Cost-Effective Data Plane Solutions Based on OFDM Technology for Flexi-Grid Metro Networks Using Sliceable Bandwidth Variable Transponders

In an evolutionary metro network scenario, it is proposed to adopt flexi-grid technologies and centralize the IP functionality, locating the Broadband Remote Access Servers (BRASes) in fewer sites of a regional photonic mesh network, in order to reduce CapEx. Therefore, cost-effective data plane solutions, able to support multiple low bit rate connections, using 12.5 GHz channels, are required for this network segment. In this paper, we present a cost-effective bandwidth variable transponder (BVT) based on OFDM technology suitable for flexi-grid metropolitan area network (MAN), using low-complexity digital signal processing (DSP) and direct detection (DD). The design guidelines are provided for this data plane solution, which has been numerically analyzed and experimentally validated in a photonic mesh network. Furthermore, a sliceable BVT architecture is proposed for enhancing the capacity of the BRAS node in order to serve several Multi-Tenant Units (MTUs).Grant numbers : This work has been partially supported by the Spanish MINECO project FARO (TEC2012-38119).© 2014 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works