Scalable architectures for all-optical label swapping nodes

Abstract

All-Optical Label Swapping (AOLS) nodes are believed to be part of the future networks. The original node designs, however, are very hard scalable. This article presents three alternatives that swap labels analogous to the original design. Two of the proposed new switches use the same all-optical technology to parallelly compare labels but, they divide fibres in data wavelengths that only transport payloads and label wavelengths that only transport labels. The third design sequentially compares the incoming label with addresses in the node available in order to make the routing decision. All three architectures are compared in terms of hardware necessary to perform routing.