Optical Network Spectral Defragmentation Through Selective Route Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Determining optimal routes in optical communication networks is an NP-hard problem, leading to inefficient assignments of demands to routes, which reduces network capacity and prevents the communication network from servicing additional demands due to fragmented frequency spectrum usage.
Innovation Solution
A network management system that updates path assignments in communication networks by selecting a subset of paths and configuring the network to use updated routes that satisfy a total change condition and network improvement condition, optimizing frequency slot usage and reducing Shannon entropy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If optimal route assignment is attempted in optical communication networks, then network capacity and efficiency should improve, but the computational complexity becomes intractable due to the NP-hard nature of the problem
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the frequency spectrum into discrete frequency slots and divides the route assignment problem into manageable units. By representing the network as a graph with vertices and edges, and by treating each frequency slot assignment as a separate decision variable, the complex NP-hard problem is broken down into smaller subproblems that can be addressed through integer linear programming formulations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the route assignment problem by changing the parameter representation from continuous frequency allocations to discrete frequency slot assignments. This parameter transformation allows the use of integer linear programming techniques, converting an intractable optimization problem into one that can be solved using standard optimization algorithms with polynomial time complexity for practical network sizes.
2Productivity
If frequency spectrum is allocated to multiple demands, then more demands can be serviced, but the frequency spectrum becomes fragmented reducing overall network efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges frequency slot allocations across multiple routes and demands by formulating a global optimization problem that considers all demands simultaneously. The integer linear programming approach ensures that frequency slots are allocated in a coordinated manner across the entire network, preventing fragmentation by making holistic decisions rather than isolated allocations. This merging approach maximizes spectrum utilization efficiency while servicing multiple demands.
Data Source
AI summary
An assignment of demands to routes on a communication network can be improved by selecting and updating a subset of the routes. A network management system (or other communication network component) can obtain a representation of the communication network. The representation can include a network graph, sets of resources, and a set of paths for the network graph. The network management system can update the set of paths by selecting a path subset and updating the paths of the path subset. The updating can satisfy a total change condition and a network improvement condition. The updating can be limited to unused edge and resource combinations or edge and resource combinations used by paths in the path subset. The network management system can configure the communications network to satisfy the demand using routes corresponding to the updated set of paths.