System and methods for optical lambda flow steering

A system to implement an optical steering domain to steer one or more traffic flows through a plurality of processing nodes, the system comprising:

• a first wavelength selective switch (WSS) comprising,
• a first common port configured to receive the one or more traffic flows from outside the optical steering domain,
• a first plurality of tributary ports to be coupled to a respective first plurality of optical links leading toward the plurality of processing nodes, and
• a first steering module coupled to the first common port and the first plurality of tributary ports, wherein the first steering module is configured to,
• receive a configuration indicating, for each of the one or more traffic flows, a wavelength that the traffic flow is to be sent at and one of the first plurality of tributary ports that is to be used to send the traffic flow toward the processing node that the traffic flow is to be initially processed by, and
• cause each of the one or more traffic flows to be sent at the respective wavelength using the respective one of the first plurality of tributary ports;
• a second WSS comprising,
• a second plurality of tributary ports configured to receive processed traffic for each of the one or more traffic flows, wherein the processed traffic is the traffic of the one or more flows that has been processed by one or more of the plurality of processing nodes, and
• a second common port coupled to a third WSS and configured to transmit the received processed traffic to the third WSS;
• and
• the third WSS coupled to the second WSS and comprising,
• a third common port configured to receive the processed traffic from the second WSS,
• a third plurality of tributary ports coupled to a second plurality of optical links that are coupled to the first plurality of optical links, and
• a second steering module coupled to the third common port and to the third plurality of tributary ports and configured to,
• cause that of the processed traffic that requires further processing to be transmitted by the third plurality of tributary ports to be looped back toward the plurality of processing nodes, and
• cause that of the processed traffic that does not require further processing to be transmitted by a different tributary port of the third WSS that is an exit port leading out of the optical steering domain.

A method in an optical steering domain for steering traffic through a plurality of processing nodes, the method comprising:

• receiving a first set of one or more packets at a first optical port of a first wavelength selective switch (WSS), wherein the first set of packets are to be serially processed by a first processing node and a second processing node of the plurality of processing nodes;
• transmitting, at a second optical port of the first WSS, the first set of packets toward the first processing node;
• receiving, at a first optical port of a second WSS, a second set of packets that have been processed and sent by the first processing node;
• transmitting, at a second optical port of the second WSS, the second set of packets to a third WSS;
• receiving, at a first optical port of the third WSS, the second set of packets;
• transmitting, at a second optical port of the third WSS, the second set of packets, wherein the second optical port is coupled to an optical link that is further coupled to another optical link that itself is coupled to the first WSS at one end and leads to the second processing node at the other end;
• receiving a third set of packets at a third optical port of the second WSS, wherein the third set of packets result from the processing of the second set of packets by the second processing node;
• transmitting, at the second optical port of the second WSS, the third set of packets to the third WSS;
• receiving, at the third WSS, the third set of packets;
• and
• transmitting, at a third optical port of the third WSS, the third set of packets out of the optical steering domain.