Full-range Wavelength Converters Research Articles

All-optical core node modeling and optimization using hybrid wavelength conversion for QoS provision

All-optical networks (AON) provide larger bandwidth, faster switching, and QoS provision. High-cost node architecture with full range wavelength converters (FRWC) is used to meet application and service demands. In this paper, hybrid wavelength converters (HDWC) and wavelength range (WR) supervision are considered. Fixed (FXWC), limited (LRWC), and FRWC are combined in the different output ports resulting in a new core node architecture design. The design depends on a node topology location and its ability to reduce WR usage while guaranteeing the needed demands. In wavelength converter (WC) combination, the core node architecture is optimized by defining the number and type of WC in the available output ports using physical topology and lightpath cost. In the WR reduction, the available resource is managed to extend the lightpath availability and assure jointly traffic switching and provision according to its loss and blocking delay. Simulation work is conducted where the achieved results indicate that the core node architecture cost is effectively reduced, and the available resource utilization is improved while offering traffic requirements.

An optical multicast packet switching architecture shared with limited-range multi-wavelength converter and full-range wavelength converters

Optical packet switch with multicast capability can inspire a broad range of multipoint to multipoint applications in future optical networks. An optical multicast packet switching architecture, equipped with feedback shared small number of limited-range multi-wavelength converters (LMWCs) and output shared some full-range wavelength converters (FRWCs), is proposed for a wavelength-division multiplexed optical multicast network to improve multicast performance in the paper. The FRWCs are used to overcome the performance degradation in terms of packet loss probability due to only use LMWCs. In the architecture, the two converters are shared by all the multicast packets importing to the optical multicast switch node. A maximum bipartite matching with minimum edges weights strategy was designed to employ fewer wavelength converters and avoid useless degradation of optical signal quality for the architecture to improve the node performance. The simulation results show that the proposed architecture and its wavelength converter scheduling algorithm can reduce the multicast packet loss probability with relatively lesser wavelength conversion cost.

Buffered time-wavelength cross-connects: Architectures and performance evaluation

An all-optical approach to reduce the speed mismatch between electronic sources and high-speed wavelength channels is to time-division multiplex low-capacity circuits onto each wavelength. In such a Time-Wavelength-Switched Network (TWSN), the optical crossconnects (OXCs) are configured to switch time-wavelength-slots within the network. The OXCs can be deployed with a bank of fiber delay lines (FDLs) to improve the connection slot scheduling and decrease the connection blocking probability. In this paper, we consider the two broad scenarios of sharing a bank of FDLs: shared per output link (SPL) and shared per crossconnect (SPC). We present several OXC architectures and develop graph formulations that can be used to optimally solve the scheduling problem. We also incorporate wavelength conversion and feedback in these architectures and study the impact of various FDL configurations on a crossconnect’s performance. Results using numerical simulations show that the FDL configuration does in fact affect the performance of the OXC. We also evaluate the performance of an OXC equipped with an FDL bank for both the SPL and SPC scenarios by considering sparse wavelength converters (limited number of full range wavelength converters). Results show that using sparse converters along with FDLs could provide significant benefits.

Traffic Engineering in the Wavelength Domain for Optical Burst-Switched Networks

This paper addresses the possibility of using traffic engineering in the wavelength domain as a way to improve the performance of optical burst-switched (OBS) networks. With that aim, we detail a heuristic traffic engineering strategy that determines the order by which the ingress nodes of the network should search for an available wavelength for burst transmission, in order to minimize the probability that data bursts going through overlapping paths reach a common fiber link using the same wavelength. By means of network simulation, it is shown that the proposed traffic engineering strategy outperforms the existing strategies in reducing burst loss in OBS networks. This trend holds for core nodes with different degrees of wavelength conversion, ranging from the absence of wavelength converters to the use of dedicated full-range wavelength converters. More specifically, it is shown that using only traffic engineering in the wavelength domain can dramatically reduce burst loss in networks without wavelength conversion or alternatively it can reduce the number of wavelength converters in networks based on shared wavelength conversion. The simulation results also show that by combining traffic engineering in the wavelength domain with the use of the inexpensive electronic buffers at the ingress nodes, the performance of OBS networks with dedicated full-range wavelength converters can be further improved at the expense of a slight increase in the burst transfer delay.

