Scheduling Combined Unicast and Multicast Traffic in Broadcast WDM Networks

This paper studies the performance of various strategies for scheduling a combined load of unicast and multicast traffic in a broadcast WDM network. The performance measure of interest is schedule length, which directly affects both aggregate network throughput and average packet delay. Three different scheduling strategies are presented, namely: separate scheduling of unicast and multicast traffic, treating multicast traffic as a number of unicast messages, and treating unicast traffic as multicasts of size one. A lower bound on the schedule length for each strategy is first obtained. Subsequently, the strategies are compared against each other using extensive simulation experiments in order to establish the regions of operation, in terms of a number of relevant system parameters, for which each strategy performs best. Our main conclusions are as follows. Multicast traffic can be treated as unicast traffic, by replicating all multicast packets, under very limited circumstances. On the other hand, treating unicast traffic as a special case of multicast traffic with a group of size 1, produces short schedules in most cases. Alternatively, scheduling and transmitting each traffic component separately is also a good choice.     

Dynamic Routing in WDM Grooming Networks

Traffic grooming in optical networks has gained significant importance in recent years due to the prevailing sub-wavelength traffic requirement of end-users. In this paper, a methodology for dynamic routing of fractional-wavelength traffic in WDM grooming networks is developed. To evaluate the performance of routing algorithms, a new performance metric that reflects the network utilization is also proposed. The performances of shortest-widest path, widest-shortest path, and available shortest path routing algorithms are evaluated on a class of WDM grooming networks by considering traffic of different capacity requirements. The effect of dispersity routing, where higher capacity requests are broken into multiple unit capacity requests, is also investigated. The most interesting counter-intuitive result that is observed is that increasing the grooming capability in a network could result in degrading the performance of the widest-shortest path algorithm.     

A Framework for Differentiated Survivable Optical Virtual Private Networks

Wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) networks are matured to provide, scalable data centric infrastructure, capable of delivering flexible, value added, high speed and high bandwidth services directly from the optical domain. Optical virtual private networks (OVPNs) make use of the concept of highly reconfigurable nature of lightpaths offered by WDM, to create secure tunnels of high bandwidth across the intelligent WDM optical transport network. An OVPN is a private connection between two or more edge devices (access nodes), that allows a group of clients to fully exploit the flexibility of the switched intelligent optical network. However, OVPNs will not be a viable alternative unless they can guarantee a predictable bandwidth, availability, response time, and fault-tolerance to users. In this paper, we study the problem of dynamically establishing lightpaths for OVPNs over intelligent optical transport networks to provide varying classes of service based on the type of primary and backup lightpaths and the number of backup lightpaths, when each OVPN is specified by the desired logical connectivity and Class of Service. The type of primary and backup lightpaths determines the QoS parameters such as response time and bandwidth. Whereas, the number of backup lightpaths determines the level of fault-tolerance and availability of OVPN. Based on the service classes, any OVPN in the network falls into one of the six classes viz. single dedicated primary and single dedicated backup (SDPSDB), single dedicated primary and multiple dedicated backups (SDPMDB), single dedicated primary and single shared backup (SDPSSB), single shared primary and single shared backup (SSPSSB), single shared primary and multiple shared backups (SSPMSB), and best-effort (BE). In BE, we consider two variations—(1) OVPN as dedicated logical ring topology (DLRT) and (2) OVPN as shared logical ring topology (SLRT). We conduct extensive simulation experiments to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of different classes of OVPNs for varying network configurations–varying number of fibers, wavelengths on physical links, and number of nodes in OVPN.     

Routing Mechanisms Employing Adaptive Weight Functions for Shortest Path Routing in Optical WDM Networks

Optical dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) networks are an attractive candidate for the next generation Internet and beyond. In this paper, we consider routing and wavelength assignment in a wide area wavelength routed backbone network that employs circuit-switching. When a session request is received by the network, the routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) task is to establish a lightpath between the source and destination. That is, determine a suitable path and assign a set of wavelengths for the links on this path. We consider a link state protocol approach and use Dijkstras shortest path algorithm, suitably modified for DWDM networks, for computing the shortest paths. In [1] we proposed WDM aware weight functions that included factors such as available wavelengths per link, total wavelengths per link. In this paper, we present new weight functions that exploit the strong correlation between blocking probability and number of hops involved in connection setup to increase the performance of the network. We also consider alternate path routing that computes the alternate paths based on WDM aware weight functions. The impact of the weight functions on the blocking probability and delay is studied through discrete event simulation. The system parameters varied include number of network nodes, wavelengths, degree of wavelength conversion, and load. The results show that the weight function that incorporates both hop count and available wavelength provides the best performance in terms of blocking probability.     

