Cost-effective ROADM design to maximize the Traffic Load Capacity of u-DWDM coherent metro-access networks

The current constant growing in traffic demands caused by the popularization of cloud services, mobile and social networks is requiring architectural changes at the underlying networks so as to provide a more highly dynamic connectivity. Cost-effective and energy efficient solutions are also required in flexible network subsystems in order to make available future sustainable networks. In this context, a novel cost-effective and energy-efficient solution DWDM ROADM (D-ROADM) node design has been recently considered to enable optical Metro-Access networks convergence. In this paper, we assess the D-ROADM capabilities in a dynamic ultra-Dense Wavelength Multiplexing (u-DWDM) coherent Ring Network scenario. In particular, the metric Blocking Bandwidth Probability (BBP) vs. Traffic Load Capacity (TLC) has been considered. Our numerical evaluations show that the performance penalty of cost-effective D-ROADM based networks could be reduced to 35% for 62.5 GHz DWDM channels when compared to WSS-based ROADMs.