Challenges and requirements of a control plane for elastic optical networks

Elastic Optical Networks have emerged as a promising technology for the efficient use of optical network resources. Its adaptable characteristics and adjustable data rate enable operators to meet the diverse granularity of their clients needs. In order to automate an elastic optical network operation, a control plane is required. Wavelength Switched Optical Networks (WSON) may already rely on a robust control plane which enables dynamic network management, provides prompt demand reply optimizing spectrum use, and implements important network features as survivability strategies, differentiated service, and grooming procedures. Due to its specific characteristics, Elastic Optical Networks may not implement traditional WSON control plane solutions without further enhancement. Therefore, recent research efforts have been focusing on developing the control plane for this new technology, in most cases by proposing extensions to the currently available architectures. This paper describes a survey on the current ongoing research efforts to define Elastic Optical Network control plane architecture. It identifies and classifies the most relevant proposals currently found in literature, and discusses how these propositions address the main requirements to design a control plane which enables automating the specific functions of an Elastic Optical Network.