Photonic fast packet switching

Several approaches to photonic fast packet switching systems are presented. The wavelength-, time-, code-, and space-division approaches, including free-space photonic fast packet switching, are discussed. These approaches to photonic fast packet switching systems show that the research in this area is still in its infancy. Among various solutions, those based on a wavelength-division transport network and an electronic controller are most mature     

Technical issues regarding satellite packet switching

Many concepts for advanced communication satellite networks have recently been proposed. Critical technical issues relating to satellite packet switching for meshed very small aperture terminal networks and broadband networks are addressed. Hardware considerations, networking and testing issues are discussed.     

Network and system concepts for optical packet switching

An overview of the characteristics and challenges of optical packet switching is given, illustrating its potential advantages within future nodes and networks, describing basic system functionalities. The opportunities introduced by the ACTS KEOPS project on all-optical packet-switching networks are highlighted, based partially on the outcome of the RACE ATMOS project, which is also considered in this article     

The bypass queue in fast packet switching

The telecommunications networks of the future are likely to be packet switched networks consisting of wide bandwidth optical fiber transmission media, and large, highly parallel, self-routing switches. Recent considerations of switch architectures have focused on internally nonblocking networks with packet buffering at the switch outputs. These have optimal throughput and delay performance. The author considers a switch architecture consisting of parallel plans of low-speed internally blocking switch networks, in conjunction with input and output buffering. This architecture is desirable from the viewpoint of modularity and hardware cost, especially for large switches. Although this architecture is suboptimal, the throughput shortfall may be overcome by adding extra switch planes. A form of input queuing called bypass queuing can improve the throughput of the switch and thereby reduce the number of switch planes required. An input port controller is described which distributes packets to all switch planes according to the bypass policy, while preserving packet order for virtual circuits. Some simulation results for switch throughput are presented     

Reconfigurable fault tolerant networks for fast packet switching

The authors consider the design and analysis of reconfigurable networks for fast packet switching. The design constraints resulting from the use of fast packet switching that affect fault-tolerant network design are carefully studied. A reconfigurable network with high link redundancy is then proposed. An abstract replacement model that characterizes the proposed reconfigurable network is presented. Network fault tolerance problems are transformed into well known assignment problems. Two practical designs based on feasible technology are presented. An appreciable reliability improvements is achieved and full bandwidth is maintained up to a tolerable level of failures, with relatively few spare switches     

Accuracy of traffic modeling in fast packet switching

Arrivals of calls, bursts, and packets to a fast packet switching system are governed by different time scales. This feature is used to break down the system performance analysis into layers. The impact of each layer on packet delay and blocking is investigated in isolation by assuming the global equilibrium in the next higher layer and deterministic flow of entities in all lower layers. The one-layer analytical model is developed and used to determine lower and upper estimates of a mean delay and blocking. Numerical results are compared with delays obtained from the multilayer simulation. Results of the analysis indicate that the channel utilization must be kept below a threshold value to avoid overload periods in the burst and call layers. Flow control techniques which can be used for that purpose are briefly discussed     

The beginnings of packet switching: some underlying concepts

This article was written for a seminar held on the occasion of the Franklin Institute's 2001 Bower Award and Prize for the Achievement in Science to the author "for his seminal invention of packet switching - the foundation of modern communications networks and, in particular the Internet." It describes the author's work 40 years ago focusing on the rationale creating the key concepts of packet switching. The article considers the development of each of a series of about 20 essential concepts. For example, it examines such subjects as the degree of redundancy to achieve any desired level of survivability; the necessity to chop data streams into small blocks; what information had to be appended to these blocks to allow the each block to find its own way through the network; why it was necessary for each network element to operate at an independent data rate; why all signals had to be converted to digital, and so on. It describes the "why" as well as the "how" of packet switching works     

Optimal queueing policies for fast packet switching of mixedtraffic

The power of ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) is its ability to provide bandwidth on demand, different sources can have different bandwidth requirements. Sources also differ in performance requirements, some ask for minimal delay variations, whereas others must have extremely low cell loss probabilities. It is shown how these complementary performance requirements can be explained with an LDOLL (low delay or low loss) queue, where sources get either service priority or storage priority. The space of possible LDOLL queuing policies is very large, even after a justified reduction, the size is still O (2^Q2), Q being the maximum number of ATM cells in the LDOLL queue. Using Markov decision theory and concepts of linear programming, only Q so-called efficient solutions are achieved. These are the LDOLL threshold policies, which are conceptually appealing, robust in performance, and practical from the implementation viewpoint     

