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Secure and Reliable Autonomous Optical Communications and Networks

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Communications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2023) | Viewed by 5258

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Computer Architecture, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: optical communications; broadband communications; data analytics; artificial intelligence; beyond 5G networks and services; autonomic networking

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Optical fiber networks are one of the major drivers of societal progress and a key enabler of the global telecommunication infrastructure. Optical networks have undergone considerable changes over the past decade due to continuous growth (exceeding 20% per year) of bandwidth demand. The current increase sets strong requirements in terms of capacity, reliability and costs to operators, who seek to decrease the cost per transmitted bit. Several solutions have been proposed, including wide-band which is more favourable to network operators compared to more/or novel fibers. However, wide-band optical systems present new major challenges: optical components must guarantee similar performance over a broad spectrum, and network optimization is carried out on a nonflat spectrum and with a much larger number of channels, making design, optimization and control a complex problem. Therefore, application of machine learning (ML) techniques is of increased importance in high-capacity optical systems, and they are becoming the technique of choice to solve complex nonlinear technical problems, such as advanced component design and management of wide-band networks.

Another important topic is security, since secure communications have become a requirement for virtually all kind of applications. Specifically, the security level enabled by Quantum communciations allows eavesdropping detection and guarantees the security of the key. However, the main drawback of current QKD solutions is its high cost, which limits their real applicability.

The topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

  • Cost-effective high-capacity technologies, including multi-band (MB);
  • Novel optical transmission and switching schemes and architectures;
  • Pervasive telemetry;
  • ML in Optical Communications and Networks;
  • Energy consumption minimization;
  • Highly reliable optical communications;
  • Optical networks programmability;
  • Optical wide and metro -area network management;
  • Optical communications at the network edge supporting 5G/6G,
  • Security aspects of optical communications, including Quantum Key Disytribution (QKD).

Prof. Dr. Luis Velasco
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 425 KiB  
Article
Simultaneous Connections Routing in Wavelength–Space–Wavelength Elastic Optical Switches
by Enass Abuelela, Mariusz Żal and Wojciech Kabaciński
Sensors 2023, 23(7), 3615; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23073615 - 30 Mar 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1244
Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the three-stage, wavelength–space–wavelength switching fabric architecture for nodes in elastic optical networks. In general, this switching fabric has r input and output switches with wavelength-converting capabilities and one center-stage space switch that does not change the spectrum used [...] Read more.
In this paper, we investigate the three-stage, wavelength–space–wavelength switching fabric architecture for nodes in elastic optical networks. In general, this switching fabric has r input and output switches with wavelength-converting capabilities and one center-stage space switch that does not change the spectrum used by a connection. This architecture is most commonly denoted by the WSW1 (r, n, k) switching network. We focus on this switching fabric serving simultaneous connection routing. Such routing takes place mostly in synchronous packet networks, where packets for switching arrive at the inputs of a switching network at the same time. Until now, only switching fabrics with up to three inputs and outputs have been extensively investigated. Routing in switching fabrics of greater capacity is estimated based on routing in switches with two or three inputs and outputs. We now improve the results for the switching fabrics with four inputs and outputs and use these results to estimate routing in the switching fabric with an arbitrary number of inputs and outputs. We propose six routing algorithms based on matrix decomposition for simultaneous connection routing. For the proposed routing algorithms, we derive criteria under which they always succeed. The proposed routing algorithms allow the construction of nonblocking switching fabrics with a lower number of wavelength converters and the reduction of the overall switching fabric cost. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Reliable Autonomous Optical Communications and Networks)
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16 pages, 3345 KiB  
Article
Supporting Heterogenous Traffic on Top of Point-to-Multipoint Light-Trees
by Masab Iqbal, Luis Velasco, Marc Ruiz, Nelson Costa, Antonio Napoli, Joao Pedro and Jaume Comellas
Sensors 2023, 23(5), 2500; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23052500 - 23 Feb 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1523
Abstract
New 5 G and beyond services demand innovative solutions in optical transport to increase efficiency and flexibility and reduce capital (CAPEX) and operational (OPEX) expenditures to support heterogeneous and dynamic traffic. In this context, optical point-to-multipoint (P2MP) connectivity is seen as an alternative [...] Read more.
New 5 G and beyond services demand innovative solutions in optical transport to increase efficiency and flexibility and reduce capital (CAPEX) and operational (OPEX) expenditures to support heterogeneous and dynamic traffic. In this context, optical point-to-multipoint (P2MP) connectivity is seen as an alternative to provide connectivity to multiple sites from a single source, thus potentially both reducing CAPEX and OPEX. Digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) has been shown as a feasible candidate for optical P2MP in view of its ability to generate multiple subcarriers (SC) in the frequency domain that can be used to serve several destinations. This paper proposes a different technology, named optical constellation slicing (OCS), that enables a source to communicate with multiple destinations by focusing on the time domain. OCS is described in detail and compared to DSCM by simulation, where the results show that both OCS and DSCM provide a good performance in terms of the bit error rate (BER) for access/metro applications. An exhaustive quantitative study is afterwards carried out to compare OCS and DSCM considering its support to dynamic packet layer P2P traffic only and mixed P2P and P2MP traffic; throughput, efficiency, and cost are used here as the metrics. As a baseline for comparison, the traditional optical P2P solution is also considered in this study. Numerical results show that OCS and DSCM provide a better efficiency and cost savings than traditional optical P2P connectivity. For P2P only traffic, OCS and DSCM are utmost 14.6% more efficient than the traditional lightpath solution, whereas for heterogeneous P2P + P2MP traffic, a 25% efficiency improvement is achieved, making OCS 12% more efficient than DSCM. Interestingly, the results show that for P2P only traffic, DSCM provides more savings of up to 12% than OCS, whereas for heterogeneous traffic, OCS can save up to 24.6% more than DSCM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Reliable Autonomous Optical Communications and Networks)
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12 pages, 9449 KiB  
Article
Accurate Low Complex Modulation Format and Symbol Rate Identification for Autonomous Lightpath Operation
by Diogo Sequeira, Marc Ruiz, Nelson Costa, Antonio Napoli, João Pedro and Luis Velasco
Sensors 2022, 22(23), 9251; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22239251 - 28 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1648
Abstract
Network automation promises to reduce costs while guaranteeing the required performance; this is paramount when dealing with the forecasted highly dynamic traffic that will be generated by new 5G/6G applications. In optical networks, autonomous lightpath operation entails that the optical receiver can identify [...] Read more.
Network automation promises to reduce costs while guaranteeing the required performance; this is paramount when dealing with the forecasted highly dynamic traffic that will be generated by new 5G/6G applications. In optical networks, autonomous lightpath operation entails that the optical receiver can identify the configuration of a received optical signal without necessarily being configured from the network controller. This provides relief for the network controller from real-time operation, and it can simplify the operation in multi-domain scenarios, where an optical connection spans across more than one domain. Consequently, in this work, we propose a blind and low complex modulation format (MF) and symbol rate (SR) identification algorithm. The algorithm is based on studying the effects of decoding an optical signal with different MFs and SRs. Extensive MATLAB-based simulations have been carried out which consider a coherent wavelength division multiplexed system based on 32 and 64 quadrature amplitude modulated signals at up to 96 GBd, thus enabling bit rates of up to 800 Gb/s/channel. The results show remarkable identification accuracy in the presence of linear and nonlinear noise for a wide range of feasible configurations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Reliable Autonomous Optical Communications and Networks)
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