Dynamic on-demand defragmentation in flexible

bandwidth elastic optical networks

Yawei Yin,* Ke Wen, David J. Geisler, Ruiting Liu, and S. J. B. Yoo
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA
*yyin@ucdavis.edu

Abstract: While flexible bandwidth elastic optical networking is a

promising direction for future networks, the spectral fragmentation problem
in such a network inevitably raises the blocking probability and
significantly degrades network performance. This paper addresses the
spectral defragmentation problem using an auxiliary graph based approach,
which transforms the problem into a matter of finding the maximum
independent set (MIS) in the constructed auxiliary graph. The enabling
technologies and defragmentation-capable node architectures, together with
heuristic defragmentation algorithms are proposed and evaluated.
Simulation results show that the proposed min-cost defragmentation
algorithms can significantly reduce the blocking probability of incoming
requests in a spectrally fragmented flexible bandwidth optical network,
while substantially minimizing the number of disrupted connections.
©2012 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (060.4251) Networks, assignment and routing algorithms; (060.4256) Networks,
network optimization.

References and links

1. M. Jinno, H. Takara, B. Kozicki, Y. Tsukishima, Y. Sone, and S. Matsuoka, “Spectrum-Efficient and Scalable
Elastic Optical Path Network: Architecture, Benefits, and Enabling Technologies,” IEEE Commun. Mag. 47(11),
66–73 (2009).
2. D. J. Geisler, R. Proietti, Y. Yin, R. P. Scott, X. Cai, N. K. Fontaine, L. Paraschis, O. Gerstel, and S. J. B. Yoo,
“The First Testbed Demonstration of a Flexible Bandwidth Network with a Real-Time Adaptive Control Plane,”
in ECOC 2011, 37th European Conference and Exhibition on Optical Communication(Geneva, Switzerland,
2011), p. Th.13.K.12.
3. A. N. Patel, P. N. Ji, J. P. Jue, and W. Ting, “Defragmentation of transparent Flexible optical WDM (FWDM)
networks,” in Optical Fiber Communication Conference 2011 (Los Angeles, CA, 2011), pp. 1–3.
4. S. J. B. Yoo, “Wavelength conversion technologies for WDM network applications,” J. Lightwave Technol.
14(6), 955–966 (1996).
5. T. A. Feo, M. G. C. Resende, and S. H. Smith, “A Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure for
Maximum Independent Set,” Oper. Res. 42(5), 860–878 (1994).
6. M. Halldórsson and J. Radhakrishnan, “Greed is good: approximating independent sets in sparse and bounded-
degree graphs,” in Proceedings of the twenty-sixth annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing (1994), pp.
439–448.
7. A. Sharieh and W. A. Rawagepfeh, “An algorithm for finding maximum independent set in a graph,” Eur. J. Sci.
Res. 23, 586–596 (2008).
8. R. M. Karp and A. Wigderson, “A fast parallel algorithm for the maximum independent set problem,” in
Proceedings of the sixteenth annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing (1984).
9. D. J. Geisler, Y. Yin, K. Wen, N. K. Fontaine, R. P. Scott, S. Chang, and S. J. B. Yoo, IEEE, “Demonstration of
Spectral Defragmentation in Flexible Bandwidth Optical Networking by FWM,” accepted for publication in
IEEE Photonics Technology Letters (2011).

1. Introduction
Flexible bandwidth elastic optical networks were recently proposed to achieve spectrally
efficient and adaptive networking with agile granularities of spectrum allocation beyond the
rigid ITU-T spectrum grid (G.649.1) [1]. The networks have the potential of provisioning
both super-wavelength and sub-wavelength channels with arbitrary channel bandwidth and
modulation formats. The flexible bandwidth optical networks offer higher spectral efficiency
achieved by overlapping orthogonal spectrum subcarriers or coherent optical comb lines [1,2].

