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

A network element, comprising:

• at least one flexible optical modem configured to form a variable capacity channel;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• determine excess margin relative to margin needed to insure performance at a nominal guaranteed rate associated with the at least one flexible optical modem configured to communicate over an optical link, wherein the optical link comprises a fixed capacity channel adjacent to the variable capacity channel;
• cause the at least one flexible optical modem to consume most or all of the excess margin, wherein capacity increased above the nominal guaranteed rate in the at least one flexible optical modem comprises excess capacity;
• map the excess capacity to one or more logical interfaces for use by at least one of a management system, a management plane, and a control plane;
• determine excess margin for the fixed capacity channel that is unusable since the fixed capacity channel cannot modify its rate;
• perform at least one of increase performance of the variable capacity channel and decrease performance of the fixed capacity channel based on the excess margin for the fixed capacity channel;
• and
• increase a bit-rate of the variable capacity channel based on margin gained by at least one of the increased performance of the variable capacity channel and the decreased performance of the fixed capacity channel.

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 configured to form a variable capacity channel;
• 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 margin relative to margin needed to insure performance at a nominal guaranteed rate over the at least one link, wherein the at least one link comprises a fixed capacity channel adjacent to the variable capacity channel;
• cause the flexible optical modems to consume most or all of the excess margin, wherein capacity increased above the nominal guaranteed rate in the flexible optical modems comprises excess capacity;
• map the excess capacity to one or more logical interfaces for use by the control plane;
• determine excess margin for the fixed capacity channel that is unusable since the fixed capacity channel cannot modify its rate;
• perform at least one of increase performance of the variable capacity channel and decrease performance of the fixed capacity channel based on the excess margin for the fixed capacity channel;
• and
• increase a bit-rate of the variable capacity channel based on margin gained by at least one of the increased performance of the variable capacity channel and the decreased performance of the fixed capacity channel.