Sparse Wavelength Conversion in Wavelength-Routed WDM Optical Networks*

A wavelength-routed optical network can suffer inefficiencies due to the wavelength-continuity constraint (under which a signal has to remain on the same wavelength from the source to the destination). In order to eliminate or reduce the effects of this constraint, a device called a wavelength converter may be utilized. Due to the high cost of these wavelength converters, many studies have attempted to determine the exact benefits of wavelength conversion. However, most of these studies have focused on optical networks that implement full wavelength conversion capabilities. An alternative to full wavelength conversion is to employ only a sparse number of wavelength converters throughout the network, thereby reducing network costs. This study will focus on different versions of sparse wavelength conversion--namely, sparse nodal conversion, sparse switch-output conversion, and sparse (or limited) range conversion--to determine if most of the benefits of full conversion can be obtained using only sparse conversion. Simulation and analytical results on these three different classes of sparse wavelength conversion will be presented. In addition, this study will present heuristic techniques for the placement of sparse conversion facilities within an optical network.     

WDM智能光网络与IP业务

详细分析了 ＷＤＭ光网络的结构以及联网技术的演进过程，对如何压扁网络层次，实现ＩＰ直接ｏｖｅｒ ＷＤＭ，发挥 ＷＤＭ光传送网的巨大带宽优势进行了研究，提出 ＭＰＬＳ是当前解决 ＩＰ层与光层的融合以及跨层管理问题的关键技术。     

Protecting Multicast Sessions in WDM Networks with Sparse‐Splitting Constraints

In this letter, we study the multicast protection problem in sparse‐splitting wavelength‐division multiplexing (WDM) optical network, and propose a novel multicast protection algorithm called the shared source‐leaf path‐based protection (SLPP) algorithm. Unlike the proposals in previous studies, the backup paths derived by SLPP can share wavelength with the primary tree in sparse‐splitting WDM networks. Simulations are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the SLPP algorithm.     

A Novel Fast Multicast Algorithm with Enhanced Survivability in WDM Optical Networks

WDM optical networking technology is expected to facilitate bandwidth-intensive multicast application by establishing a light-tree which regards the source node as the root and all the destination nodes as the leaves. However, the existing multicast routing algorithms are time-consuming and the generated light-trees are very sensitive to failures, e.g., a single fiber cut can disrupt the information from transmitting to several terminals. In this paper, we propose a novel fast multicast algorithm with enhanced survivability (FMES), which applies a two-stage multicast routing approach, and employs a path protection scheme for each segment of the first stage tree. Analysis and experimental results show that FMES has the significant advantage of a much shorter running time than that in existing schemes, and this advantage can be enlarged in the distributed routing and signaling system of the coming intelligent optical networks. We also compare FMES with non-protection and full-protection schemes. It shows that the FMES scheme achieves the best trade-off between network survivability and resource-utilization. We illustrate our study with numerical experiments based on the real-life ChinaNet topology.     

An Efficient Distributed Control Scheme for Lightpath Establishment in Dynamic WDM Networks

An adaptive hybrid reservation protocol (AHRP) is proposed for the purpose of quickly and efficiently establishing a lightpath in dynamic wavelength routed networks. This protocol uses a special reservation-and-probe (RESV_PROB) packet and extends the signaling to integrate forward reservation and backward reservation into one monolithic process. To decrease the blocking probability that happens in cases where two end nodes associated with a specific link simultaneously reserve the same wavelength, an adaptive wavelength selection policy is specially employed in AHRP. A discrete-event simulation tool based on ns-2 is developed to investigate AHRP's performance, including its blocking probability, average lightpath setup delay, and signaling overhead. AHRP is also compared with existing protocols. Results show that during highly dynamic traffic conditions, AHRP possesses the lowest blocking probability, shorter setup delay, and less signaling overhead.     

