Topology Bench: Systematic Graph Based Benchmarking for Optical Networks

TopologyBench is a systematic graph theoretical approach to benchmarking optical network topologies. Network datasets are combined with their corresponding graph theoretical analysis to provide a systematic methodology for selecting diverse sets of optical networks for benchmarking. This topology benchmark is comprised of a network dataset and a systematic graph theoretic analysis. The dataset provides (a) 105 real optical networks and (b) synthetic topologies, generated by the SNR-BA model, divided into (i) Syn-small of 900 synthetic networks and (ii) Syn-large of 270,000 synthetic networks. The systematic graph theoretical analysis identifies and analyses structural, spatial and spectral properties of both the real world and synthetic networks. The graph theoretical correlation analysis reveal network design strategies leading to sparse yet efficient networks. An outlier analysis identifies networks that deviate from standard network designs. The analysis also identifies the limitations of real data in terms of network diversity and provides a justification for using synthetic data to complement the real dataset. We conclude the paper by providing a systematic methodology to cluster networks based on unsupervised machine learning and to select a diverse set of topologies for benchmarking. TopologyBench is a novel, high-quality and unified benchmark designed to facilitate research collaborations in long-haul fibre infrastructure by providing a systematic graph theoretical approach to benchmarking optical networks.