Variable IP packets buffer management schemes for optical packet switching

Effective buffering of optical packets is essential to the efficient working of optical packet switches. In this paper three new schemes, which involve sorting and finding the least occupied buffer, are proposed. Their performance is compared with the common round-robin scheme. The results show that all these new schemes are able to enhance the optical packet switch performance significantly in terms of packet drop/loss probability. In addition, the results show that not all the newly arrived packets need to be sorted in order to obtain the minimum packet drop probability. As computation/processing time is significant in optical packet switching, partial sorting of the newly arrived packets with tolerable packet drop probability appears to be a viable proposition. Conversely, a complete sort of newly arrived packets wastes packet processing time unnecessarily while significantly increasing the packet drop probability.     

异步光分组交换的缓存排序方案及性能

分析了简单的先到先服务(FCFS)光纤延迟线(FDL)循环占用方案性能,发现其分组丢失率(PLR)较高,提出3种输入分组按长度排序,寻找最小的FDL缓存优化分配方案.分析和仿真结果表明:约10%的分组排序后使3种方案都大大地能减小PLR,最小长度分组占用最小可用FDL缓存方案的性能最好.业务负载低于0.8时,排序的缓存方案对管理有限的FDL是有效的.     

Node pacing for small optical RAM-buffered packet-switching networks

One of the difficulties with optical packet switched (OPS) networks is buffering optical packets in the network. The only available solution that can currently be used for buffering in the optical domain is using long fiber lines called fiber delay lines (FDLs), which have severe limitations. Moreover, the research on optical RAM presently being done is not expected to achieve a large capacity soon. However, the burstiness of Internet traffic causes high packet drop rates and low utilization in very small buffered OPS networks. We therefore propose a new node-based pacing algorithm for decreasing burstiness. We show that by applying some simple pacing at the edge or core backbone nodes, the performance of very small optical RAM buffered core OPS networks with variable-length packets can be notably increased.     

Bandwidth and Buffer Tradeoffs in Optical Packet Switching

Recognizing the difficulties in buffering or slowing data in all-optical networks, optical packet switching (OPS) may be viable if buffers are small, at the cost of some inefficiency in link utilization. In this paper, the authors consider a new single-node OPS model that focuses on a set of output wavelengths in a certain link and consider the set of input wavelengths that transmits packets competing for the set of output wavelengths. Using this model, an exact solution and an accurate and scalable approximation, based on reduction of the state-space to a single direction, are provided for packet-loss probability and mean queueing delay. Tradeoffs between optical buffering capacity and link utilization for cases with and without wavelength conversion are studied and discussed     

An analytical model for all-optical packet switching networks with finite FDL buffers

Signal loss and noise accumulation can cause fading in optical buffers implemented by fiber delay lines (FDLs). Optical packets that excessively recirculate through FDLs are easily dropped from their routing paths. Therefore, analytical models and packet scheduling schemes require additional considerations for FDL buffers. This work proposes an analytical model for all-optical packet switching networks with finite FDL buffers and a general class of scheduling schemes including many basic scheduling schemes. We intend to minimize the packet loss probability by ranking packets to achieve an optimal balance between latency and residual lifetime in the general class of scheduling schemes. The analytical model is based on a non-homogeneous Markovian analysis to study the effects of various scheduling schemes on packet loss probability and average latency. Analytical results show how various network parameters affect the optimal balance, and illustrate how properly balancing latency and residual distance can significantly improve network performance.     

广播网络中基于补丁流的丢包恢复机制研究

现有的数字广播网络由于没有回传通道,发送端无法知悉传输过程中的丢包状况。接收端处在广播网络的不同位置,常常因处于小区边缘或受障碍物遮挡等原因造成信号减弱,从而导致丢包率提高。该文提出了一种基于pFEC (patching Forward Error Correction,补丁FEC)的丢包恢复机制,来解决单向广播网络的丢包问题。该方法利用蜂窝移动网络的双向信道来传输补丁流,提供自适应的FEC来降低丢包率。这种方式可以在广播业务中为不同位置的用户提供不同的丢包恢复能力。理论建模及仿真结果显示,在蜂窝移动网络丢包率不高的情况下,pFEC机制能够有效应对个别用户突发的丢包,从而提高广播业务整体的可靠性和服务质量。     

On the design of asynchronous optical packet switch architectures with shared delay lines and converters

