation
Element Protocol (PCEP), while focusing on the sig-
naling and routing required for routing and spectrum
assignment (RSA) implementation.
Control plane enhancements to support elastic-
ity require extensions to GMPLS routing and signal-
ing protocols; i.e., Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
and Resource Reservation Protocol Traffic Engi-
neering (RSVP-TE). The former is required to dis-
seminate the network information required by the
RDWA/RSA algorithms and enable efficient path
allocation, while the latter is required to carry infor-
mation about reservation or tear-down of resources
from a source to a destination and to acknowledge
whether such devices can support the transmission
requirements.
For example, when a request has to be set up in
current RSVP-TE protocols, this implies an identifica-
tion of a path and the wavelength carrying it (a fixed
spectrum slot corresponds to this wavelength, usu-
ally with a 50 GHz width). In the context of elastic
networks, when a request has to be set up, we have
to specify the minimum number of slots needed to
transport it (usually it is a function of the request
capacity and the distance it has to cover). In the
EO-Net project we proposed the use of a new field
containing information about traffic parameters; this
information is indicated by “m” in Figure 4a. At the
same time, when a path is searched and then
reserved, we have to guarantee the presence of “m”
contiguous slots along the selected path. This infor-
mation is provided by adding new fields describing
the reservation of spectral resources. Figure 4b shows
a possible generalized label for the spectrum alloca-
tion; those fields describe the type of grid used on the
considered link, the number of slots that have to be
occupied by the served request, and the channel cen-
tral wavelength. Figure 4 illustrates the proposed
RSVP-TE enhancements for an elastic network that
were proposed within the EO-Net project:
• Figure 4a provides an example of additional
information about the traffic parameters, e.g.,
size of the spectrum width or number of neces-
sary slots (in color).
• Figure 4b provides an example of the generalized
label for spectrum allocation. The colored labels

+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+
m Reserved
+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+
(a)

+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+
Grid =
CS Identifier m
DWDM
+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+
(b)

CS—Channel spacing
DWDM—Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing
GMPLS—Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching
RSVP—Resource Reservation Protocol
TE—Traffic Engineering

Figure 4.
Example of possible RSVP-TE protocol enhancement for implementing elastic optical networks in GMPLS
controlled networks.

