  With the spread of Data Center Interconnect (DCI) and local 5G, there is a
growing need for dynamically established connections between customer locations
through high-capacity optical links. However, link parameters such as signal
power profile and amplifier gains are often unknown and have to be measured by
experts, preventing dynamic path provisioning due to the time-consuming manual
measurements. Although several techniques for estimating the unknown parameters
of such alien access links have been proposed, no work has presented
architecture and protocol that drive the estimation techniques to establish an
optical path between the customer locations. Our study aims to automatically
connect customer-owned transceivers via alien access links with optimal quality
of transmission (QoT). We first propose an architecture and protocol for
cooperative optical path design between a customer and carrier, utilizing a
state-of-the-art technique for estimating link parameters. We then implement
the proposed protocol in a software-defined network (SDN) controller and
white-box transponders using an open API. The experiments demonstrate that the
optical path is dynamically established via alien access links in 137 seconds
from the transceiver's cold start. Lastly, we discuss the QoT accuracy obtained
with this method and the remaining issues.
