Evaluation of Resource Allocation Techniques in Fifth-Generation Optical Networks

Optical transport networks are key enablers of mobile communication technologies. The existing core optical networks incur a high cost per bit due to inefficient resource utilization owing to inflexible bandwidth allocation. To handle wireless 5G communication, we need to use flexible networking solutions having high capacity and spectrum efficiency, known as fifth-generation optical transport networks. A popular option for upcoming high-speed optical transport networks is the Elastic Optical Network (EON). EON can enhance the spectrum efficiency (SE) of existing optical networks by adopting Flexible Spectrum Allocation (FSA) and Adaptive Modulation Format (AMF) techniques. In this paper, we have studied the performance of fixed and flexible optical networks with respective resource allocation algorithms. We have performed simulation experiments on two realistic network topologies using a dynamic traffic scenario. Using simulation results, we discuss the performance gains of EONs compared to conventional wavelength-routed optical networks in terms of connection-blocking probabilities.