Wavelength switched optical network

Wavelength switched optical network (WSON) is a type of telecommunications network.

A WSON consists of two planes: the data and the control planes. The data plane comprises wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) fiber links connecting optical cross-connect (OXCs) through a comb of several tens of wavelength channels, with typical data rates of 10 or 40 Gbit/s. Optical end-to-end connections (i.e., lightpaths) are established in the optical domain and switched by OXCs at the wavelength granularity.^[1]

The dynamic provisioning and maintenance of lightpaths is managed by the control plane. The control plane is implemented on a separate network and typically employs one network controller for each node in the data plane, as shown in the figure. The Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) protocol suite, the de facto standard control plane for WSONs proposed by the IETF, is composed of three protocols.^[2]

References

^ G. M. Bernstein, Y. Lee, A. Galver, J. Martensson, "Modeling WDM wavelength switching systems for use in GMPLS and automated path computation," IEEE/OSA J. Optical Comm. Netw., vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 187–195, Jun. 2009. doi:10.1364/JOCN.1.000187
^ A. Farrel and I. Bryskin, "GMPLS architecture and applications," The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Networking, 2006. ISBN 978-0-08-045647-8.

[1] G. M. Bernstein, Y. Lee, A. Galver, J. Martensson, "Modeling WDM wavelength switching systems for use in GMPLS and automated path computation," IEEE/OSA J. Optical Comm. Netw., vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 187–195, Jun. 2009. doi:10.1364/JOCN.1.000187

[2] A. Farrel and I. Bryskin, "GMPLS architecture and applications," The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Networking, 2006. ISBN 978-0-08-045647-8.

[1]

[2]