#156249 - $15.00 USD Received 10 Oct 2011; accepted 1 Nov 2011; published 12 Jan 2012
(C) 2012 OSA 16 January 2012 / Vol. 20, No. 2 / OPTICS EXPRESS 1798
However, this new capability in the wavelength domain leads to an additional spectral
contiguous constraint, which means that when assigning the spectral resources to single
connections, whether super-wavelength connections or sub-wavelength connections, the
resources assigned to them must be contiguous over the entire blocks in the spectrum domain.
Careful routing and spectrum assignment (RSA) algorithms are necessary in such networks to
avoid fragmentations of spectral resources into small noncontiguous spectral bands on fiber
links. However, in dynamic traffic scenario, the channel setup and tear down processes lead to
such fragmentation as well [3].
Spectral fragments, which are typically embodied by non-aligned stranded bandwidths,
inevitably lead to spectral underutilization and potential high blocking probability in flexible
bandwidth optical networks. This results from the fact that they are neither contiguous on the
spectrum axis nor continuous in the fiber link direction, making themselves hard to be utilized
by future connection requests, especially for those with multi-hop and/or large bandwidth
demands. Network operators are under the demand to optimize or maximize the service
capacity within the limited spectral resources, which in turn leads to the need to dynamically
or periodically reconfigure the network to accommodate new incoming traffic. This network
resource optimization also includes network defragmentation. In addition to reducing
blocking probability by consolidating the available network resources, this operation will also
enable better network maintenance and enhance quality of service for a given spectral
capacity. However, when the network is reconfigured due to defragmentation, it is possible
that existing connections may be disrupted. A major challenge for network defragmentation is
to minimize these disruptions and to possibly achieve hitless optimization.
This paper addresses the spectral defragmentation problem using an auxiliary graph based
approach. Further, this paper will introduce enabling technologies and node architectures for
defragmentation, and will propose and evaluate the corresponding heuristic algorithms. The
remainder of this paper has the following organization: Section 2 defines the spectral
defragmentation problem and addresses it using an auxiliary graph based approach. Section 3
talks about the enabling technologies for defragmentation, and proposes two scalable node
architectures with variable degrees of defragmentation capabilities. Section 4 presents a
proof-of-principle experimental demonstration showing the feasibility of implementing a
flexible bandwidth wavelength cross connect (FB-WXC) with spectral defragmentation
capabilities. Section 5 discusses the simulation results showing the reduced blocking
probabilities due to defragmentation and the minimized disruptions to the existing
connections. Section 6 concludes this paper.
2. The defragmentation problem in flexible bandwidth elastic optical networks
In a flexible bandwidth elastic optical network, the first step to spectral defragmentation is to
reconfigure the network so that the spectral fragments can be consolidated into contiguous
blocks. The reconfigurations for defragmentation can be done either periodically or on-
demand in a dynamic fashion. Periodical defragmentation usually operates with the goal of
confining the spectral usage to one side of the spectrum, and requires the entire network to be
considered for defragmentation simultaneously [3]. On the contrary, dynamic on-demand
defragmentation can be adaptively tailored to the specific demand of the important and urgent
incoming connections. With either approach, the existing connections need to be reconfigured
either by changing routes, assigning different spectrum at the transceivers, or converting
wavelength in the intermediate nodes. In any case, there is a chance that some existing live
connections may be disrupted. One of the key operational requirements is to minimize the
number of disruptions during the reconfiguration phase.
This paper considers primarily the wavelength conversion technique in the intermediate
nodes for the dynamic on-demand defragmentation scenario. In this case, to make room for
the incoming connections with large bandwidth demands, the existing connections that are in
spectral conflict with the new connection requests will be wavelength converted to other
available, but fragmented spectrum blocks on the same link.

#156249 - $15.00 USD Received 10 Oct 2011; accepted 1 Nov 2011; published 12 Jan 2012
(C) 2012 OSA 16 January 2012 / Vol. 20, No. 2 / OPTICS EXPRESS 1799
 Fig. 1. (a) 14-node NSF network (b) example defragmentation scenario.