Optical packet switching (OPS) is a promising technology to enable next-generation high-speed IP networks. A major issue in OPS is packet contention that occurs when two or more packets attempt to access the same output fiber. In such a case, packets may be dropped, leading to degraded overall switching performance. Several contention resolution techniques have been investigated in the literature including the use of fiber delay lines (FDLs), wavelength converters (WCs), and deflection routing. These solution typically induce extra complexity to the switch design. Accordingly, a key design objective for OPS is to reduce packet loss without increasing switching complexity and delay. In this paper, we investigate the performance of contention resolution in asynchronous OPS architectures with shared FDLs and WCs in terms of packet loss and average switching delay. In particular, an enhanced FDL-based and a novel Hybrid architecture with shared FLDs and WCs are proposed, and their packet scheduling algorithms are presented and evaluated. Extensive simulation studies show that the performance of proposed FDL-based architecture outperforms typical OPS architectures reported in the literature. In addition, it shown that, for the same packet loss ratio, the proposed hybrid architecture can achieve up to 30% reduction in the total number of ports and around 80% reduction in the overall length of fiber as compared to the FDL-based architectures.     

Demonstration of 10 Gbit Ethernet/Optical-Packet Converter for IP Over Optical Packet Switching Network

We developed novel network interfaces, for example 10 Gbit Ethernet to 80 Gbit/s optical-packet (10 GbitE–80 GbitOP) or 80 Gbit/s optical-packet to 10 Gbit Ethernet (80 GbitOP–10 GbitE) converters (collectively called as 10 GbitE/80 GbitOP converters), to connect optical packet switching (OPS) networks with IP technology-based networks. By using newly developed arrayed burst-mode optical packet transmitters/receivers together, the 10 GbitE–80 GbitOP converter at the ingress edge node of the OPS network encapsulates an IP packet into an $80(8lambdatimes 10) {rm Gbit/s}$ dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM)-based optical packets and generates an optical label based on a lookup table and the destination addresses of the IP packet. The 80 GbitOP–10 GbitE converter at the egress edge node decapsulates the IP packet from the optical packet and generates a 10 GbitE frame accommodating the IP packet according to a lookup table. By using these network interface devices and OPS system based on multiple optical label processing, we achieved, for the first time, 74-km single-mode fiber transmission, switching, and buffering of $80(8lambdatimes 10) {rm Gbit/s}$ DWDM-based optical packets encapsulating almost 10 Gbit/s IP packets with error-free operation (IP packet loss rate $≪ 10^{-6}$).      

Demonstration of 100 Gbps optical packet switching using header processor based on 48-bit longest prefix matching

Wire-rate packet processing and its energy saving for over 100 Gbps speed of line are major issues to be resolved in optical packet switching (OPS) networks. For that purpose, we newly develop a high-speed, deterministic-latency electronic header processor based on longest prefix matching (LPM) for searching optical packet destination addresses (OP-DAs). This paper reports the successful experimental results of electronic header processing based on LPM search of up to 48 bits and optical switching of 100 Gbps optical packets by the use of the header processor. We demonstrate 48-bit LPM-capable optical packet switching. We also demonstrate IP packet transfer and 32-bit LPM-capable optical packet switching. In the latter demonstration, the 32-bit OP-DA of optical packets is directly copied from the 32-bit destination address of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) packets. This result indicates that OPS networks can be deployed with electronic IP networks by the use of integrated network operation between OPS and IP networks.     

Performance of fiber delay‐line buffers in asynchronous packet‐based optical switching networks with wavelength conversion

A major challenge in asynchronous packet‐based optical networks is packet contention, which occurs when two or more packets head to the same output at the same time. To resolve contention in the optical domain, two primary approaches are wavelength conversion and fiber delay line (FDL) buffering. In wavelength conversion, a contending packet can be converted from one wavelength to another in order to avoid conflict. In FDL buffering, contending packets can be delayed for a fixed amount of time. While the performance of wavelength conversion and FDL buffering has been evaluated extensively in synchronous networks with fixed‐sized packets, in this paper, we study the performance of FDL buffers in asynchronous packet‐based optical networks with wavelength conversion. An analytical model is proposed to evaluate the performance in terms of packet loss probability and average delay. Extensive simulation and analytical results show that, with appropriate settings, FDL buffers can perform much better in switches with wavelength conversion than in switches with no conversion. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On protective buffer policies

