Reliable Slicing in Optical Metro Networks with Reconfigurable Backup Resources

Abstract

Network slicing enables resource sharing in high capacity network infrastructures. To support network flexibility in relation to dynamic application scenarios, slice configuration needs changes over time to maintain optimization in resource usage and meet performance constraints. Emerging services like autonomous driving or industrial contexts require critical low latency and high reliability referred to in 5G context as the Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) service. With reference to this class of services, this paper introduces a methodology to manage slice dynamics in network operation to maintain optimal resource assignment. Simulation results show how slice dynamics impact performance in the presence of different reliability schemes. In particular, the shared protection scheme is shown to perform remarkably better than the dedicated protection one and allows a viable approach to dynamic resource management.