Demonstration of Deflection Routing With Layer-2 Evaluation at 40 Gb/s in a Three-Node Optical Burst Switching Testbed

We developed an optical burst switching (OBS) network testbed with three nodes, where each node consisted of a fast 5 5 (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O optical matrix switch. A newly developed Ether frame media converter was successfully used to evaluate Layer-2 performance of the testbed, with a line rate of 40Gb/s. A dynamic deflection routing scheme for contention resolution is implemented. Error-free switching with 40-Gb/s payload was achieved over the three nodes, promising low frame loss due to dynamic operation. By comparing effects of random collision with and without deflection routing for varying loads, we demonstrate that near-theoretical low frame loss is achievable in fast Layer-2 (Ether frame) transport over OBS networks.