SIMTON: A Simulator for Transparent Optical Networks

In this article we present a software to simulate Transparent Optical Networks (SIMTON). SIMTON is an eventdriven simulation software implemented in C++ which takes into account optical device characteristics for the evaluation of network blocking probability in wavelength routed transparent optical networks. The simulator uses a physical layer model that considers the following effects: device losses, fiber attenuation, four wave mixing, residual chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion in optical fibers, gain saturation in optical amplifiers (Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier), dependence of the amplified spontaneous emission noise with the input power in EDFA, in-band crosstalk in optical switches, and source spontaneous emission noise of the laser transmitter. By using SIMTON it is possible to adjust the parameters of the optical devices, as well as to choose the routing and wavelength assignment algorithm. Moreover, the tool has a graphical interface. We also present some examples of network analysis results obtained from SIMTON.