Systems and methods for managing excess optical capacity and margin in optical networks

A network element, comprising:

• at least one flexible optical modem;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• determine excess optical margin associated with the at least one flexible optical modem configured to communicate over an optical link, wherein the excess optical margin is based on a difference between i) optical margin for a maximum currently supported rate on the optical link based on existing conditions and ii) optical margin determined including an engineering margin, for a nominally guaranteed rate on the optical link at full-fill;
• cause the at least one flexible optical modem to consume most or all of the excess optical margin by adjusting a modulation format of the at least one flexible optical modem over the optical link, wherein capacity increased above the nominally guaranteed rate in the at least one flexible optical modem comprises excess capacity on the optical link;
• and
• map the excess capacity on the optical link to one or more logical interfaces comprising units of bandwidth for allocation through a management system, management plane, and/or control plane to services transported over the optical link.

A network, comprising:

• a plurality of interconnected network elements, at least one link in the network formed between two of the plurality of interconnected network elements is formed by flexible optical modems;
• a control plane communicatively coupled to the plurality of interconnected network elements;
• and
• a controller communicatively coupled to the flexible optical modems and configured to:
• determine excess optical margin on the at least one link, wherein the excess optical margin is based on a difference between i) optical margin for a maximum currently supported rate on the at least one link based on existing conditions and ii) optical margin determined including an engineering margin, for a nomially guaranteed rate on the at least one link at full-fill;
• cause the flexible optical modems to consume most or all of the excess optical margin by adjusting a modulation format of the flexible optical modems over the at least one link, wherein capacity increased above the nominally guaranteed rate in the flexible optical modems comprises excess capacity on the at least one link;
• and
• map the excess capacity on the optical link to one or more logical interfaces comprising units of bandwidth for allocation through the control plane to services transported over the optical link.