Capacity Benefits of Operation Over $\mathrm{C}+\mathrm{L}$ Band Elastic Optical Network in the Indian Network Scenario

Introduction of high data rate services has increased the traffic load on the backhaul network. In order to cater more demands, the operators are looking for solutions to minimize spectral wastage and to extend their network operations beyond the C-band, especially for inter-city networks. This paper highlights the advantages of operating over C+L band as compared to operations over C band in a large Indian network. The physical model factors in the non-linear interference (NLI) due to inter-channel stimulated Raman scattering (ISRS) and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise while estimating the optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) of a network lightpath. The OSNR estimation model can dynamically account for the NLI as compared to the conventional worst case assumption. The capacity benefits for the Indian network over the C+L band for channel power -1.5 dBm are about 108.67% for channel bandwidth 50 GHz and 103.98% for channel bandwidth 37.5 GHz until 10% of the demands are blocked.