Sliceable bandwidth-variable transponders (SBVTs) enable the adaptation of transmission parameters according to traffic requirements and network constraints. In this study, SBVTs capabilities are evaluated in the context of restoration. In particular, multipath recovery and bitrate squeezing are applied to maximize the amount of restored bitrate, also exploiting limited portions of spectrum resources along multiple routes. An integer linear programming model and heuristic strategy are proposed. A software defined network (SDN) architecture is then introduced to adequately support the SBVT configuration. The SDN architecture is applied to experimentally assess that the overall re-configuration time upon failure detection is included within two seconds, largely dominated by the proprietary control of bandwidth-variable optical cross-connects. Finally, extensive simulation results show the relevant restoration capabilities achieved by the proposed multipath recovery and bitrate squeezing scheme.

Peer Reviewed