Dynamic wavelength selection and delayed burst assignment schemes for Optical Burst Switching networks

Optical Burst Switching (OBS) has been proposed as a promising switching technology for the next generation of optical transport networks. In this paper, we address the issue of how to provide proportional differentiated services in OBS networks. Firstly, a Dynamic Wavelength Selection (DWS) scheme is introduced to provide proportional differentiated services in bufferless OBS networks by dynamically assigning more and longer periods of wavelengths to high priority classes. This scheme can also utilize wavelengths efficiently because the wavelengths are shared among different classes. Next, a Delayed Burst Assignment (DBA) scheme is introduced, by which bursts of the high priority class are given a higher probability for reserving wavelengths by scheduling the bursts of the low priority class with a delay to provide quality of service (QoS) in OBS networks. The integration of these two schemes provides proportional differentiated services and improves the burst loss performance by giving the burst head packet (BHP) two opportunities of scheduling its data burst (DB).     

Fair Bandwidth Allocation in Optical Burst Switching Networks

Optical burst switching (OBS) is a promising switching technology for next-generation Internet backbone networks. One of the design challenges is how to provide fair bandwidth allocation in OBS networks; the schemes proposed for general store-and-forward IP switching networks can not be used because of the non-buffering and un-fully utilized bandwidth characteristics of OBS networks. We propose a rate fairness preemption (RFP) scheme to achieve approximately weighted max-min fair bandwidth allocation in OBS networks. We present an analysis of the burst loss probability in RFP-based OBS networks. The analysis and simulation results show that the RFP scheme provides fair bandwidth allocation in OBS networks.      

光突发交换网络中基于波长分集的QoS算法

光突发交换(Optical Burst Switching, OBS)被公认为是构建下一代光网络的有效交换技术。在OBS网络中有效地支持QoS (Quality of Service)是一个很重要的问题。该文从波长分集的思想出发,提出了几种适合OBS的QoS算法。这些算法可以根据各个优先级业务的变化情况,动态地调整各个优先级的业务使用的波长数目。通过仿真,并和已有算法相比,说明所提出的算法可以更好地提供区分服务,同时有效提高信道的利用率,降低整体的丢失率。     

Absolute QoS differentiation in optical burst-switched networks

A number of schemes have been proposed for providing quality-of-service (QoS) differentiation in optical burst-switched (OBS) networks. Most existing schemes are based on a relative QoS model in which the service requirements for a given class of traffic are defined relative to the service requirements of another class of traffic. In this paper, we propose an absolute QoS model in OBS networks which ensures that the loss probability of the guaranteed traffic does not exceed a certain value. We describe two mechanisms for providing loss guarantees at OBS core nodes: an early dropping mechanism, which probabilistically drops the nonguaranteed traffic, and a wavelength grouping mechanism, which provisions necessary wavelengths for the guaranteed traffic. It is shown that integrating these two mechanisms outperforms the stand-alone schemes in providing loss guarantees, as well as reducing the loss experienced by the nonguaranteed traffic. We also discuss admission control and resource provisioning for OBS networks, and propose a path clustering technique to further improve the network-wide loss performance. We develop analytical loss models for the proposed schemes and verify the results by simulation.     

Group-Scheduling for Multi-Service Optical Burst Switching (OBS) Networks

We propose a new burst scheduling mechanism for Optical Burst-Switched (OBS) networks. The new approach is made possible by gathering data bursts into groups and performing the scheduling decision for each group collectively. In OBS group-scheduling, bursts will not be considered for scheduling until a pre-defined time period elapses, during which the group of burst header packets would be gathered. By transforming a set of data bursts into a set of corresponding time intervals, the problem of scheduling these bursts is transformed into a combinatorial optimization problem. Graph algorithms are applied to obtain the maximum number of non-overlapping bursts. The proposed OBS group-scheduling scheme is shown to improve the performance of OBS networks over existing scheduling schemes in terms of burst loss probability and channel utilization. With an extension through a sequential optimization, using a Branch-and-Bound technique, the proposed scheme can support multiple classes of service. It is shown that the new scheduling approach has several desired characteristics including fairness and service differentiability among classes in terms of burst loss probability and channel utilization.     

