Adaptive intentional connection rerouting for traffic grooming in WDM mesh networks with biological attractor selection

In wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) mesh networks, wavelength utilization is limited by the mismatch between the high bandwidth that one wavelength can provide and the relatively low bandwidth request of a single connection. Traffic grooming which grooms multiple connections onto one wavelength is a desirable technique to improve resource utilization. However, with unpredictable traffic demand, the newly arrived request may not be accommodated using remaining resources. Rerouting which reroutes existing connections such that the newly arrived request can be accommodated is an effective approach to further improve network throughput. In this paper, we study adaptive intentional connection rerouting which intentionally triggers rerouting algorithm according to network status, with the aim to reserve maximum resources for future connections. There are two important issues in intentional rerouting scheme: when to trigger rerouting algorithm and the rule to reroute the accommodated connections. The answers to the questions can reduce network blocking probability within an appropriate number of rerouting. In this paper, we propose to use biological attractor selection approach to address the above issues so that rerouting can be performed at the right time to accommodate unpredictable traffic demand. The proposed rerouting scheme can also improve system robustness given its adaptability. The simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed adaptive rerouting approach.