Computing approximate blocking probability of inverse multiplexing and sub-band conversion in the flexible-grid optical networks

With the rapid growth of data rate, the optical network is evolving from fixed-grid to flexible-grid to provide spectrum-efficient and scalable transport of 100 Gb/s services and beyond. Also, the deployment of wavelength converter in the existing network can increase the flexibility of routing and wavelength allocation (RWA) and improve blocking performance of the optical networks. In this paper, we present a methodology for computing approximate blocking probabilities of the provision of multiclass services in the flexible-grid optical networks with sub-band spectrum conversion and inverse multiplexing respectively. Numerical calculation results based on the model are compared to the simulation results for the different cases. It is shown that the calculation results match well with the simulation results for the flexible-grid optical networks at different scenarios.