Reconfiguration and Dynamic Load Balancing in Broadcast WDM Networks*

In optical WDM networks, an assignment of transceivers to channels implies an allocation of the bandwidth to the various network nodes. Intuition suggests, and our recent study has confirmed, that if the traffic load is not well balanced across the available channels, the result is poor network performance. Hence, the time-varying conditions expected in this type of environment call for mechanisms that periodically adjust the bandwidth allocation to ensure that each channel carries an almost equal share of the corresponding offered load. In this paper we study the problem of dynamic load balancing in broadcast WDM networks by retuning a subset of transceivers in response to changes in the overall traffic pattern. Assuming an existing wavelength assignment and some information regarding the new traffic demands, we present two approaches to obtaining a new wavelength assignment such that (a) the new traffic load is balanced across the channels, and (b) the number of transceivers that need to be retuned is minimized. The latter objective is motivated by the fact that tunable transceivers take a non-negligible amount of time to switch between wavelengths during which parts of the network are unavailable for normal operation. Furthermore, this variation in traffic is expected to take place over larger time scales (i.e., retuning will be a relatively infrequent event), making slowly tunable devices a cost effective solution. Our main contribution is a new approximation algorithm for the load balancing problem that provides for tradeoff selection, using a single parameter, between two conflicting goals, namely, the degree of load balancing and the number of transceivers that need to be retuned. This algorithm leads to a scalable approach to reconfiguring the network since, in addition to providing guarantees in terms of load balancing, the expected number of retunings scales with the number of channels, not the number of nodes in the network.     

A Virtual Wavelength Translation Scheme for Routing in All-Optical Networks

This paper considers wavelength routed WDM networks where multiple fibers are used for each communication link. For such networks, the effect of wavelength translation can be achieved without explicit use of wavelength translators. We call this as virtual wavelength translation and study the routing issues considering dynamic lightpath allocation. Using multiple (or a bundle of) fibers for each link also allows us to have bundles of varying sizes to accommodate anticipated differences in traffic through different communication links of the network. The paper considers the blocking probabilities of all-optical networks when centralized and distributed lightpath allocation schemes are used.     

一种WDM疏导网络动态组播路由算法

对无波长变换能力的波分复用（WDM）疏导网络中的组播路由和波长分配（MRWA）问题进行了研究，提出了动态组播流量疏导算法（DMTGA）。这种算法根据当前网络资源使用情况，结合流量疏导和负载均衡，对链路权重进行动态配置，构建满足组播业务请求带宽需求的组播树。在不同的网络负载下对算法进行仿真，对比分析了DMTGA对业务请求接入率、平均网络资源利用率和全网负载分布的影响。     

Optical Interconnection Networks for Terabit Packet Switches

The challenge of building packet switches with terabit capacity is being met by wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) where the benefits of optical fiber are exploited. Two kinds of WDM-based bufferless optical interconnection networks are proposed in this paper to interconnect multiple electronic packet switch modules. One is based on 3-stage Clos principle and the other is based on broadcast-and-select principle. The proposed optical interconnection networks are implemented with small modular structures to provide capacities in the range of terabit per second. Their architectures, component and interconnection complexity, and power budget analyzes are presented. In addition, the crosstalk caused by the finite ON-OFF ratio of semiconductor optical amplifier is discussed. Bit error rates with respect to different ON-OFF ratios and extinction ratios are also evaluated. It is concluded that it is feasible to implement optical interconnection networks by using state-of-the-art WDM technology, and they are excellent candidates for future terabit packet switching systems.     

多粒度全光网中的多层联合路由

多粒度交换技术利用波带级路由以及光纤级路由,可有效降低光交叉连接器的复杂度.但多粒度交换增加了光网络的逻辑层次结构,使得网络中的路由与资源分配问题更为复杂,因此,在多粒度全光网中实现多层联合路由是提高网络性能的关键.本文对多粒度交叉连接结构进行了分析,并对多粒度全光网中的多层联合路由问题进行了研究.     

Performance of Adaptive Routing in Wavelength-Routed Networks with Wavelength Conversion Capability

This paper concerns itself with the performance of adaptive routing in wavelength-routed networks with wavelength conversion capability. Exploiting the concept of load balancing, we propose an adaptive weighted-shortest-cost-path (WSCP) routing strategy. The salient feature of WSCP is that it seeks the path that minimizes the resource cost while simultaneously maintaining the traffic load among the links as balanced as possible. In our simulation, we compare the blocking probability, average hops and link utilization of WSCP with traditional shortest-cost-path (SCP) strategy, fixed routing and alternate routing. The numerical results show that WSCP can enhance blocking performance and just lengthen hop distances a little longer. The improvement is more significant in denser networks or with more wavelengths. We also develop an analytical model to estimate blocking performance of WSCP and compare analyses with simulations. Because of the benefit from load balancing, the proposed WSCP strategy can be used as a path selection algorithm in traffic engineering.     