142 Bell Labs Technical Journal DOI: 10.1002/bltj

 indicate the type of grid, the central spectrum
frequency and the number of slots required to
support the traffic demand.
Note that the fixed-grid scenario represents a
sub-case case of flexgrid. To this end, in the following
we will only refer to the protocol modifications
required by flexgrid networks. Resource allocation
and path establishment can be performed in three
different ways:
1. Combined RSA. The path and spectrum allocation
are computed jointly by the same entity (PCE).
The signaling for resource reservation starts after
the path computation with a pre-defined path
and spectrum object definition (explicit route
object (ERO)). This yields the best performance
in terms of blocking ratio and network occu-
pancy, but its main drawback is the huge amount
of data required for the path computation (the
exact network state information) as well as the
complexity of the RSA algorithms.
2. Separated RSA. The connection set up process is
divided into two steps: first, the routing step finds
a path (or multiple paths if k-shortest paths are
searched) between the source and destination
nodes; second, a centralized spectrum allocation
step reserves the available resources (spectrum)
along the path that was found (different criteria
can be used). Once the path and the spectrum are
identified, the signaling phase starts using a pre-
defined path and spectrum ERO object.
3. Routing and distributed spectrum allocation (SA).
This method also requires two steps: first, the
routing step finds a path between the source and
destination nodes; second, the RSVP signaling
carries along the path, node by node, all avail-
able spectrum slots. The destination node then
reserves a group of common available spectrum
slots, if possible. If a solution is found, RSVP sig-
naling is sent back (RSVP/Resv message) to the
source node in order to communicate the num-
ber of reserved slots; if no solution is found, an
error message is sent.
The three architectures above provide similar chal-
lenges for the routing protocol and for the amount of
information to be advertised. What changes is the
signaling step: the first two are centralized, while the
third is distributed.
In [30], a routing and distributed RSA approach
for dynamic routing was proposed for a GMPLS-
controlled optical network. An adaptive frequency slot
assignment that depends on the characteristics of the
set up requests (e.g., total capacity to serve or source-
destination distance to cover) was demonstrated. The
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is currently
investigating control of flexigrid networks [13].
Opportunities Offered by Elastic Optical Networks
The advent of bandwidth-consuming data ser-
vices with potentially demanding requirements
(e.g., high-definition television (HDTV), cloud appli-
cations, low latency) clearly provides motivation for
improving the point-to-point data rate [7] spectral
efficiency, which results from a combination of higher
order modulation formats, high-speed electronics, and
digital signal processing. However, there is a trade-
off with respect to the reduction of optical reach. For
example, there is theoretically a fivefold reduction in
reach when moving from PDM-QPSK to PDM-16
QAM. In reality, this reduction is more important due
to implementation penalties [4, 5] for (only) a dou-
bling of capacity at a constant symbol rate. Thus, very
high bit rate technology such as 400 Gb/s or 1 Tb/s
would likely be deployed with adaptive features that
both maximize spectral efficiency for short connec-
tions and optimize the number of regenerators for
long connections in order to be economically viable.
Enhancing GMPLS support for reconfigurable
optical networks considering photonic technology
evolution continues to be of importance, and also
helps in reducing transport network energy consump-
tion by better adapting the usage of deployed resources
to support actual traffic demands. Employing a single
interface capable of supporting many rates reduces the
number of devices that need to be deployed for adapt-
ing to traffic evolution during the network life cycle.
The evolution of the physical layer and the network
infrastructure with software-defined subsystems
allows operators to offer a more future-proof solution.
On the other hand, introducing flexibility
in optical transport networks requires changes both
DOI: 10.1002/bltj Bell Labs Technical Journal 143
in hardware and software solutions, and there are development and thus possible cost reductions. The
tradeoffs between anticipated future benefits and elastic transponder is also likely to benefit from fast
near-term solution cost impacts. Adoption of the price erosion due to higher volumes. Using the same
elastic concept then depends upon new performance coherent phase (and amplitude) modulation tech-
assessments and benefits for operators. In this sec- nology for all available data rates also lowers the det-
tion, based on detailed dimensioning simulations rimental impact of inter-channel nonlinear effects
and cost/energy studies, we discuss the opportunities with respect to cohabitation with existing 10 Gb/s
resulting from the introduction of elastic optical net- intensity modulated signals. This relaxes the system
works. We first discuss the expected capacity margins.
improvements in mesh networks, the expected cost, In addition, in [37] we have shown with EO-Net
and power-consumption-related benefits. partners that elastic transponders offer a promising
solution for optical network multi-period planning.
Improvement of Network Capacity
Their ability to change their data rate allows a high
Important consideration is placed on network
resilience to traffic evolution uncertainties and to
capacity gain. The benefits of an elastic optical net-
deferring decisions on deploying regenerators to later
work include enabling the ability to adapt to traffic
in the life of the network. Despite a higher initial
variations and physical impairments. This proved to
CAPEX layout than for mixed-line-rate networks,
be very efficient in wireless networks such as LTE.
the aggregated cost over the life of the network was
Key enablers are:
found to be 18 percent lower for elastic networks
• A dynamic sharing of resources. Different strategies
than for mixed-line rate networks, assuming the
have been proposed. This includes time-varying
price erosion models provided [37].
required transmission rate and time-varying
The use of elastic transponders limits the over-
spectrum sharing so each connection is allowed
provisioning of equipment in restorable networks
to expand or contract the spectrum it uses around
since the provisioned protection resources are not
a fixed reference frequency [6].
tied to a specific data rate and are thus better shared.
• A data rate adaptation. In particular, we have
In [27], we showed that the number of protection
recently shown that the capability of dynami-
devices can be reduced by 30 to 70 percent with
cally selecting the appropriate modulation for-
respect to mixed-line rate networks characterized by
mat to match the connection length could yield
the use of different types of fixed line rate transpon-
approximately a 30 percent increase in capacity
ders. In [28], elastic networks were shown to be up
at a constant cost per Gb/s [38].
to 37 percent more cost-efficient than mixed line-
• A flexgrid technology. Capacity gains are driven by
rate networks, in the context of restorable optical
addressing a wide range of bandwidth demands
networks.
(from tenths to tens of Gb/s) and avoiding situa-
From the detailed techno-economic studies per-
tions in which wavelengths are only partially
formed during the EO-Net project, we determined
filled. As a result, we recently demonstrated that
that the framework provided by dynamic networks
a flexgrid (i.e., departing from the fixed 50 GHz
(e.g., supporting restoration, upgrades, or even
or 100 GHz channel spacing) can prompt spec-
dynamic traffic demands) is better suited than static
trum savings of about 20 percent (i.e., increasing
networks [28] to exploit the full capability of the
capacity by the same amount) thanks to band-
elastic concept. Resource sharing occurs more often,
width-variable transponders [26].
which leads to better opportunities.
Improvement of Cost
The concept of handling multiple data rates in a Improvement of Energy Consumption
single device is also known as an elastic transponder Sustainable development is also targeted with
(i.e., universal transponder); it implies a single respect to energy efficiency gains that may be derived