Studies buffering policies which provide different loss priorities to packets/cells, while preserving packet ordering (space priority disciplines). These policies are motivated by the possible presence, within the same connection, of packets with different loss probability requirements or guarantees, e.g., voice and video coders or rate control mechanisms. The main contribution of the paper is the identification and evaluation of buffering policies which preserve packet ordering and guarantee high priority packets performance (loss probability), irrespective of the traffic intensity and arrival patterns of low priority packets. Such policies are termed protective policies. The need for such policies arises from the difficulty to accurately characterize and size low priority traffic, which can generate large and unpredictable traffic variations over short periods of time. The authors review previously proposed buffer admission policies and determine if they satisfy such “protection” requirements. Furthermore, they also identify and design new policies, which for a given level of protection maximize low priority throughput     

Differentiated contention resolution for QoS in photonic packet-switched networks

Packet contention is a major challenge in photonic packet-switched networks due to the lack of random access buffers in the optical domain. Existing contention resolution approaches such as wavelength conversion and fiber-delay-line buffering may significantly increase the overall system cost and may be difficult to implement. To avoid such issues, this paper proposes a framework for providing label-based differentiated contention resolution by exploiting recirculation buffering and deflection routing. To accommodate more options for differentiation and to avoid the potential problem of forwarding packets in a network indefinitely, two classes of loopless deflection algorithms are provided. An analytical model is also developed to evaluate the packet loss probability and the end-to-end delay for different buffering and deflection routing schemes. The paper also investigates the effectiveness of the control schemes in providing differentiated loss and delay through simulation and analysis. The accuracy of the analytical model is confirmed by simulation.     

Analysis of packet loss processes in high-speed networks

The packet loss process in a single-server queueing system with a finite buffer capacity is analyzed. The model used addresses the packet loss probabilities for packets within a block of a consecutive sequence of packets. An analytical approach is presented that yields efficient recursions for the computation of the distribution of the number of lost packets within a block of packets of fixed or variable size for several arrival models and several numbers of sessions. Numerical examples are provided to compare the distribution obtained with that obtained using the independence assumption to compute the loss probabilities of packets within a block. The results show that forward error correction schemes become less efficient due to the bursty nature of the packet loss processes; real-time traffic might be more sensitive to network congestion than was previously assumed; and the retransmission probability of ATM messages has been overestimated by the use of the independence assumption     

Reliable packet transmissions in multipath routed wireless networks

We study the problem of using path diversification to provide low probability of packet loss (PPL) in wireless networks. Path diversification uses erasure codes and multiple paths in the network to transmit packets. The source uses Forward Error Correction (FEC) to encode each packet into multiple fragments and transmits the fragments to the destination using multiple disjoint paths. The source uses a load balancing algorithm to determine how many fragments should be transmitted on each path. The destination can reconstruct the packet if it receives a number of fragments equal to or higher than the number of fragments in the original packet. We study the load balancing algorithm in two general cases. In the first case, we assume that no knowledge of the performance along the paths is available at the source. In such a case, the source decomposes traffic uniformly among the paths; we call this case blind load balancing. We show that for low PPL, blind load balancing outperforms single-path transmission. In the second case, we assume that a feedback mechanism periodically provides the source with information about the performance along each path. With that information, the source can optimally distribute the fragments. We show how to distribute the fragments for minimized PPL, and maximized efficiency given a bound on PPL. We evaluate the performance of the scheme through numerical simulations.     

Group random-access disciplines for multi-access broadcast channels

A group random-access (GILA) control discipline for a multi-access communication channel is presented and studied. A GILA scheme uses only certain channel time periods to allow some network terminals to transmit their information-bearing packets on a random-access basis. The channel can thus be utilized at other times to grant access to other terminals or other message types, by applying as appropriate group random-access, reservation, or fixed access-control procedures. GILA schemes could also be utilized to provide channel access to various network protocol packets. The average packet delay under a GRA discipline is evaluated by a Markov ratio limit theorem. To stabilize the channel, the GRA procedure is controlled dynamically by a control policy that rejects any newly arriving packets within certain time periods. Studying the associated Markov decision problem, the optimal control policy is characterized as yielding a minimal average packet delay under a prescribed maximal packet probability of rejection. This policy is shown to be represented by a single-threshold scheme. For such a scheme, a threshold value that attains the minimum probability of rejection is shown to exist and to yield a desirable control procedure. Performance curves are presented to demonstrate the delay-throughput characteristics induced by GRA procedures.     