Routing Algorithms in WDM Networks under Mixed Static and Dynamic Lambda-Traffic

Dynamic traffic is becoming important in WDM networks. In the transition towards full dynamic traffic, WDM networks optimized for a specific set of static connections will most likely also be used to support on-demand lightpath provisioning. Our paper investigates the issue of routing of dynamic connections in WDM networks which are also loaded with high-priority protected static connections. By discrete-event simulation we compare various routing strategies in terms of blocking probability and we propose a new heuristic algorithm based on an occupancy cost function which takes several possible causes of blocking into account. The behavior of this algorithm is tested in well-known case-study mesh networks, with and without wavelength conversion. Moreover, Poissonian and non-Poissonian dynamic traffics are considered.     

On Multicast Routing for Wavelength-Routed WDM Networks with Dynamic Membership

Future broadband networks must support integrated services and offer flexible bandwidth usage. In our previous work in [1], we explored the optical link control (OLC) layer on the top of optical layer that enables the possibility of bandwidth on-demand (BoD) service directly over wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) networks. Today, more and more applications and services such as video-conferencing software and Virtual LAN service require multicast support over the underlying networks. Currently, it is difficult to provide wavelength multicast over optical switches without optical/electronic conversions although the conversion takes extra cost. In this paper, based on the proposed wavelength router architecture (equipped with ATM switches to offer O/E and E/O conversions when necessary), a dynamic multicast routing algorithm is proposed to furnish multicast services over WDM networks. The goal is to join a new group member into the multicast tree so that the cost, including the link cost and the optical/electronic conversion cost, is kept as low as possible. The same algorithm can be applied to other wavelength routing architectures with redefinition of electronic copy cost. The effectiveness of the proposed wavelength router architecture as well as the dynamic multicast algorithm is evaluated by simulation.     

带有光放大的波分复用技术在光纤通信中的应用

本文论述了波分复用技术的优点及其应用；介绍了波分复用技术与光纤放大器相结合后的发展概况２；评述了波分复用技术发展中的主要问题及其在当前实用系统中的解决方案和今后的发展方向。     

Minimizing the Number of Multicast Transmissions in Single-Hop WDM Networks

The problem of minimizing the number of transmissions for a multicast transmission under the condition that the packet delay is minimum in single-hop wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks is studied in this paper. This problem is proved to be NP-complete. A heuristic multicast scheduling algorithm is proposed for this problem. Extensive simulations are performed to compare the performance of the proposed heuristic algorithm with two other multicast scheduling algorithms, namely, the greedy and no-partition scheduling algorithms. The greedy algorithm schedules as many destination nodes as possible in the earliest data slot. The no-partition algorithm schedules the destination nodes of a multicast packet to receive the packet in the same data slot without partitioning the multicast transmission into multiple unicast or multicast transmissions. Our simulation results show that (i) an algorithm which partitions a multicast transmission into multiple unicast or multicast transmissions may not always produce lower mean packet delay than the no-partition algorithm when the number of data channels in the system is limited and (ii) the proposed heuristic algorithm always produces lower mean packet delay than the greedy and the no-partition algorithms because this algorithm not only partitions a multicast transmission into multiple unicast or multicast transmissions to keep the packet delay low but also reduces the number of transmissions to conserve resources.     

Design and Analysis of a Multicasting and Fault-Tolerant Optical Crossconnect for All-Optical Networks

This paper proposes an optical crossconnect (MFOXC) architecture that supports multicasting and fault tolerance. First, a tap-based and two splitter-based MFOXC node architectures are presented for wavelength routed all-optical networks. Compared to the existing optical crossconnects, the proposed MFOXC node not only performs multicasting efficiently but also improves reliability significantly. The MFOXC introduces a new feature (fault tolerance) and keeps the multicasting capability. It can be used at some critical points in a network to improve the overall reliability and multicast performance. Furthermore, the probability of maintaining fault free operations has been investigated for both MFOXC architectures. We present our evaluation results with a commonly used reliability measure, the mean time between failures (MTBF). Finally, we have proposed the cost and the sensitivity analysis for these MFOXC structures. The cost model and the sensitivity analysis show that the cost reduction in different components has various different impacts on the total cost of a MFOXC architecture. It can help us to know which component dominates the total cost and how to make a decision to choose among different MFOXC structures. The simulation results show that (1) the decrease of 75% in the cost of the N×N switch will result in the reduction of 20% in the total cost of the tap-based MFOXC, (2) the 1×2 switch has a big impact on the cost of the splitter-based MFOXC structures, and (3) the variation in the cost of the splitter does not introduce significant disadvantage to the type II splitter-based MFOXC structure.