With the widespread adoption of AI, machine-to-machine communications are rapidly increasing, reshaping the requirements for optical networks. Recent advances in Gaussian noise modeling for digital coherent transmission have raised expectations for digital-twin-based operation. However, unlike digital twins in wireless communication, which are already well established, significant barriers remain for commercialization in optical networks. This paper discusses the evolving requirements of optical networks in the AI era and proposes a practical Optical Network Digital Twin architecture enabling dynamic and Quality of Transmission aware operation beyond conventional management. Representative use cases, including operator-driven optimization, user-operator collaboration, and multi-operator interconnection, are presented, along with the architectural framework and key challenges toward practical deployment.
@article{arxiv.2511.06368,
title = {Optical Network Digital Twin -- Practical Use Cases and Architecture},
author = {Hideki Nishizawa and Toru Mano and Kazuya Anazawa and Tatsuya Matsumura and Takeo Sasai and Masatoshi Namiki and Dmitrii Briantcev and Renato Ambrosone and Esther Le Rouzic and Stefan Melin and Oscar Gonzalez-de-Dios and Juan Pedro Fernandez-Palacios and Xiaocheng Zhang and Keigo Akahoshi and Gert Grammel and Andrea D'Amico and Giacomo Borraccini and Marco Ruffini and Daniel Kilper and Vittorio Curri},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.06368},
year = {2026}
}