Performance evaluation of optical packet switches equipped with heterogeneous wavelength converters

An optical packet switch that shares both limited range and full range wavelength converters for contention resolution is proposed with the aim to guarantee a high conversion cost saving. To optimally dimension the number and the conversion range of the wavelength converters, an analytical model, validated by simulation, is introduced. Numerical results show that the proposed switch architecture allows for a conversion cost saving in the order of 90% with respect to a traditional architecture in which only shared full range wavelength converters are used.

Cost Evaluation of Optical Packet Switches Equipped With Limited-Range and Full-Range Converters for Contention Resolution

Two architectures are proposed for a wavelength-division multiplexed optical packet switch equipped with both limited-range wavelength converters (LRWCs) and shared full-range wavelength converters (FRWCs). The FRWCs are used to overcome the performance degradation in terms of packet loss probability due to the use of LRWCs only. Two different sharing strategies of the FRWCs are considered. In the first architecture, a pool of FRWCs is shared among the arriving packets. In the second one, the sharing is only partial and the packets directed to the same output share a same pool of FRWCs. A probabilistic model is proposed to dimension the number of shared FRWCs so that the same packet loss probability of a switch equipped with only shared FRWCs is guaranteed. After introducing a cost model of the converters depending on the conversion range, we show that the architectures may allow a conversion cost savings on the order of 90%.

Performance analysis of multi-fiber WDM network with limited-range wavelength conversion

Wavelength routed optical networks have emerged as a technology that can effectively utilize the enormous bandwidth of the optical fiber. Wavelength conversion technology and wavelength converters play an important role in enhancing fiber utilization and in reducing the overall call blocking probability of the network. In this paper, we develop a new analytical model to calculate the average blocking probability in multi-fiber link networks using limited range wavelength conversion. Based on the results obtained, we conclude that the proposed analytical model is simple and yet can effectively analyze the impact of wavelength conversion ranges and number of fibers on network performance. Also a new heuristic approach for placement of wavelength converters to reduce blocking probabilities is explored. Finally, we analyze network performance with the proposed scheme. It can be observed from numerical simulations that limited range converters placed at a few nodes can provide almost the same blocking probability as full range wavelength converters placed at all the nodes. We also show that being equipped with a multi-fiber per-link has the same effect as being equipped with the capability of limited range wavelength conversion. So a multi-fiber per-link network using limited range wavelength conversion has similar blocking performance as a full wavelength convertible network. Since a multi-fiber network using limited range wavelength conversion could use fewer converters than a single-fiber network using limited range wavelength conversion and because wavelength converters are today more expensive than fiber equipment, a multi-fiber network in condition with limited range wavelength conversion is less costly than a single fiber network using only limited range wavelength conversion. Thus, multi-fiber per-link network using limited range wavelength conversion is currently a more practical method for all optical WDM networks. Simulation studies carried out on a 14-node NSFNET, a 10-node CERNET (China Education and Research Network), and a 9-node regular mesh network validate the analysis.

Dynamic RWA Based on the Combination of Mobile Agents Technique and Genetic Algorithms in WDM Networks with Sparse Wavelength Conversion

Genetic Algorithms (GA) provide an attractive approach to solving the challenging problem of dynamic routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) in optical Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) networks, because they usually achieve a significantly low blocking probability. Available GA-based dynamic RWA algorithms were designed mainly for WDM networks with a wavelength continuity constraint, and they cannot be applied directly to WDM networks with wavelength conversion capability. Furthermore, the available GA-based dynamic RWA algorithms suffer from the problem of requiring a very time consuming process to generate the first population of routes for a request, which may results in a significantly large delay in path setup. In this paper, we study the dynamic RWA problem in WDM networks with sparse wavelength conversion and propose a novel hybrid algorithm for it based on the combination of mobile agents technique and GA. By keeping a suitable number of mobile agents in the network to cooperatively explore the network states and continuously update the routing tables, the new hybrid algorithm can promptly determine the first population of routes for a new request based on the routing table of its source node, without requiring the time consuming process associated with current GA-based dynamic RWA algorithms. To achieve a good load balance in WDM networks with sparse wavelength conversion, we adopt in our hybrid algorithm a new reproduction scheme and a new fitness function that simultaneously takes into account the path length, number of free wavelengths, and wavelength conversion capability in route selection. Our new hybrid algorithm achieves a better load balance and results in a significantly lower blocking probability than does the Fixed-Alternate routing algorithm, both for optical networks with sparse and full-range wavelength converters and for optical networks with sparse and limited-range wavelength converters. This was verified by an extensive simulation study on the ns-2 network simulator and two typical network topologies. The ability to guarantee both a low blocking probability and a small setup delay makes the new hybrid dynamic RWA algorithm very attractive for current optical circuit switching networks and also for the next generation optical burst switching networks.