Taking one example of 4 links in the 14-node NSF network, as shown in Fig. 1(a), the
current state of the spectrum usage are assumed as shown in Fig. 1(b). When a new
connection going through link 1, 2, 3 and 4 requests three contiguous subcarriers, there is no
contiguous spectrum blocks (while blocks) available on all the links. Assuming the algorithms
in the network control plane firstly choose the spectrum interval of [fs, fs + W] (i.e. the block
surrounded by the yellow rectangle) as a starting point to evaluate defragmentation. There are
three existing connections in this spectral interval, namely C1, C2 and C3. To do
defragmentation is to convert these three connections in the wavelength domain to make this
spectral interval available to the new connection. Since these three connections are all
relatively small connections (short distance and narrow spectrum), there is more chance that
they can take advantage of the fragmented spectral resources on the links.
Obviously, there are two alternative spectrum blocks to accommodate each individual
connection in this example. As shown in Fig. 1(b), the two blue dash circles above the yellow
frame represent C1 solution 1 and C1 solution 2. Similarly, C2 and C3 have two solutions as
well. However, as Fig. 1(b) indicates, one connection cannot randomly choose a spectral
block to accommodate itself since some of the blocks overlap with each other. Such conflicts
should be considered in the control plane when reconfiguring the existing connections to
avoid interferences between two channels. Therefore, to defragment the network means to
find a one-to-one, non-overlap matching between the disrupted connections and the available
but fragmented spectrum resources.
Note that the converted connections may traverse to other links out of the route in the
network before they reaches their destination. For instance, assume C1 comes from
Champaign, IL and goes to Atlanta, GA. The wavelengths of C1 need to be converted away
on node A, and then converted back at node D. There are two reasons of doing this. Firstly, in
such way the wavelength conversion based reconfiguration of the network is restricted only
on the pre-computed route for the new connection, therefore the chain effect of reconfiguring
the entire network will be avoided. Secondly, the wavelength conversion happens only on the
intermediate nodes, so the transceivers will not be affected by this reconfiguration other than
at the instant of reconfiguring wavelength conversion. So the network will not be hit other
than experiencing disruption due to the wavelength conversion reconfiguration, which can be
very fast (in nanoseconds) [4]. In this initial study, the physical layer impairments of
wavelength conversion will not be considered.
Figure 2 shows an auxiliary graph constructed to find the one-to-one, non-overlap
matching between the disrupted connections and the unused spectral blocks:
Step 1: Take one of the solutions (one of the available alternate blocks) for every existing
connection as a vertex.
Step 2: Connect two vertices if they belong to the set of solutions of the same connection.
Step 3: Connect two vertices if they spectrally overlap with each other.

#156249 - $15.00 USD Received 10 Oct 2011; accepted 1 Nov 2011; published 12 Jan 2012
(C) 2012 OSA 16 January 2012 / Vol. 20, No. 2 / OPTICS EXPRESS 1800
 Fig. 2. (a) constructing the auxiliary graph (b) finding the maximum independent set in the
auxiliary graph.

As Fig. 2(a) indicates, the example auxiliary graph consists of six vertices and seven
edges. Each vertex corresponds to one of the solutions for each connection. The horizontal
lines between two vertices means they are dependent on each other because of the same
solution set they belongs to. The vertical lines between two vertices means they are dependent
on each other because they overlap spectrally.
Therefore, the relationship between two solutions of the connections is transformed into
dependencies between two vertices in the auxiliary graph. Finding the one-to-one, non-
overlap mapping between the connections and the solutions becomes finding the maximum
independent set (MIS) in the auxiliary graph. After a MIS is found, if the cardinality of the
MIS equals to the number of disrupted connections, then one solution to do defragmentation
is found. As shown in Fig. 2(b), C1 solution 2, C2 solution 1 and C3 solution 1 consist of one
MIS, and the cardinality of this set is three, which equals the number of disrupted connections
in the spectral interval. There may be more than one MIS in the graph, which correspond to
more than one solutions of the problem (e.g. the dashed circle named as MIS2 in Fig. 2(b)).
However, if the cardinality of the MIS is smaller than the number of disrupted connections,
then there will be no solution in this spectral interval.
Dynamic on-demand defragmentation requires the algorithms to be efficient in terms of
time complexity. Finding the MIS in a graph is known as a NP-complete problem. There are a
lot of algorithms proposed in literature for this problem. Heuristic algorithms can achieve the
time complexity of O(20.276n) ~O(3n/3) [5,6], where n is the number of nodes in the graph.
Exact algorithms can achieve a better complexity of O(20.0076n) [7], while the parallel
algorithms can achieve O((log n)4), but occupies O((n/log n)3) of memory spaces [8]. For the
simplicity of implementation, in our simulation we choose the algorithms in [7] to find the
MIS in the constructed auxiliary graph.
We propose two heuristic algorithms taking advantage of the auxiliary graph approach to
address the dynamic defragmentation problem, namely the first-fit algorithm and the min-cost
algorithm. Both of the algorithms start after the route of the incoming request is computed and
there are only fragmented resources available to accommodate the traffic. The algorithms are
described as follows (Table 1):

