Resource management in an integrated optical network

We propose a novel integrated optical network switching architecture. The proposal offers an approach to signaling for the purpose of transport on an all-optical network of optical and nonoptical legacy network traffic. In order to provide effective end-to-end control and efficient transport services, new signaling and control techniques are required. Standard organizations such as Optical Interworking Forum (OIF) and Internet Engineering Task Force have developed interface methods between client and transport networks, as well as signaling processes for resource allocation. We propose a network controller, which implements interfaces for such integration in the intermediate future, as well as provides a feasible path for the long-term objective of all optical networking. Performance and capacity issues for these systems introduce new dimensions to the existing set of networking problems, since optical paths can now be set up in real-time. There are two main contributions in this paper: (1) functional composition of a network controller, which translates legacy signaling to optical connection signaling and path establishment and (2) determining when to issue an optical connection request based on the current network conditions such as link utilization, so that the integrated optical network can operate efficiently. Analytical approximations, as well as simulation results for call blocking performance are also presented.