Abstract
Emerging technologies such as spectrally efficient multicarrier
higher order modulation and bandwidth variable wavelength selective
switches have led to a change in the optical network architecture from
rigid and homogeneous to flexible and heterogeneous in terms of the bit
rate, center frequency spacing, modulation format, and optical reach. The
elastic optical network (EON) is a network architecture toward beyond the
100-Gb/s era. This tutorial paper reviews elastic opticalnetworking
technology and presents its roles and benefits in a new era, where major
line rates in metro/core optical networks are 100 Gb/s and beyond. The
main features of the EON are that it increases the spectral efficiency in
a network manner through rate-adaptive superchannels and distance-adaptive
modulation, and it provides cost- and energy-efficient traffic grooming in
the optical domain. The EON concept has been widely accepted by industry
and academia. Significant standardization efforts have yielded great
advances evidenced by the flexible grid and the flexible OTUCn frame
format recommendations. Hardware virtualization such as a sliceable
multiflow transponder in cooperation with emerging flexible clients will
be key to achieving more flexible and cost-effective next generation
optical networks.
© 2017 IEEE
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