144 Bell Labs Technical Journal DOI: 10.1002/bltj

from the use of elastic optical networks. Such gains
come from a tradeoff between either spectral effi-
ciency or optical reach versus power consumption. In
the former case, for example, going green in an opti-
cal transport network could include handling of day-
time and night-time traffic variations such that their
energy consumption follows the actual requested
load fluctuations rather than being determined by
the busy hour traffic peak. Data rate adaptation is
provided by software-configurable transceivers that
have the ability to switch between modulation for-
mats and/or symbol rates (while keeping FEC over-
head constant). The selection of various modulation
formats allows the bypass of unnecessary optoelec-
tronic regeneration during low traffic periods since
the optical reach strongly depends upon the selected
modulation format (see Figure 3) while the symbol
rate variation adapts the frequency clock of the DSP,
thus affecting the energy consumption. The imple-
mentation of dynamic frequency and voltage scaling
(DVFS) schemes allows for savings to be typically
proportional to the cube of the clock frequency. For
the network and traffic scenarios investigated in [29],
the adaptive modulation solution demonstrated
energy savings of 19 percent in a European backbone
network, while varying the symbol rates with DVFS
yielded 24 to 32 percent savings depending upon the
number of available data rates.
To conclude this section, elastic optical networks
have been shown to bring substantial benefits in
terms of optical network capacity, energy consump-
tion, and cost, particularly in the context of dynami-
cally reconfigurable networks, where they can take
advantage of software-configurable adaptive trans-
ceivers. Before they become applicable for real net-
work deployments, we need to demonstrate the
viability of the key building blocks. Among these key
elements, in the next section, we will describe the first
prototype of an “energy follows load” muxponder.
First Energy-Proportional Demonstration
A major result within the EO-Net project was the
demonstration of a coherent muxponder prototype
with energy-proportional operation to the actual
time-varying traffic transmitted. This work results
from a close collaboration between partners. A mux-
ponder combines the functions of a multiplexer/
demultiplexer and those of a transponder. As such, it
interconnects several ports of a router (or of a switch)
to a wavelength division multiplexed fiber pair.
The experimental setup consisted of a fully
equipped demonstration which built upon an origi-
nal bandwidth-elastic processing stage unit capable
of aggregating and disaggregating partially-filled
10 GbE Ethernet clients and a real-time coherent
elastic transponder with symbol-rate adaptation, as
depicted in Figure 5. We assessed the noise sensitiv-
ity of the muxponder as well as the power consump-
tion of digital signal processing versus the aggregated
data rate of this proof-of-concept.
The muxponder prototype has ten 10 GbE small
form factor pluggable (SFP+) modules as electric
inputs and outputs (as shown at left on Figure 5).
Ethernet traffic is generated and analyzed by a
10 GbE traffic analyzer connected to one of the SFP+
modules and random traffic is injected in all inputs.
The nominal bit rate of each 10 GbE client is 10 Gb/s
but we can control the ratio of useful frames (i.e.,
representative of real traffic) over the dummy frames
(added to reach the 10 Gb/s). Let Bi be the effective
bit rate accounting only for the useful frames of cli-
ent i, 1 ≤ i ≤ 10. The aggregation module has a clas-
sical (fixed) interface with the client side (shown at
~10 GHz ~Variable[0−8] GHz
10 ×10 GEthernet input
PDM-QPSK
transmitter
disaggregation
Aggregation/
module
Rea-time
coherent
receiver
PDM––Polarization division multiplexing
QPSK––Quadrature phase shift keying
Figure 5.
Block diagram of the muxponder prototype.
