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A new architectural paradigm for future optical transport network, namely, optical-computing-enabled networking, is presented. As a major departure from traditional optical-bypass framework, the new paradigm is grounded on the idea of permitting superposition of transitional lightpaths crossing the same intermediate node to produce a more spectrally efficient lightpath bringing about spectral savings and potentially greater energy efficiency. A case study focusing on optical aggregation is provided to highlight how advantageous the proposed architecture is in comparison with the conventional one.

A new architectural paradigm, named, optical-computing-enabled network, is proposed as a potential evolution of the currently used optical-bypass framework. The main idea is to leverage the optical computing capabilities performed on transitional lightpaths at intermediate nodes and such proposal reverses the conventional wisdom in optical-bypass network, that is, separating in-transit lightpaths in avoidance of unwanted interference. In optical-computing-enabled network, the optical nodes are therefore upgraded from conventional functions of add-drop and cross-connect to include optical computing/processing capabilities. This is enabled by exploiting the superposition of in-transit lightpaths for computing purposes to achieve greater capacity efficiency. While traditional network design and planning algorithms have been well-developed for optical-bypass framework in which the routing and resource allocation is dedicated to each optical channel (lightpath), more complicated problems arise in optical-computing-enabled architecture as a consequence of intricate interaction between optical channels and hence resulting into the establishment of the so-called integrated/computed lightpaths. This necessitates for a different framework of network design and planning to maximize the impact of optical computing opportunities. In highlighting this critical point, a detailed case study exploiting the optical aggregation operation to re-design the optical core network is investigated in this paper. Optical aggregation enables the combination of lower-speed and/or lower-order format channels into a single higher-rate and/or higher-order format one for saving spectrum resources and such new perspective give rises to major challenges involving aggregation assignments. Specifically, the determination of demands for aggregation, the nodes at which the optical aggregation takes place and the wavelength selection for aggregated lightpaths constitute a critical issue to be tackled. Numerical results obtained from extensive simulations on the COST239 network are presented to quantify the efficacy of optical-computing-enabled approach versus the conventional optical-bypass-enabled one. [Display omitted] • Optical-computing-enabled network as an evolution of optical-bypass architecture. • In-network optical computing paves the way for era of optical-layer intelligence. • A vision on the integration of optical computing and communications infrastructure. • A new research problem, that is, routing, wavelength and aggregation assigment. • A call for optical network design and planning 2.0 framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]