An agent-based QoS provisioning mechanism for WDM optical networks

Abstract

This paper addresses QoS provisioning mechanisms in the WDM optical networks. With the appearance of metropolitan optical network, a hierarchical metro and wide area optical network will be envisioned in the near future. This hierarchical optical transport network is often divided into optical domains by geography, administration and technology, which usually employ different QoS routing algorithms and policies. To provide end-to-end optical QoS is becoming a new challenge for the optical network design. In this paper, we first give an overview of issues on the QoS provisioning in data, control and management planes of the WDM optical network. And then three provisioning approaches are analyzed and compared. Finally, we propose an agent-based hybrid centralized/distributed QoS provisioning mechanism based on the concept of domain agent. This agent-based hybrid mechanism employs centralized approach in the domain and distributed approach between domains. It offers scalability and intra-domain optimal QoS routing. It also keeps independence and interoperability between domains.