Distributed algorithms and architectures for optical flow switching in WDM networks

This paper is about the design and quantitative analysis of distributed approaches for optical flow switching (using dynamic lightpath setup) in a wide area WDM backbone network. The major contribution of this work is to design realistic integrated approaches for flow routing, wavelength assignment, and connection setup in a truly distributed setting, and assess the relative performance of these on a nationwide wide area network (WAN) backbone. A simulation model is used which models timing, wavelength, and fiber constraints. Results are presented in terms of backbone utilization for a given blocking probability of optical flows.