QoT-Aware Optical Amplifier Placement in Filterless Metro Networks

Filterless Optical Networks (FONs) represent a novel cost-effective solution for metro optical networks, that allows to achieve equipment-cost savings by removing expensive optical-switching components from network nodes. In this study, we investigate how to further reduce equipment cost in FONs by minimizing amplifiers' cost. We propose a Genetic Algorithm (GA) for placing boosters, inline amplifiers and pre-amplifiers in FONs with the objective of minimizing amplifiers cost. We provide two versions of the GA and compare their performance against a baseline amplifier placement in terms of amplifiers cost and quality-of-transmission (QoT), i.e., lightpaths OSNR and received power. Moreover, we provide a comparison between filterless and wavelength-switched architectures. Simulative results achieved over realistic network topologies show significant amplifier cost savings, up to 60% compared to baseline approaches.