A review of fault management in WDM mesh networks: basic concepts and research challenges

The article first presents a broad overview of the fault management mechanisms involved in deploying a survivable optical mesh network which employs optical crossconnects. We review various protection and restoration schemes, primary and back-up route computation methods, shareability optimization, and dynamic restoration. We then describe different parameters that can measure the quality of service provided by a WDM mesh network to upper protocol layers (e.g., IP network backbones, ATM network backbones, leased lines, virtual private networks), such as service availability, service reliability, restoration time, and service restorability. We review these concepts, the factors that affect them, and how to improve them. In particular, we present a framework for cost-effective availability-aware connection provisioning to provide differentiated services in WDM mesh networks. Through the framework, the more realistic scenario of multiple near-simultaneous failures can be handled. In addition, the emerging problem of protecting low-speed connections of different bandwidth granularities is also reviewed.     

Burst scheduling for differentiated services in optical burst switching WDM networks

Optical burst switching (OBS) is one of the most important switching technologies for future optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks and the Internet. The model of differentiated services has been proposed to support quality of service (QoS) in the IP‐based Internet. It is also very important to have differentiated service support in OBS networks. When the burst scheduling in an OBS network is set up appropriately, network can support differentiated services. In this paper, we proposed a new burst scheduling scheme, called differentiated scheduling with identical priority offset time (DSIPO). In DSIPO, the same priority offset time is used for all the bursts destined to the same edge node regardless of their priorities. Differentiated services in terms of burst loss probability are achieved by processing the control packets of higher priority class bursts, thus reserving resources for their data bursts, more promptly upon their arrival than those of lower priority class bursts. Each intermediate (core) node can adjust the burst loss probabilities of various burst classes by choosing its own differentiated processing delay value for each priority class or its own differentiated processing delay difference value between any pair of adjacent priority classes. We model and analyse DSIPO in terms of the burst loss probability for each priority class with simulation validation. The performance of DISPO is evaluated by simulation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance comparison of OBS and SONET in metropolitan ring networks

This paper explores the feasibility of deploying optical burst switching (OBS) in metropolitan area networks (MANs) as an alternative to synchronous optical network (SONET), over wavelength-division multiplexing. We present a comparison between two OBS architectures (with centralized and distributed scheduling schemes), SONET, and next-generation SONET (NG-SONET), respectively. We quantify some of the performance metrics such as end-to-end delay and loss rate when supporting Ethernet traffic in metro ring networks. Our simulation results show that OBS offers significant performance improvement over SONET and NG-SONET. In general, the OBS architecture with distributed scheduling has a superior delay performance, whereas the OBS architecture with centralized scheduling has a better loss metric.     

Providing service differentiation for optical-burst-switched networks

This paper proposes a service differentiation scheme called preemptive wavelength reservation protocol (PWRP) to provide proportional quality of service (QoS) for optical-burst-switched (OBS) networks. In the context of service differentiation, traffic is divided into different service classes based on traffic characteristics. A service differentiation scheme then provides different degrees of resource assurance to different classes of traffic in proportion to their service classes. Unlike existing approaches, which may degrade to classless schemes or which may suffer from low wavelength utilization, the mechanism in this paper is robust and efficient and supports an incremental deployment of QoS support. A usage profile for each class is maintained at the router, and a preemptive wavelength reservation mechanism is implemented to ensure QoS. An analytical model is derived and simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance. The results show that the approach described in this paper performs better than existing mechanisms in terms of lower blocking probability and higher resource utilization, making it an excellent QoS mechanism for OBS networks.     

OBS网络中的主动拥塞控制策略研究及性能分析

根据光突发交换(Optical Burst Switching--OBS)网络的结构和特点,分析了其核心节点在数据信道调度发生拥塞时拥塞控制策略的缺陷,提出了OBS网络中一种主动拥塞控制策略(ACC),详细讨论了该策略的具体实现过程.通过仿真验证,在OBS网络中采用该算法能减少突发数据包的丢包率,从而达到改善整个OBS网络性能的目的.     

A new scheduling algorithm to provide proportional QoS in optical burst switching networks

A new scheduling algorithm, which aims to provide proportional and controllable QoS （Quality of Service） in terms of burst loss probability for OBS （Optical Burst Switching） networks, is proposed on the basis of a survey of QoS schemes in current OBS networks. With simulations, performance analysis and comparisons are carried out in detail. The results show that, in the proposed scheme, burst loss probabilities are proportional to the given factors and the control of QoS performance can be achieved with better performance. This scheme will be beneficial to the OBS network management and the tariffpolicy making.     

