Split spectrum-enabled route and spectrum assignment in elastic optical networks

The Split Spectrum Approach (SSA) in elastic optical networks is based on splitting a demand into smaller sub-signals when a blocking situation arises, either due to the lack of spectral resources or transmission reach reasons. In this paper, we propose a mechanism based on a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation for efficiently serving incoming demands in SSA-based elastic optical networks. Moreover, we also present a lightweight heuristic mechanism for scenarios where the MILP mechanism may suffer from scalability issues. The benefits of the proposal are highlighted through illustrative results. Furthermore, we compare two SSA implementations available in the literature in terms of relative transponder cost.