An NSERC Research Network

David V. PlantScientific DirectorMcGill University

&Gregor v. Bochmann

Theme LeaderUniversity of Ottawa9-04-2003

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AAPN Professors

• McGill: Lawrence Chen, Mark Coats, Andrew Kirk, Lorne Mason, David Plant (Theme #2 Lead), and Richard Vickers

• U. of Ottawa: Xiaoyi Bao, Gregor Bochmann (Theme #1 Lead), Trevor Hall, and Oliver Yang

• U. of Toronto: Stewart Aitchison and Ted Sargent

• McMaster: Wei-Ping Huang • Queens: John Cartledge (Theme #3 Lead)

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AAPN Partners

Université d’OtttawaUniversity of Ottawa

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Program Details

• Funding: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) funded program with contributions from industrial and government partners.

• Amount: $7 million (CND) from NSERC for the direct costs of research

• Duration: January 1, 2003 – December 31, 2008

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AAPN Research Network Vision

Connectivity “at the end of the street”

to a dynamically reconfigurable

photonic network that supports high

bandwidth telecommunication

services.

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Starting Assumptions

• Network design seeks to avoid wavelength conversion.

• Technologies that are unavailable in a practical form:–Optical memory–Optical packet header recognition and replacement

• No distinction between long-haul and metro networks.

• Current state of the art for data rates, channel spacing, and optical bandwidth.

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Starting Assumptions Cont.

• Simplified topology based on overlaid stars.• Edge based control in small/medium size edge

nodes. • Fast optical space switching (<1 sec).• Fast compensation for transmission

impairments (<1 sec).• Slotted Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) or

optical bursts.

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Edge node with slotted transmission (Gb/s min. capacity)

Optical/electronic interface

Fast photonic core switch

- Provisions sub-multiples of a wavelength

- Large number of edge nodes

Agile All-Photonic Network

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Research Network Structure

Theme 1: Architectures and Networks1.1 Network architectures1.2 Network traffic engineering

Theme 2: Enabling technologies2.1 Transmission and amplification2.2 Optical switching, routing and control

Theme 3: System integration

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Proj. 1.1 Architectures and Networks

Goal: Develop topologies that move the photonic edge closer to the end user and support a large number of small edge nodes:

• Overlaid star architectures• Generate models representing different demographic

distributions

Goal: Design core switch architectures that supports optical TDM:

• Wavelength-layered switch• Respect limitations of underlying technologies including

insertion loss, switching time, and cross-talk• Jointly consider scalability, reconfigurability and

modularity for both network topologies and switch architectures

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Proj. 1.2 Network Traffic Engineering

Goal: Develop methods for dynamic allocation of total network bandwidth as amount of traffic traversing edge-to-edge connections varies:

• Sub-dividing the bandwidth of individual wavelengths:

–Slotted Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)–Optical Burst Switching (OBS)

• Move routing and scheduling to the edge switches

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Proj. 1.2 Cont.

Goal: Derive protocols that address the challenges of distributed, edge-based control:

• Utilizing unobtrusive measurement techniques to extract detailed information about network state

• Assess trade-off between measurement/ control overhead and improved efficiency, when compared with existing protocols

• Perform predictive bandwidth assignment

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Uniqueness

• Only long term program in Canada that combines architectures, networks, and enabling technology research.

• One of only a handful of related international programs.

• Collaborative research with emphasis on industrial relevance.

–Financially supported by 11 industrial and government organizations that collectively conduct optical networks and components research.

• Unique combination of analytic/emulation and experimental research.