VON embedding in elastic optical networks (EON) integrated with quantum key distribution (QKD)

Abstract The explosive growth of users’ requirements promotes the development of optical network function virtualization (ONFV) over elastic optical networks (EON). Through optical network virtualization, network services can be provided by sharing physical resources in terms of virtual optical network (VON), which can simplify optical-layer resource management and promote the flexibility of multi-dimensional resource allocation. However, few studies have paid attention to the security of data transmission in VON. Eavesdropping against VON could compromise not just virtualized services, but the whole infrastructure. Quantum key distribution (QKD) integrated with traditional optical network is a promising technology to solve this problem. In this paper, we first demonstrate the concept of VON embedding (VONE) in the EON integrated with QKD. Based on this concept, a dynamic VONE algorithm is proposed to allocate physical network resources to VON requests, which considers not only bandwidth requirements but also key demands. The performance of the proposed VONE algorithm is evaluated via simulation in terms of blocking probability, key resource utilization as well as average path length. Results show that in order to achieve a tradeoff between blocking probability and key resource utilization, the values of adjustment factor and key generation rate should be appropriately set.