A fair slot routing solution for scalability in all-optical packet switched networks

Abstract

181 Abstract. The concept of Photonic Slot Routing (PSR) was recently proposed by the authors for providing scalability in WDM packet switching networks. PSR circumvents the fundamental problem of complexity of extant optical technologies when trying to use fast, wavelength selective switches to obtain all-optical packet switching. In a PSR network, wavelength sensitive information (i.e., optical packets) is handled by simplified routers which make use of wavelength non-sensitive devices, based on proven technology, to switch a set of packets on distinct wavelengths as a single unit, termed the photonic slot. While leading to a practically simple router architecture, the all-optical PSR based network must also achieve a fair bandwidth allocation and deal with the contention that may arise at the router between photonic slots that arrive in different input fibers. The paper shows how the above objectives can be met by combining a fixed capacity assignment control with the PSR concept, thus achieving a bandwidth transparent, scalable and fair packet switching network with contention-free transmissions.