A Detailed Analysis and Performance Comparison of Wavelength Reservation Schemes for Optical Burst Switched Networks?

Abstract

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.