Spectrum management techniques for elastic optical networks: A survey

In recent years, OFDM has been the focus of extensive research efforts in optical transmission and networking, initially as a means to overcome physical impairments in optical communications. However, unlike, say, in wireless LANs or xDSL systems where OFDM is deployed as a transmission technology in a single link, in optical networks it is being considered as the technology underlying the novel elastic network paradigm. Consequently, network-wide spectrum management arises as the key challenge to be addressed in network design and control. In this work, we review and classify a range of spectrum management techniques for elastic optical networks, including offline and online routing and spectrum assignment (RSA), distance-adaptive RSA, fragmentation-aware RSA, traffic grooming, and survivability.