#156249 - $15.00 USD Received 10 Oct 2011; accepted 1 Nov 2011; published 12 Jan 2012
(C) 2012 OSA 16 January 2012 / Vol. 20, No. 2 / OPTICS EXPRESS 1801
 Table 1. Min-cost defragmentation algorithm

Step 1: Compute a route for the a new incoming connection request

Step 2: Check if there are available contiguous spectral blocks on all the links to accommodate the request. If
yes, no defragmentation operation is necessary, algorithm stops. If no, go to step 3.
Step 3:
Choose a spectral interval from the bottom of the spectrum, then construct the auxiliary graph, find the
MIS in the graph and check if the cardinality of the MIS equals to the number of connections in this
spectral interval. If yes, one solution is found for this spectral interval, record the cardinality of the MIS
and then go to Step 4. If no, go to step 4 directly.
Step 4: Increase the spectral interval by 1 subcarrier, and then repeat step 3. If the upper bound of the interval
reaches the spectral limit in the optical fiber, go to step 5.
Step 5: Among all the spectral intervals with at least one solution, choose the one with least affected
connection in it.

The first-fit algorithm is the same as the min-cost algorithm unless it stops after the first
spectral interval with at least one solution is found.
3. Enabling technologies and node architectures
There are several wavelength conversion technologies that can be used to implement spectral
defragmentation. The three main categories of wavelength conversion are: optoelectronic
based conversion, optical gating based conversion and wave-mixing based conversion [4].
Wave-mixing based techniques, such as four wave mixing (FWM) and difference frequency
generation (DFG), are capable of converting coherent (amplitude/phase) information for
multi-channels simultaneously and operating over THz bandwidth. These are all important
characteristics for the flexible bandwidth optical networks. Section 4 demonstrates FWM
based wavelength conversion technology in particular as the means for performing the
broadband wavelength conversion necessary for spectral defragmentation operations in
flexible bandwidth optical networks.

Fig. 3. (a) pre-switch defragmentation-capable node architecture (b) post-switch

defragmentation-capable node architecture.

A major challenge for spectral defragmentation is the implementation of wavelength

conversions in a scalable fashion. As Fig. 3 indicates, network nodes equipped with FWM
elements and wavelength selective switches (WSS) support spectral defragmentation
functionality. With M parallel FWM convertors on a link, the node has the capability to
convert M connections’ spectra simultaneously, namely the node has the defragmentation
degree of M. Spectral defragmentation can be performed in either a pre-switch (Fig. 3(a)) or a
post-switch (Fig. 3(b)) fashion. The pre-switch architecture requires spectrum non-
overlapping on both the output link and the fiber between the M × 1 WSS and the N × N
WSS. In the post-switch architecture, if a new request requires spectral defragmentation, it is
routed to the lower port of the corresponding output link while the defragmentation is

#156249 - $15.00 USD Received 10 Oct 2011; accepted 1 Nov 2011; published 12 Jan 2012
(C) 2012 OSA 16 January 2012 / Vol. 20, No. 2 / OPTICS EXPRESS 1802
performed on the upper link. Since the non-overlapping constraints only need to be satisfied
on the output link during the defragmentation process, the post-switch architecture provides
more flexibility for spectrum rearrangements. However, this flexibility requires an N × 2N
WSS as well as a sufficient number of FWM elements on a single link in order to perform
multiple conversions simultaneously, while in the pre-switch architecture these operations are
distributed to multiple input links.
4. Proof-of-principle experimental demonstration
A recent experimental demonstration has shown the feasibility of implementing a flexible
bandwidth wavelength cross connect (FB-WXC) with a spectral defragmentation degree of
one [9]. The demonstration consists of performing spectral defragmentation over 500 GHz by
spectrally shifting a 200 GHz channel by 200 GHz. Here, spectral defragmentation was
implemented using four-wave mixing (FWM). Figure 4(a) shows the spectrum before spectral
defragmentation, which consists of two 200 GHz, A and B. The spectrum after spectral
defragmentation (Fig. 4(b)) shows that B has been shifted −200 GHz to form B′. Spectrally
shifting B enabled the addition of channel C without causing any blocked channels. Figure
4(c) details the 2 pump FWM process to achieve non-inverting wavelength conversion, which
also involves wavelength selective switches (WSS’s) to remove unwanted spectral artifacts.
Figure 4(d) shows bit-error rate (BER) results for B, B′, and C, which indicate successful
wavelength conversion. The slight power penalty for the Even vs. Odd channels results from
slightly uneven power levels entering the FWM process. Nonetheless, all channels achieved a
BER less than the forward error correct (FEC) limit of 10−3 for each measured subcarrier.
Scaling this technique to larger spectral defragmentation degree will enable greater flexibility
and further reduce blocking probability for new incoming connections.

