Attack-aware resource planning and sparse monitor placement in optical networks

Abstract

This work presents joint optimization algorithms for lightpath establishment as well as sparse placement of optical performance monitoring (OPM) equipment in optical networks. OPMs are necessary to efficiently monitor the impact of physical layer attacks and are usually placed at locations that are more probable to be impacted by jamming attacks. A jamming attack is defined as a harmful signal interference with other signals, leading to service degradation, that is possible through intra-channel or inter-channel crosstalk effects. An Integer Linear Program (ILP) formulation is proposed to solve the problem of attack-aware routing and wavelength assignment (Aa-RWA), jointly with the placement of OPM equipment, in order to minimize the impact of physical layer jamming attacks in optical networks. Moreover, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is proposed to solve the same optimization problem. The proposed GA algorithm is compared to the ILP formulation as well as to an attack-unaware RWA algorithm that has as an objective the minimization of the number of wavelengths required to accommodate all traffic demands, not accounting for the crosstalk interactions. Simulation results indicate that the proposed GA algorithm provides a solution that is close to the optimal in terms of crosstalk interactions, while also providing a very good solution in resource usage, measured in terms of the required number of wavelengths.