Dimensioning and energy efficiency of multirate metro rings

Due to the ever-growing network capacity demand, energy-efficient networking technologies are needed in all networking segments. In this paper, we focus on the metro segment. We compare three metropolitan network technologies for resource and power utilization: Ethernet, ROADM, and a packet slotted scheme called "POADM", which was recently proposed. Both single and multirate scenarios are investigated. In addition, we propose a novel resource allocation strategy for POADM multirate networks, as only the single rate had so far been considered. We show through simulations that POADM allocates resources very efficiently such that multi-fiber networks can be avoided even for high loads. Moreover, we show that POADM networks are typically more energy-efficient than Ethernet and ROADM. Last, multi-rate POADM networks are, in certain conditions, more energy-efficient than their single rate counterpart.