Unified approaches to integrated-service networks–burst and fast packet switching

The increasing demand for communication services, coupled with recent technological advances in communication media and switching techniques, has resulted in a proliferation of new and expanded services. Currently, networks are needed which can transmit voice, data and video services in an application-independent fashion. Unified approaches employ a single switching technique across the entire network bandwidth, thus allowing services to be switched in an application-independent manner. This paper presents a taxonomy of integrated-service networks, including a look at NISDN, while focusing on unified approaches to integrated-service networks. The two most promising unified approaches are burst and fast packet switching. Burst switching is a circuit switching-based approach which allocates channel bandwidth to a connection only during the transmission of ‘bursts’ of information. Fast packet switching is a packet switching-based approach which can be characterized by very high transmission rates on network links and simple, hard-wired protocols which match the rapid channel speed of the network. Both approaches are being proposed as possible implementations for integrated-service networks. We survey these two approaches, and also examine the key performance issues found in fast packet switching. We then present the results of a simulation study of a fast packet switching network.     

An advanced satellite communication system with on-board fast packet switching capabilities

This paper is focused on a satellite communication system having on-board fast packet switching capabilities. Different alternatives for the up-link access technique and for the architecture of the onboard switching fabric are considered. In particular an efficient time division multiple access technique with slots assigned on demand and a novel switching approach are proposed. Performances in terms of mean access delay and mean on-board switching delay are derived by analytical approaches and computer simulations.     

Multipath interconnection: a technique for reducing congestionwithin fast packet switching fabrics

The banyan interconnection is prone to internal link congestion, resulting in a blocking switch architecture. Several solutions that have been implemented to reduce the severity of link congestion offer packets a multiplicity of paths, which tend to increase packet delay variability and allow delivery of out-of-sequence packets. This, in turn, can lead to an increase in end-to-end protocol complexity, particularly in the case of real-time services. A solution called multipath interconnection is proposed to overcome this difficulty. Multiple (i.e., alternate) paths are provided and one is selected at call-setup time. Subsequent packets belonging to the call are constrained to follow the selected path. A number of path selection strategies are presented     

分组协同中继系统性能研究以及分组长度性能影响分析

针对AF(amplify-and-forward)和DF(decode-and-forward)2种转发模式,分析了分组协同中继通信系统在高信噪比下的误帧率性能,并研究了帧长对误帧率的影响。研究表明,以误帧率为准则,AF和DF模式都取得了相同的分集增益,但是编码增益不一样,并且编码增益与帧长有关。与现有的研究结论不一样,考虑到实际的分组长度,DF总是能够获得较AF更好的性能,帧越短DF的优势越明显;当帧长足够大时AF能够获得和DF相近的性能。还研究了最优的中继位置,对于AF系统,最优的中继位置总是位于源和目的节点中点处;而对于DF系统,当帧长增大时最优的中继位置将从靠近源处逐渐移至中点处。     

Demonstration of photonic fast packet switching at 700 Mbit/s data rate

Selfrouting of optical data through a photonic packet switch, with user data at 700 Mbit/s, is demonstrated. The switch is transparent to the bandwidth of the optical data thus allowing essentially unlimited payload bit rate.<>     

Techniques for optical packet switching and optical burst switching

Wavelength-division multiplexing appears to be the solution of choice for providing a faster networking infrastructure that can meet the explosive growth of the Internet. Several different technologies have been developed so far for the transfer of data over WDM. We survey two new technologies which are still in the experimental stage-optical packet switching and optical burst switching-and comment on their suitability for transporting IP traffic     

Queueing in high-performance packet switching

The authors study the performance of four different approaches for providing the queuing necessary to smooth fluctuations in packet arrivals to a high-performance packet switch. They are (1) input queuing, where a separate buffer is provided at each input to the switch; (2) input smoothing, where a frame of b packets is stored at each of the input line to the switch and simultaneously launched into a switch fabric of size Nb×Nb; (3) output queuing, where packets are queued in a separate first-in first-out (FIFO) buffer located at each output of the switch; and (4) completely shared buffering, where all queuing is done at the outputs and all buffers are completely shared among all the output lines. Input queues saturate at an offered load that depends on the service policy and the number of inputs N, but is approximately 0.586 with FIFO buffers when N is large. Output queuing and completely shared buffering both achieve the optimal throughput-delay performance for any packet switch. However, compared to output queuing, completely shared buffering requires less buffer memory at the expense of an increase in switch fabric size     

