Recent Advances in Elastic Optical Networking

Many detailed studies ranging from networking to hardware as well as standardization activities over the last few years have advanced the performance of the elastic optical network. Thanks to these intensive works, the elastic optical network has been becoming feasible. This paper reviews the recent advances in the elastic optical network from the aspects of networking technology and hardware design. For the former, we focus on the efficient elastic network design technology related to routing and spectrum assignment (RSA) of elastic optical paths including network optimization or standardization activities, and for the latter, two key enabling technologies are discussed: elastic transponders/regenerators and gridless optical switches. Making closely-dependent networking and hardware technologies work synergistically is the key factor in implementing truly effective elastic optical networks. key words: elastic optical network, network design, routing and spectrum assignment, elastic transponder