光突发交换网络中服务质量保证机制的研究

如何在光突发交换(OBS)网络中为承载的业务提供服务质量(QoS)保证,已经成为当前OBS领域的一个研究热点.从算法思想、QoS保证性能等方面,对当前几种主要的服务质量保证机制进行了研究:基于偏置时间的QoS机制、分段型QoS机制、比例型QoS机制、抢占式QoS机制、IP DiffServ over OBS的QoS机制以及基于数据信道分组的QoS机制.探讨了在设计一个有效的QoS保证机制时应考虑的因素以及今后的研究方向.     

QoS Differentiation in Asynchronous Bufferless Optical Packet Switched Networks

Optical Packet/Burst Switched networks (OPS/OBS) have emerged as promising all-optical network architectures for future core networks due to good resource utilization and the ability to handle high line speeds in a cost-efficient way. Regarding these networks, Quality of Service (QoS) differentiation should be provided in order to give sufficient QoS to real-time applications, and to utilize network resources optimally. In this paper, we present three fundamental different QoS differentiation schemes suitable for asynchronous bufferless OPS. We present analytical models and derive explicit results for the packet loss rates. We then present a general evaluation framework followed by a comparison study of the considered QoS differentiation schemes. Simulation and analytical results show that QoS differentiation schemes based on preemption have better performance than drop based and access-restriction based QoS differentiation schemes.     

Analysis of blocking probability in optical burst switched networks

In this article, we study the blocking probability in a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) based asynchronous bufferless optical burst switched (OBS) network, equipped with a bank of wavelength converters. Our analysis encloses two wavelength reservation schemes JIT (just-in-time) and JET (just-enough-time), and two-class data rate. The contribution of our work includes: (i) derivation of an accurate model for blocking probability of lower priority bursts in case of a non-preempted model; (ii) provision of the analytical model for blocking probability calculation in the OBS network, which includes these variables: two signaling schemes, partial wavelength conversion, two-class data, traffic intensity, cross-connect speed, number of wavelengths in WDM fiber, number of fibers in the node, number of wavelength converters, and number of nodes in the path; (iii) simulation results, which show that partial wavelength conversion provide quite satisfactory quality of service. We compare performance in a single OBS node, under various sets of parameter values. The OBS network shows great flexibility in terms of used multiclass data, and there is no dependence on the used higher layer protocol.     

A Detailed Analysis and Performance Comparison of Wavelength Reservation Schemes for Optical Burst Switched Networks<Superscript>†</Superscript>

We present a detailed analysis of the JIT, JET, and Horizon wavelength reservation schemes for optical burst switched (OBS) networks. Our analysis accounts for several important parameters, including the burst offset length, and the optical switching and hardware processing overheads associated with bursts as they travel across the network. The contributions of our work include: (i) analytical models of JET and Horizon (on a single OBS node) that are more accurate than previously published ones, and which are valid for general burst length and offset length distributions; (ii) the determination of the regions of parameter values in which a more complex reservation scheme reduces to a simpler one; and (iii) a new reservation scheme, JIT⁺, which is as simple to implement as JIT, but whose performance tracks that of Horizon and JET. We compare the performance of the four wavelength reservation schemes on a single OBS node, as well as on a path of OBS nodes with cross traffic, under various sets of parameter values. Our major finding is that, under reasonable assumptions regarding the current and future state-of-the-art in optical switch and electronic hardware technologies, the simplicity of JIT and JIT⁺ seem to outweigh any performance benefits of Horizon and JET.This work was supported by MCNC-RDI as part of the Jumpstart project.     

光突发交换网络中的区分服务研究

为了在光突发交换网络中提供端到端的区分服务,提出了一种区分服务模型,并详细介绍了其功能.提出了一种控制分组的区分服务编码点,详细研究了一系列区分服务规则,包括编码点的改写和更新以及区分服务模型的可扩展性.同时提出了几个有待进一步研究的问题.     

