Demonstration of Virtualizeable and Software-Defined Optical Transceiver

In order to serve the future high-performance network-based Internet applications, optical network virtualization is proposed to offer each application type a dedicated virtual optical network (VON). Virtualizeable bandwidth variable transceiver (V-BVT) is a key enabler in supporting the creation of multiple VONs. In this paper, we present a feasible V-BVT architecture that can be a part of a software-defined optical network. The proposed V-BVT has a novelty to offer independent operation, control, and management abilities to the clients or higher level network controllers. In addition, a specific V-BVT virtualization algorithm is proposed, in order to enable the efficient creation of multiple coexisting, but independent virtual transceivers that share the same V-BVT physical resources. The virtual transceiver can provide specific bit rate, subcarrier, modulation format, and a corresponding baud rate to each VON, based on the requirement of the VON demand, V-BVT resources availability, and optical network status. We further realize the proposed V-VBT architecture on an experimental platform with a software-defined network controller. The V-BVT resource allocation through the proposed virtualization algorithm is also performed using the extended OpenFlow protocol. The proposed and experimentally demonstrated V-BVT achieves independence in virtual transceivers control and management in the control plane, while maintaining the coexisting and isolation features in the physical layer.