DOI: 10.1002/bltj Bell Labs Technical Journal 145
the left of the module) while implementing an elastic
interface with the transceiver side (the right part of
the module). Among the architecture options, in the
EO-Net project we chose to implement option 2
(detailed in the previous section) which adapts the
bit rate per lane. Note that each of the four lanes
transmits at a rate B = 10⋅max(Bi)/4, i.e., the effec-
tive rate of the busiest client sets the overall output
rate, tenfold. For practical constraints, we assume a
perfect load balancing between clients, i.e., the same
effective rate Bi is sent to the ten clients. Even though
the above aggregation process is automated, the
operation speed of all the components on the mux-
ponder needs to scale with B. We use a voltage con-
trolled oscillator (VCO) to generate a centralized
clock and distribute it all across the aggregation mod-
ule and the transceiver. The transceiver is a typical
PDM-QPSK with 7 percent FEC overhead (using
Reed-Solomon) [9]. Hardware limitations of our real
time setup limit the maximum symbol rate to
7 Gbaud, thus allowing a maximum aggregated bit
rate of 28 Gb/s. The receiver side comprises the usual
optical front end of a polarization-diversity coherent
receiver, whereby the signal is mixed with the out-
put of a local oscillator before being converted to the
electrical domain through four balanced photodi-
odes. Each resulting electrical signal is then digitized
through analog-to-digital converters, sampling at
twice the baudrate. The sampled data are processed
in field programmable gate arrays, where polariza-
tion demultiplexing is performed with 9 tap finite
impulse response filters, arranged in a butterfly
structure and updated by the constant modulus algo-
rithm. Carrier frequency and phase estimation are
performed using the Viterbi algorithm, and finally
the symbols are converted to bits through hard deci-
sion. All the aforementioned operations are per-
formed in real time. The detailed experimental setup
and performance results can be found in [41].
We first investigated the muxponder prototype’s
sensitivity to noise as a function of data rate. In
Figure 6 we report the pre-FEC bit error ratio as a
function of the optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR).
While we found that tolerance to noise increases
when the symbol rate decreases, we did not observe
146 Bell Labs Technical Journal DOI: 10.1002/bltj
−3
−4 FEC limit
Log10 (bit error rate)
−5
−6
−7
−8 8 Gb/s
16 Gb/s
−9
28 Gb/s
−10
8 12 16 20
OSNR
FEC—Forward error correction
OSNR—Optical signal-to-noise ratio
Figure 6.
Bit error ratio performance versus OSNR.
the theoretical linear inverse proportionality between
noise tolerance and symbol rate. We attributed this
to two factors. First, the electrical bandwidth limita-
tions of the transmitters and receivers in our proto-
type induced a penalty when working at 28 Gb/s,
where a BER floor can clearly be seen around 3x10−6.
Second, our prototype did not incorporate a rate
adaptive anti-aliasing filtering function in the optical
front end, which would be required for optimal miti-
gation of optical noise, since it was instead designed
for the highest symbol rate. For example, a differ-
ence of only 0.6 dB ONSR in sensitivity can be seen
at 10−4 BER when moving from 8 Gb/s to 16 Gb/s,
whereas 3 dB would be expected with an optimal
anti-aliasing filter. We also measured the end-to-end
Ethernet frame loss ratio, as shown in Figure 7. The
results are in line with the expectation for the chosen
FEC (i.e., Reed-Solomon).
Second, the power consumption of the receiver
DSP was measured as a function of symbol rate and is
reported in Figure 8. The measurement was per-
formed by direct inspection of the voltage and current
supplied to the receiver board. A linear relationship is
demonstrated between power consumption and
actual transported traffic. This is typical of the power
consumption of logical gates versus clock rate, when

