Performance evaluation of optical mesh restoration schemes

Abstract

This paper investigates the performance of various schemes for restoration of lightpaths in an optical mesh network. We consider schemes in which backup paths for links or paths are pro-computed, but wavelength assignment is either pro-computed (static) or done dynamically upon failure (dynamic). In static restoration we compare the performance of link and path restoration in terms of capacity requirement and restoration time. For the dynamic restoration, we consider several dynamic wavelength reservation schemes such as backward and forward reservation with different portion of wavelength to be reserved in both directions. Their performance is evaluated in terms of restoration speed and restorability. Simulation results indicate that path protection requires less capacity than link protection for 100% restorability, and dynamic restoration with backward wavelength reservation shows better restorability than static restoration schemes, when the extra capacity is relatively small. Forward wavelength reservation shows faster restoration speed with lower restorability than the backward wavelength reservation. In general, the optimal restoration scheme depends on extra capacity available and restoration time limit.