Method and apparatus for fast optical signal impairment evaluation

摘要

Having a fast method to perform impairment evaluation is useful for many networks. A method or corresponding apparatus according to an example embodiment of the present invention maintains a traffic engineering database of values representing characteristics of links in the network through storage of integer values representing advertised optical signal capabilities of links between the multiple optical nodes. The example embodiment determines a path through the network for optical wavelengths to be supported by the links represented in the database as a function of evaluating optical signal characteristics at each link along a possible path using the advertised optical signal capabilities and provides a selected path meeting an acceptable integrity of the optical wavelengths to a path establishment module to establish the path through the optical network. Example embodiments significantly reduce computational complexity associated with impairment evaluation and path selection in an optical network.