Expectations of Optical Network Traffic Gain Afforded by Bit-Rate Adaptive Transmission

We propose and evaluate a metric for the value proposition of bit-rate adaptive transmission in the form of the quasi- static multiplicative increase in network traffic that could be supported by an optical network without increasing the number of wavelength channels or spectral bandwidth. Under the assumption of idealized bit-rate adaptive transmission, we assess the increase in network traffic throughput, or traffic gain, using the network global expectation model methodology and recent results and observations for the capacity limits of optical fiber transmission and the distance-dependence of capacity deployments. Depending upon the details of the optical transmission system technology, network topology, and traffic-influenced capacity profile, we estimate ideal potential network mean traffic gains in the range of 1.5-4X