Wide Sense Nonblocking Multicast in WDM Optical Binary Tree

Multicast communication demands simultaneous information transfer from a single source node to a group of destination nodes. The applications demanding multicast communication include video streaming, online gaming, and content distribution where the scenario of sending the same information to multiple recipients occurs frequently. Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) optical networks are a favorite network for such applications due to their inherent ability to carry large amounts of data at high speeds over long distances with very low attenuation. Tree-structured topology, due to its inherent hierarchical structure, is preferred for high performance computing and communication applications. Tree-structured topology also facilitates for efficient data flow, scalability, and centralized management ensuring a reliable and structured communication framework. In this paper, for a WDM optical binary tree, wide sense nonblocking multicast is studied and the sufficient and necessary condition on the wavelength number requirement is determined.