Network traffic analysis under emerging beyond-5G scenarios for multi-band optical technology adoption

Abstract

The recently created ITU-T Focus Group Network 2030 is leading network operators to identify the requirements and use cases that networks are expected to fulfill for the short, medium, and long term within the current decade. Essentially, network operators need to evolve their networks to meet strict performance requirements in several dimensions, including a large bandwidth to support foreseen beyond-5G (B5G) services, such as digital twins and volumetric video. To provide such a bandwidth requirement in a sustainable and scalable way, multi-band (MB) optical networks are expected to gradually extend legacy optical network capacity by exploiting bands beyond C+L. In this paper, we present a traffic analysis methodology to help network operators to compute expected traffic demand to be supported in their networks as a result of combining well-known mass market services with foreseen B5G service scenarios. Numerical results based on inputs and forecasts from major European network operators show that MB will be required at all network segments, including metro-aggregation, metro-core, and backbone, by the end of this decade.

Context-Based e2e Autonomous Operation in B5G Networks

“…Specifically, the contributions of this paper are presented and organized in the following sections: Section 2 provides an overview of the e2e B5G/6G reference high-level architecture and topology, including RAN, 5G core, and fixed transport segments, as well as the architecture considered in this work. This extends the topology and architecture in [ 22 ] for B5G fixed networks with the inclusion of the B5G/6G RAN and core segment. Section 3 introduces the main concepts and actions of smart slice operation, highlighting the impact of slice management actions on the fixed transport operation and setting up the main challenges and requirements of contextual information sharing.…”

“…The e2e B5G reference topology considered in this work is depicted in Figure 1 b, where the main network segments connecting the sites and the central offices (COs) are sketched. This topology is based on the reference high-level topology from the major European network operators presented in [ 22 ]. Therefore, the traffic of a cell enters the fixed network.…”

“…Without loss of generality and in line with [ 22 ], the sites are equipped with optical transponders (TP) that allow their connection to remote sites by establishing an optical connection. In addition, in this paper we consider DSCM TPs, which can allocate a variable number of sub-carriers to adapt the capacity to the traffic needs.…”

Enabling capacity scaling in metro networks with multi band sliceable transceiver architectures

“…With the emergence of 6G applications and services characterized by stringent requirements, in terms of bandwidth/capacity and the increasing connected devices and traffic, the exploitation and research of new technologies and innovations to be adopted in future networks are crucial. 1,2 Regarding technical requirements, according to, 3 the flow capabilities from access nodes towards other nodes (especially regional nodes) in the aggregation metro segment are expected to increase to a maximum of 2 Tb/s in the medium term and up to 8 Tb/s in the long term. Regional and national nodes should effectively handle the aggregated traffic, which might reach up to 100 Tb/s in the long term, 10 Tb/s in the medium term, and a few Tb/s in the short term, based on the analysis generated from traffic study of.…”

“…Regional and national nodes should effectively handle the aggregated traffic, which might reach up to 100 Tb/s in the long term, 10 Tb/s in the medium term, and a few Tb/s in the short term, based on the analysis generated from traffic study of. 3 Hence, a new breed of transmission systems/subsystems and switching options should be considered to meet the diverse 6G specifications across the network and expected traffic demand. This includes the capability to reconfigure the network to enable multi-Tb/s transmission in flexible manner within the metro segment.…”