Evaluating the impact of EDFA response modeling in the optical network QoT estimation

Estimating the quality of transmission (QoT) in optical networks is a key metric for planning, managing, and optimizing networks. QoT estimation depends on good modeling of the internal components of the optical link to accurately simulate transmission and consequent signal degradation. The amplifier is a source of noise and signal distortion; therefore, amplifier modeling plays a crucial role in QoT estimation. We present an evaluation of the impact of different amplifier models on the estimation of QoT in optical networks. We based our simulation on GNPy, a QoT estimator widely used to simulate and optimize the design of optical networks. Our main contributions are: (1) a new version of the GNPY in which the amplifier can be modeled using a power mask; (2) a benchmark considering the advanced GNPy amplifier model and power mask as estimators considering a numeric simulator and real-world amplifier data; and (3) an analysis of the impacts in the network QoT for each amplifier model. The results show that, considering a single link scenario, the absolute maximum error of the Power Mask Model is 2.85 dB in relation to the benchmark, whereas the Advanced Model presented a maximum error of 4.61 dB. In the network scenario, the result shows that the Advanced Model tends to deliver more optimistic and flat estimates even in cases of high tilt, whereas the Power Mask Model is more sensitive to transmission noise in these cases, estimating lower GSNR and transmission rates, including several cases of connection blocking. The findings of this study may be useful to optical network researchers and operators who want to have more flexible network management and optimization through simulations and software-controlled networks.