Multi-Core Virtual Concatenation Scheme Considering Inter-Core Crosstalk in Spatial Division Multiplexing Enabled Elastic Optical Networks

Spatial division multiplexing enabled elastic optical networks（SDM-EONs） are the potential implementation form of future optical transport networks, because it can curve the physical limitation of achievable transmission capacity in single-mode fiber and single-core fiber. However, spectrum fragmentation issue becomes more serious in SDM-EONs compared with simple elastic optical networks（EONs） with single mode fiber or single core fiber. In this paper, multicore virtual concatenation（MCVC） scheme is first proposed considering inter-core crosstalk to solve the spectrum fragmentation issue in SDM-EONs. Simulation results show that the proposed MCVC scheme can achieve better performance compared with the baseline scheme, i.e., single-core virtual concatenation（SCVC） scheme, in terms of blocking probability and spectrum utilization.