Cost Evaluation of Optical Packet Switches Equipped With Limited-Range and Full-Range Converters for Contention Resolution

Two architectures are proposed for a wavelength-division multiplexed optical packet switch equipped with both limited-range wavelength converters (LRWCs) and shared full-range wavelength converters (FRWCs). The FRWCs are used to overcome the performance degradation in terms of packet loss probability due to the use of LRWCs only. Two different sharing strategies of the FRWCs are considered. In the first architecture, a pool of FRWCs is shared among the arriving packets. In the second one, the sharing is only partial and the packets directed to the same output share a same pool of FRWCs. A probabilistic model is proposed to dimension the number of shared FRWCs so that the same packet loss probability of a switch equipped with only shared FRWCs is guaranteed. After introducing a cost model of the converters depending on the conversion range, we show that the architectures may allow a conversion cost savings on the order of 90%.     

Contribution to future metropolitan access network planning considering link failures in photonic switched networks

Photonic switching for traffic optimization in Metropolitan Access Optical Networks using technologies of optical packet/burst switching (OPS/OBS) seems to be a future-proof solution considering high capacity and the highly variable traffic in these networks. Looking for this future, we propose a study based on the analyze of survivability of traffic unconsidering protection mechanism but considering mesh and ring efficient topologies with node architecture to OPS. The results are obtained through computer modeling and simulation. The main parameters analyzed are as follows: capacity, average number of hops, packet loss fraction, and link utilization for each topology. These parameters are adopted to evaluate the performance of each topology considering failures. Minimum electronic buffering is included at node ingress (client side) to avoid packet loss in the access to the optical layer: high throughput and low latency. It is also observed that optical buffering is not necessary for adequate network performance.     

Loss estimation and control mechanism in bufferless optical packet-switched networks based on multilayer perceptron

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are well-known estimators for the output of broad range of complex systems and functions. In this paper, a common ANN architecture called multilayer perceptron (MLP) is used as a fast optical packet loss rate (OPLR) estimator for bufferless optical packet-switched (OPS) networks. Considering average loads at the ingress switches of an OPS network, the proposed estimator estimates total OPLR as well as ingress OPLRs (the OPLR of optical packets sent from individual ingress switches). Moreover, a traffic policing algorithm called OPLRC is proposed to control ingress OPLRs in bufferless slotted OPS networks with asymmetric loads. OPLRC is a centralized greedy algorithm which uses estimated ingress OPLRs of a trained MLP to tag some optical packets at the ingress switches as eligible for drop at the core switches in case of contention. This will control ingress OPLRs of un-tagged optical packets within the specified limits while giving some chance for tagged optical packets to reach their destinations. Eventually, the accuracy of the proposed estimator along with the performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated by extensive simulations. In terms of the algorithm, the results show that OPLRC is capable of controlling ingress OPLRs of un-tagged optical packets with an acceptable accuracy.     

Analytical MMAP-Based Bounds for Packet Loss in Optical Packet Switching with Recirculating FDL Buffers

The major goal of optical packet switching (OPS) is to match switching technology to the huge capacities provided by (D)WDM. A crucial issue in packet switched networks is the avoidance of packet losses stemming from contention. In OPS, contention can be solved using a combination of exploitation of the wavelength domain (through wavelength conversion) and buffering. To provide optical buffering, fiber delay lines (FDLs) are used. In this paper, we focus on an optical packet switch with recirculating FDL buffers and wavelength converters. We introduce the Markovian arrival process with marked transitions (MMAP), which has very desirable properties as a traffic model for OPS performance assessment. Using this model, we determine lower and upper bounds for the packet loss rate (PLR) achieved by the aforementioned switch. The calculation of the PLR bounds through matrix analytical methods is repeated for a wide range of traffic conditions, including highly non-uniform traffic, both in space (i.e., packet destinations) and time (bursty traffic). The quality of these bounds is verified through comparison with simulation results.     

Probabilistic packet marking with non-preemptive compensation

A new scheme in probabilistic packet marking (PPM) for IP traceback against denial-of-service attack is presented. Non-preemptive PPM is performed while a marked packet is coming, but compensates the reduction of marking probability in marked-free packets. The nonpreemptive compensation makes the probability of each marked packet arrived at the victim is equal to its original marking probability. This scheme efficiently improves the convergent amount of marked packets required for reconstructing the complete attack path.