Analysis of Connection Availability in an All-Optical Mesh Network

This paper presents the method of an availability performance analysis that can be used for all-optical networks. We compare different schemes of protection and restoration in a fully connected mesh network based on optical cross-connects, optical fibers, and fiber amplifiers. Specifically treated is an optical mesh network physically mapped onto a Scandinavian backbone. In order to compare different survivability strategies, we selected two nodes located roughly 420 km apart. The goal of this work is to point out possible ways to improve connection availability. A number of survivability schemes are compared, for which the availability model of logical connection is derived and a calculation procedure is described. Our results show that unprotected schemes cannot ascertain reasonably high requirements on connection availability in the backbone network. Thus, if a redundant structure of logical connection is considered, the particular survivability scheme should be evaluated in order to maximize connection availability.