Fig. 4. (a) Spectra showing A and B before spectral defragmentation. (b) Spectra of A and B′
after defragmentation with the addition of C. (c) Details of the FWM based wavelength
conversion process. (d) BER performance of both even and odd channels for B, B′, and C.

5. Numerical results
We evaluate the performance of spectral defragmentation and the two algorithms in terms of
blocking probability in a dynamic traffic scenario. The 14-node NSFNET (Fig. 1(a)) was used
as the simulation topology, with the assumption that each fiber has 5 THz total spectrum and
the bandwidth of each subcarrier is 12.5 GHz. The required bandwidth for connections is
uniformly distributed from the smallest granularity (12.5 GHz) to 500 GHz. New connection
requests arrive according to a Poisson process at a rate of λ, and their holding time conforms
to a negative exponential distribution with parameter µ. The average holding time h, which
equals 1/µ, is 730 time units in the simulation. The load of the network is measured by
“offered load”, which is the product of λ and h. From the results, the blocking probability is
greatly reduced by spectral defragmentation. In particular, the pre-switch architecture results
in a 50% reduction in the blocking probability with only one FWM element for one link.
Increasing to four FWM elements, the blocking probability remains low (0.07) even with high
network load (λ = 0.9). The difference of blocking probability reduction between pre-switch

#156249 - $15.00 USD Received 10 Oct 2011; accepted 1 Nov 2011; published 12 Jan 2012
(C) 2012 OSA 16 January 2012 / Vol. 20, No. 2 / OPTICS EXPRESS 1803
architectures and pos-switch architectures comes from the fact that the post-switch
architecture requires a sufficient number of FWM elements on a single output link in the case
of multiple conversions are required simultaneously, while in the pre-switch architecture these
operation requirements are distributed to multiple input links.

Fig. 5. (a) Blocking probability using pre-switch architecture (b) blocking probability using
post-switch architecture (c) number of disruptions to the existing connections in the network

Figure 5(c) show the comparison of number of disruptions between two algorithms. As
expected, the min-cost search achieves smaller number of disruptions since it tries to find the
optimal spectral intervals to insert the new connection, while the first-fit algorithm stops when
the first solution was found. Note that both min-cost and first-fit algorithms achieves the same
amount of blocking probability reduction, since only one solution is needed for doing one
defragmentation operation, whether or not the solution is optimized in terms of disruption.
6. Conclusion
This paper addressed the defragmentation problem in the flexible bandwidth optical networks
using an auxiliary graph based approach, and successfully transformed the problem into a a
matter of finding the maximum independent set (MIS) in the graph. By taking advantage of an
exact algorithm solving the MIS problem, this paper proposes a min-cost and a fist-fit spectral
defragmentation algorithm together with two scalable WXC architectures to enable on-
demand defragmentation. Our simulation results demonstrate significant reductions in
blocking probabilities enabled by spectral defragmentation with minimized number of
disruptions to the current network.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by NSF ECCS grant 1028729, and under the CISCO
University Research Program.

#156249 - $15.00 USD Received 10 Oct 2011; accepted 1 Nov 2011; published 12 Jan 2012
(C) 2012 OSA 16 January 2012 / Vol. 20, No. 2 / OPTICS EXPRESS 1804