Performance Evaluation of a Bufferless Optical Packet Switch With Limited-Range Wavelength Converters

In this letter, we introduce an analytical model which enables us to evaluate the performance of a bufferless optical packet switch equipped with limited-range wavelength converters (LRWCs). The model is applied in order to calculate the packet-loss probability as a function of the conversion range, when an optimum scheduling algorithm is adopted. The analytical results show that a switch equipped with LRWCs with a small range can match the performance of an architecture using full-range wavelength converters.

A heuristic for placement of limited range wavelength converters in all-optical networks

Wavelength routed optical networks have emerged as a technology that can effectively utilize the enormous bandwidth of the optical fiber. Wavelength converters play an important role in enhancing the fiber utilization and reducing the overall call blocking probability of the network. As the distortion of the optical signal increases with the increase in the range of wavelength conversion in optical wavelength converters, limited range wavelength conversion assumes importance. Placement of wavelength converters is a NP complete problem [K.C. Lee, V.O.K. Li, IEEE J. Lightwave Technol. 11 (1993) 962–970] in an arbitrary mesh network. In this paper, we investigate heuristics for placing limited range wavelength converters in arbitrary mesh wavelength routed optical networks. The objective is to achieve near optimal placement of limited range wavelength converters resulting in reduced blocking probabilities and low distortion of the optical signal. The proposed heuristic is to place limited range wavelength converters at the most congested nodes, nodes which lie on the long lightpaths and nodes where conversion of optical signals is significantly high. We observe that limited range converters at few nodes can provide almost the entire improvement in the blocking probability as the full range wavelength converters placed at all the nodes. Congestion control in the network is brought about by dynamically adjusting the weights of the channels in the link thereby balancing the load and reducing the average delay of the traffic in the entire network. Simulations have been carried out on a 12-node ring network, 14-node NSFNET, 19-node European Optical Network (EON), 28-node US long haul network, hypothetical 30-node INET network and the results agree with the analysis.

Converter placement in all-optical networks using genetic algorithms

Wavelength routed optical networks have emerged as a technology that can effectively utilize the enormous bandwidth of the optical fiber. Wavelength converters play an important role in enhancing the fiber utilization and reducing the overall call blocking probability of the network. Placement of wavelength converters is an NP-complete problem (K.C. Lee, V.O.K. Li, IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology 11(5/6) (1993) 962–970) in an arbitrary mesh network. In this paper, new Integer Linear Program (ILP) formulations have been proposed for the static and dynamic routing and wavelength assignment problem to reduce the number of conversions. We use Genetic Algorithms (GAs) for placing limited range wavelength converters in arbitrary mesh wavelength routed optical networks. The objective is to achieve near optimal placement of full and limited range wavelength converters resulting in reduced blocking probabilities and low distortion of the optical signal. Certain heuristics are used to obtain starting solutions for the GAs to enable it to converge faster. The results obtained using GAs are compared with the heuristic method of placement. We study the range of loads for which converters are useful. We observe that limited range converters placed near optimally at a few nodes can provide almost the same blocking probability as full range wavelength converters placed at all the nodes and that increasing the number of converters yields only a marginal improvement in blocking probability. We also observe that uniform placement of converters can be adopted in ring networks at low offered loads. We study the effect of uniform placement at higher loads and suggest that when used with reservation in the routing algorithm, converters ensure fairness to all nodes. Simulations have been carried out on a 12-node ring network and 14-node NSFNET.

Algorithms for allocating wavelength converters in all-optical networks

In an all-optical wide area network, some network nodes may handle heavier volumes of traffic. It is desirable to allocate more full-range wavelength converters (FWCs) to these nodes, so that the FWCs can be fully utilized to resolve wavelength conflict. We propose a set of algorithms for allocating FWCs in all-optical networks. We adopt the simulation-based optimization approach, in which we collect utilization statistics of FWCs from computer simulations and then perform optimization to allocate the FWCs. Therefore, our algorithms are widely applicable and they are not restricted to any particular model or assumption. We have conducted extensive computer simulations on regular and irregular networks under both uniform and nonuniform traffic. Compared with the best existing allocation, the results show that our algorithms can significantly reduce: (1) the overall blocking probability (i.e., better mean quality of service) and (2) the maximum of the blocking probabilities experienced at all the source nodes (i.e., better fairness). Equivalently, for a given performance requirement on blocking probability, our algorithms can significantly reduce the number of FWCs required.