RMSA algorithms resilient to multiple node failures in dynamic EONs

Abstract

In Elastic Optical Networks (EONs), the way different service demands are supported in the network is ruled by the Routing, Modulation and Spectrum Assignment (RMSA) algorithm, which decides how the spectrum resources of the optical network are assigned to each service demand. In a dynamic EON, demand requests arrive randomly one at a time and the accepted demands last in the network for a random time duration. So, one important goal of the RMSA algorithm is the efficient use of the spectrum resources to maximize the acceptance probability of future demand requests. On the other hand, multiple failure events are becoming a concern to network operators as such events are becoming more frequent in time. In this work, we consider the case of multiple node failure events caused by malicious attacks against network nodes. In order to obtain RMSA algorithms resilient to such events, a path disaster availability metric was recently proposed which takes into account the probability of each path not being disrupted by an attack. This metric was proposed in the offline variant of the RMSA problem where all demands are assumed to be known at the beginning. Here, we exploit the use of the path disaster availability metric in the RMSA of dynamic EONs. In particular, we propose RMSA algorithms combining the path disaster availability metric with spectrum usage metrics in a dynamic way based on the network load level. The aim is that the efficient use of the resources is relaxed for improved resilience to multiple node failures when the EON is lightly loaded, while it becomes the most important goal when the EON becomes heavily loaded. We present simulation results considering a mix of unicast and anycast services in 3 well-known topologies. The results show that the RMSA algorithms combining the path disaster availability metric with spectrum usage metrics are the best trade-off between spectrum usage efficiency and resilience to multiple node failures.