Evaluation of throughput and protection in optically switched metropolitan network architectures

In this study, we investigate the performance of optical packet/burst switched (OPS/OBS) architectures connected as mesh and as ring topologies for future optical metropolitan networks. Network throughput and protection to link failure under uniform traffic distribution for all nodes are investigated to evaluate the sensitivity of OPS/OBSN performance. Our data are based on analytic results and computer simulations that include a comparison between various mesh and ring topologies. We also consider detailed traffic distributions over the network links and the impact caused by failure of more or less loaded links, thus providing a method to select links that require protection, which can be very useful in network planning.