The evolution of packet switching

Over the past decade data communications has been revolutionized by a radically new technology called packet switching. In 1968 virtually all interactive data communication networks were circuit switched, the same as the telephone network. Circuit switching networks preallocate transmission bandwidth for an entire call or session. However, since interactive data traffic occurs in short bursts 90 percent or more of this bandwidth is wasted. Thus, as digital electronics became inexpensive enough, it became dramatically more cost-effective to completely redesign communications networks, introducing the concept of packet switching where the transmission bandwidth is dynamically allocated, permitting many users to share the same transmission line previously required for one user. Packet switching has been so successful, not only in improving the economics of data communications but in enhancing reliability and functional flexibility as well, that in 1978 virtually all new data networks being built throughout the world are based on packet switching. An open question at this time is how long will it take for voice communications to be revolutionized as well by packet switching technology. In order to better understand both the past and future evolution of this fast moving technology, this paper examines in detail the history and trends of packet switching.     

Truthful budget constrained auction for device-to-device relaying packet allocation

Taking advantage of peer-to-peer transmission underlying cellular networks, device-to-device (D2D) communications offer various benefits such as coverage extension, traffic offloading, and improved energy efficiency. In this paper, we focus on a promising scenario where a D2D local area network is formed to relay packets for an out-of-coverage source device. A one-sided auction model is formulated from a unique perspective in which the source device decides the allocation of its packets among the helpers and charges reserve payments to the helpers according to their bids. The winning helpers only collect rewards from the source’s deposit at the base station when the assigned packets are successfully relayed. In this model, we further take into account the budget constraints of the helpers to capture the helpers’ resource limits and the risks that the helpers are willing to take. Based on this model, we propose three auction mechanisms targeting economic properties such as individual rationality, efficiency, and truthfulness. An enhanced Martello & Toth algorithm is first developed for the VCG-based auction to determine packet allocation that optimizes the source’s quality of service. The probabilistic entrance auction mechanism uses sequential second price auction to achieve a low computational cost. The randomized mechanism involves a randomization over the above two mechanisms to satisfy certain requirement for social welfare while minimizing the computational time. We also conduct extensive simulations to examine the performance of the proposed mechanisms.     

光分组交换的关键技术

在电域内,有电路交换与分组交换之分,随着语音、数据、视频等通信业务正朝着综合的方向发展,数据流量逐渐超过话音流量。这就意味着面向连接的电路交换需要被升级到能支持数据业务的分组交换。分组交换保留电路交换传输时延小的优点,同时克服了线路利用率差的缺点。客观而言,在电域可望取得的进展在一段时间内能满足分组交换的需求,但是研究显示光开发技术的潜力能满足网络的长期需求。互联网快速增长是驱动光分组交换及网络快速发展的动力,得到WDM光传输基础设施的支持。电域TDM技术的增长系数是每年1.5,而每年的带宽需求增长系…     

Frequency-hop transmission for satellite packet switching and terrestrial packet radio networks

The performance of frequency-hop transmission in a packet communication network is analyzed. Satellite multiple-access broadcast channels for packet switching and terrestrial packet radio networks are the primary examples of the type of network considered. An analysis of the effects of multiple-access interference in frequency-hop radio networks is presented. New measures of "local" performance are defined and evaluated for networks of this type, and new concepts that are important in the design of these networks are introduced. In particular, error probabilities and local throughput are evaluated for a frequency-hop radio network which incorporates the standard slotted and unslotted ALOHA channel-access protocols, asynchronous frequency hopping, and Reed-Solomon error-control coding. The performance of frequency-hop multiple access with error-control coding is compared with the performance of conventional ALOHA random access using narrow-band radios.     

Wavelength routing-based photonic packet buffers and theirapplications in photonic packet switching systems

Photonic packet buffers are essential components in photonic packet switching systems. We present a wavelength routing-based photonic packet buffer based on a state-of-the-art arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer. We show how this new packet buffer can be effectively used in the implementation of photonic packet switching systems. We also propose and examine two different photonic packet switch architectures