Evaluation of optical core networks based on the CANON architecture

Clustering of nodes in optical networks has been proven to be an efficient way to serve end-to-end connectivity. However, clustering requires specific topological characteristics, or alternatively the introduction of significant alterations of an existing topology to achieve the expected performance improvements. The comparison of future dynamic optical networking technologies should therefore include in the set of initial assumptions, apart from the statistical properties of the traffic load, the network topology to draw conclusions regarding the efficiency as well as feasibility and scalability of the proposed solutions. In this article, we show how node clustering under the CANON architecture can be applied in real-life core networks and provide superior performance compared to conventional burst switching techniques in terms of blocking, resource utilization and power consumption.