LAUSR

Abstract We investigate the spectrum fragmentation issue in flex-grid optical networks and propose a minimum-block-generated flexible-grouping-based spectrum assignment algorithm. By dividing the spectrum resources into several flexible groups according to the bandwidth requirements of service requests for their accommodation and minimizing the generated isolated spectrum blocks inside each spectrum group, the proposed algorithm can not only reduce spectrum fragments but also enhance networking performance (e.g. blocking probability) due to the improved spectrum contiguity inside each spectrum group with no traffic disruption or any extra components. The simulation results verify that the proposed algorithm can remarkably reduce spectrum fragments with a low blocking probability.