An integrated TDM architecture for AAPN networks

Abstract

The Agile All-photonic Backbone Network (AAPN) architecture has been proposed by the telecommunication industry as a potential candidate for the ultra high speed Next Generation Optical Network (NGON) architecture. AAPN network structure is composed of adaptive optical core switches and edge routers in an overlaid star physical topology. The AAPN employs fast packet switching architecture for the network traffic, and the packet scheduling is the main part of the AAPN. The objective is to forward the packets to their destination with the lowest drop rate and delay, the bandwidth allocation can be either located at the core node or the edge switch. Two types of scheduling are considered in the AAPN architecture, namely the <i>centralized</i> and the <i>distributed</i> schemes. In the centralized scheme all decisions are made at the core node while in the distributed scheme, they are made at the edge nodes. In this paper, we want to compare both scheduling schemes. We would also like to propose a promising integrated TDM architecture that combines the good attributes of both centralized and distributed scheduling schemes. We shall characterize such architecture by various measures such as delay and loss probabilities.