Colorless, Directionless and Contentionless multi-degree ROADM architecture for mesh optical networks

A Colorless and Directionless (C&D) ROADM architecture has empowered today's networks with the much needed flexibility and scalability to handle the unpredictable high bandwidth demands, provide any-to-any connectivity and provision new services without disrupting the existing ones. In this paper, we realize the C&D ROADM architectures using PXC and WSS at a multi-degree node. We then evaluate both the architectures based on the various advantages offered by them. We also discuss some of the drawbacks of the two architectures. Subsequently, we propose a Colorless, Directionless and Contentionless (CD&C) architecture which combines the features offered by both the C&D architectures. Finally, we discuss practical implementation issues of the proposed architecture.