A statistical analysis of transparent optical networks comparing merit of fiber types and elastic transceivers

We perform a benchmarking of three different fiber types and two different implementation of flexible rate transceivers in a fixed-grid reconfigurable transparent optical network scenario. Results are obtained through a Monte Carlo based method called the Statistical Network Assessment Process (SNAP). Using the SNAP framework, we derive the statistics of the average bitrate per lightpath on a Pan European network scenario. We consider the average of such metric as a unique merit parameter to compare the use SMF, PSCF or NZDSF. We also consider two different implementations of elastic transceivers, namely one based on pure PM-M-QAM and the other using Time Division Hybrid Modulation Formats (TDHMF). TDHMF always outperforms PM-M-QAM, of 23% in SMF and PSCF and of 27% in the poorer transmission quality NZDSF. Results show that using flexible PM-M-QAM, PSCF are able to support a capacity increase in terms of average bitrate per LP of 48% with respect to NZDSF, while the improvement granted by SMF is 34%.