Log10(Ethernet frame loss)
OSNR—Optical signal-to-noise ratio
SNR—Signal-to-noise ratio
Figure 7.
Ethernet frame loss performance versus OSNR.
consumption (W)
typically based on application specific integrated cir-
−2 cuits. This said, please note that the original design of
Premium class
our receiver was not developed with energy propor-
service threshold tionality in mind. The research in the area of energy
−4 proportional optical network elements is still rela-
tively young, and several improvements to our pro-
posal can be imagined, for example the use of dynamic
−6 voltage and frequency scaling.
8 Gb/s
16 Gb/s
28 Gb/s Conclusions
−8 This paper reported on elastic optical networks
5 7 9 11 13 15
and the opportunities they provide for the evolution
Optical SNR (dB)
of the optical transport network. The elasticity con-
cept encompasses various means for providing flexi-
bility, such as FEC or modulation format adaptation,
variable symbol rate, and/or variable channel spac-
ing. Considering the latter’s degree of freedom, we
can distinguish between fixed-grid and flexible grid
networks. Fixed-grid offers the advantage of back-
75 wards compatibility with existing optical cross-
connects and is less taxing on the control plane,
hence implying an easier upgrade by operators. On

65
DSP power

the other hand, flexgrid offers significant improve-

55
45
5 10
Total bit rate (Gb/s)
DSP—Digital signal processing
Figure 8.
Power consumption measurements as a function of
the bit rate.
gate voltage is held constant for all clock rates. Overall,
we found a 41 percent reduction in power consump-
tion between the highest investigated bit rate (30 Gb/s)
and the lowest (8 Gb/s). Even though, qualitatively
speaking, these results are extremely promising,
quantitatively they are specific to our hardware
implementation, and to the specific technological
choices for our receiver. For example, our implemen-
tation is based on field programmable gate arrays
(FPGAs), whereas higher bit rate transponders are
ments in spectrum usage but requires new hardware
deployment (in particular optical filtering) and a
more sophisticated control plane.
The focus of the EO-Net project was predomi-
nantly on simulations, design, creating software tools
15 20 25 30
and prototyping technology concepts. In this paper,
we presented the key building blocks of elastic optical
networks along with recent achievements obtained
within the EO-Net project. With respect to dimen-
sioning studies, elastic networks have been shown to
be energy- and cost-efficient, and particularly well-
adapted to dynamic network scenarios. We also dem-
onstrated a prototype of one of the key building blocks
of elastic networks with the first demonstration of an
“energy proportional to load” muxponder, which also
sheds light on future refinements towards a commer-
cial solution. Flexgrid solutions may eventually come
in a next step as elastic technology matures.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Yvan Pointurier
and Eve Varma for the useful comments as well as the
CELTIC EO-Net project members of the consortium

DOI: 10.1002/bltj Bell Labs Technical Journal 147

for their contribution to this work. Please visit the
EO-Net website for more information: http://www.
celtic-eonet.eu/  Cloud-Ready Transport Networks,” Proc. 10th
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(Manuscript approved April 2013)
150 Bell Labs Technical Journal DOI: 10.1002/bltj
PATRICIA LAYEC is a research engineer in the Optical
Networks Department at Bell Labs’ Centre
de Villarceaux in Nozay, France. She
received a telecommunications
engineering degree and M.Sc. degree in
network and communication systems from
the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)
Rennes, France, and received her Ph.D. degree from
University of Paris-Sud XI, France. Prior to joining Bell
Labs, she was with France Telecom R&D (Orange Labs)
for three years, where she worked on MIMO
transceiver design, resource allocation, and multi-user
information theory. She has been with Alcatel-Lucent
for five years, first working on wireless physical layer
network dimensioning (HSPA+/LTE), and joining the
optical networks department two years ago. Her
research interests include signal processing and elastic
optical networks.
ANNALISA MOREA is a research engineer in the Optical
Networks Department at Bell Labs’ Centre
de Villarceaux in Nozay, France. She
graduated in telecommunication from
Politecnico di Torino, Italy, and from Ecole
Nationale Supérieure des
Télécommunications (ENST) Paris, France. She also
received a Ph.D. degree in computer science and
networks from ENST Paris, carrying out her work at the
laboratories of France Telecom R&D in Lannion. Her
thesis focused on optical network communication,
particularly on the performance and interests of new
translucent optical networks. Dr. Morea’s research
interests include optical network routing and
dimensioning to improve and innovate transparent
network solutions.
FRANCESCO VACONDIO is a research engineer at Bell
Labs’ Centre de Villarceaux in Nozay,
France. He received an M.S. degree in
telecommunication engineering from
Universitá di Parma, (Italy), and a
Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering
from Laval University in Canada. He joined Bell Labs’
optical technologies research domain three years ago.
His research interests include modeling physical
impairments and digital signal processing for dynamic
and rapidly reconfigurable optical networks.
OLIVIER RIVAL was a researcher at Bell Labs’ Centre de
Villarceaux in Nozay, France from 2008 to
2012. He received a masters degree from
the Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, France, and
a Ph.D. degree in condensed matter
physics from the University of Oxford,
Oxford, United Kingdom. His primary research focus
was on physical impairments in optical networks as
well as routing and resource allocation in adaptive and
reconfigurable networks. He now works for the Boston
Consulting Group, Paris, France.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE ANTONA is the group leader for

dynamic optical networks activity within
the Optical Networks Department at Bell
Labs’ Centre de Villarceaux in Nozay,
France. He received engineering degrees
from both Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau,
France, and from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des
Télécommunications in Paris. He began his career
10 years ago with Alcatel Research & Innovation at
Marcoussis, France, within the Photonic Networks unit.
He first studied the management of the interplay
between chromatic dispersion and Kerr-induced
nonlinearities in WDM ultra-long haul optical systems
and achieved the physical design of large-scale
demonstration experiments at 10 Gb/s and 40 Gb/s. He
developed analytical models for the simple design and
comparison of optical transmission systems, and later
studied the physical design of dynamic transparent
optical networks. He has authored or co-authored over
50 publications, including four post-deadline papers at
major telecommunication conferences. He has filed
13 patent applications. ◆

DOI: 10.1002/bltj Bell Labs Technical Journal 151