Convolutional neural network for quality of transmission prediction of unestablished lightpaths

• Published in: Microwave and optical technology letters 2021-10, Vol.63 (10), p.2461-2469
• Main Authors: Usmani, Fehmida, Khan, Ihtesham, Masood, Muhammad Umar, Ahmad, Arsalan, Shahzad, Muhammad, Curri, Vittorio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Artificial neural networks; convolutional neural network; Data acquisition; Design parameters; domain adaption; generalized SNR; machine learning; Margin requirements; Optical communication; Provisioning; quality of transmission
• ISSN: 0895-2477; 1098-2760
• DOI: 10.1002/mop.32996

With the advancement in evolving concepts of software‐defined networks and elastic‐optical‐network, the number of design parameters is growing dramatically, making the lightpath (LP) deployment more complex. Typically, worst‐case assumptions are utilized to calculate the quality‐of‐transmission (QoT) with the provisioning of high‐margin requirements. To this aim, precise and advanced estimation of the QoT of the LP is essential for reducing this provisioning margin. In this investigation, we present convolutional‐neural‐networks (CNN) based architecture to accurately calculate QoT before the actual deployment of LP in an unseen network. The proposed model is trained on the data acquired from already established LP of a completely different network. The metric considered to evaluate the QoT of LP is the generalized signal‐to‐noise ratio (GSNR). The synthetic dataset is generated by utilizing well appraised GNPy simulation tool. Promising results are achieved, showing that the proposed CNN model considerably minimizes the GSNR uncertainty and, consequently, the provisioning margin.