During the last few years, there have been concentrated efforts toward intent-driven networking. While relying upon Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Intent-Based Networking (IBN) pushes the frontiers of efficient networking by decoupling the intentions of a network operator (i.e., what is desired to be done) from the implementation (i.e., how is it achieved). The advantages of such a paradigm have long been argued and include, but are not limited to, the reduction of human errors, reduced expertise requirements among operator personnel, and faster business plan adaptation. In previous work, we have shown how incorporating IBN in multi-domain networks can have a significantly positive impact as it can enable decentralized operation, accountability, and confidentiality. The pillar of our previous contribution is the compilation of intents using system-generated intent trees. In this work, we extend the architecture to enable grooming among the user intents. Therefore, separate intents can now end up using the same network resources. While this makes the intent system reasonably more complex, it indisputably improves resource allocation. To represent the intent relationships of the newly enhanced architecture, we use Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs). Furthermore, we appropriately adapt an advanced established technique from the literature to solve the Routing, Modulation, and Spectrum Assignment (RMSA) problem for the intent compilation. We demonstrate a realistic scenario in which we evaluate our architecture and the intent compilation strategy. Our current approach successfully consolidates the advantages of having an intent-driven architecture and, at the same time, flexibly choosing among advanced resource allocation techniques.

翻译：近年来，学术界对意图驱动网络展开了集中研究。在依赖软件定义网络（SDN）的基础上，基于意图的网络（IBN）通过将网络运营商的意图（即期望完成的目标）与具体实现（即实现方法）解耦，推动了高效组网的前沿发展。这种范式的优势早已被论证，包括但不限于减少人为错误、降低运营商人员专业要求，以及加快商业计划调整。在前期工作中，我们论证了将IBN融入多域网络可产生显著正面影响：它能实现去中心化运营、问责制与保密性。我们先前贡献的核心在于利用系统生成的意图树进行意图编译。本文扩展了该架构，支持用户意图间的聚合。因此，不同意图现可共享相同的网络资源。尽管这增加了意图系统的复杂性，但毋庸置疑地提升了资源分配效率。为表征这一新增强架构中的意图关系，我们采用有向无环图（DAG）。此外，我们适当改编了文献中一项成熟的先进技术，以解决意图编译中的路由、调制与频谱分配（RMSA）问题。我们通过真实场景评估了所提架构及意图编译策略。当前方法成功整合了意图驱动架构的优势，同时保持了先进资源分配技术选择的灵活性。