Dropping Policy with Burst Retransmission to Improve the Throughput of TCP Over Optical Burst-switched Networks

A major concern in optical burst-switched (OBS) networks is contention, which occurs when more than one bursts contend for the same data channel at the same time. Due to the bufferless nature of OBS networks, these contentions randomly occur at any degree of congestion in the network. When contention occurs at any core node, the core node drops bursts according to its dropping policy. Burst loss in OBS networks significantly degrades the throughput of TCP sources in the local access networks because current TCP congestion control mechanisms perform a slow start phase mainly due to contention rather than heavy congestion. However, there has not been much study about the impact of burst loss on the performance of TCP over OBS networks. To improve TCP throughput over OBS networks, we first introduce a dropping policy with burst retransmission that retransmits the bursts dropped due to contention, at the ingress node. Then, we extend the dropping policy with burst retransmission to drop a burst that has experienced fewer retransmissions in the event of contention at a core node in order to reduce the number of events that a TCP source enters the slow start phase due to contention. In addition, we propose to limit the number of retransmissions of each burst to prevent severe congestion. For the performance evaluation of the proposed schemes, we provide an analytic throughput model of TCP over OBS networks. Through simulations as well as analytic modeling, it is shown that the proposed dropping policy with burst retransmission can improve TCP throughput over OBS networks compared with an existing dropping policy without burst retransmission.     

Rate-controlled optical burst switching for both congestion avoidance and service differentiation

Optical Burst Switching (OBS) has recently been proposed as a candidate architecture for the next generation optical Internet. Several challenging issues remain to be solved to pave the way for the OBS vision. Contention arises in OBS networks when two or more bursts are destined for the same wavelength, and a wide variety of reactive contention resolution mechanisms have been proposed in the literature. One challenging issue in OBS is proactively controlling the traffic flowing through the OBS network so that the network does not stay in a persistent state of contention, which we call the congestion avoidance problem. Another challenging issue is the need for service differentiation, which is common today in electronically switched networks via the use of advanced buffer management and scheduling mechanisms. However, such mechanisms cannot be used in OBS networks due to the limited use, or total absence, of buffering. One of the popular existing approaches to service differentiation in OBS networks is the use of larger offset times for high-priority bursts which, however, increases the delays and may adversely affect application-level performance. In this paper, we propose a feedback-based rate control protocol for the control plane of the OBS network to both address the congestion avoidance and service differentiation issues. Using this protocol, the incoming traffic is dynamically shaped at the edge of the OBS network in order to avoid potential congestion in the burst-switched core. Moreover, the traffic shaping policies for the low and high priority traffic classes are different, and it is possible using the proposed protocol to isolate high-priority and low-priority traffic almost perfectly over time scales on the order of a few round-trip times. Simulation results are reported to validate the congestion avoidance and service differentiation capabilities of the proposed architecture.     

Wavelength Selection in OBS Networks Using Traffic Engineering and Priority-Based Concepts

A fundamental assumption underlying most studies of optical burst switched (OBS) networks is that full wavelength conversion is available throughout the network. In practice, however, economic and technical considerations are likely to dictate a more limited and sparse deployment of wavelength converters in the optical network. Therefore, we expect wavelength assignment policies to be an important component of OBS networks. In this paper, we explain why wavelength selection schemes developed for wavelength routed (circuit-switched) networks are not appropriate for OBS. We then develop a suite of adaptive and nonadaptive policies for OBS switches. We also apply traffic engineering techniques to reduce wavelength contention through traffic isolation. Our performance study indicates that, in the absence of full conversion capabilities, intelligent choices in assigning wavelengths to bursts at the source can have a profound effect on the burst drop probability in an OBS network.     

Performance evaluation of throughput in optical burst switching

Optical burst switching (OBS) provides a promising solution to utilize the huge terahertz bandwidth of optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission technology. To exploit this bandwidth, several reservation schemes have been proposed that include just‐in‐time (JIT) signaling, just‐enough‐time (JET) signaling and burst segmentation (BS). It is necessary to investigate the performance of these schemes under the same constraints for a prescribed OBS application. Accordingly, in this paper, we analyzed and compared the performance of JIT, JET and BS techniques under various scenarios such as network size, delay variation and load variation in an OBS network using various performance metrics, such as the offset time and switch configuration time. Also, the performance of the network under various switching delays was also investigated. The modified BS reservation scheme has been found to yield significantly better performance and better throughput compared with the JIT and JET reservation schemes. Test results show that the effect of varying loads as well as delays significantly impacts the performance of the OBS network. The results presented in this paper are expected to lead further performance improvements in OBS networks using the BS reservation scheme. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.