MAC-Layer Performance Enhancement Using Control Packet Buffering in Optical Burst-Switched Networks

One of the major hurdles in optical burst-switched (OBS) networks is the contention problem. In this paper, we tackle this problem by proposing a new contention resolution technique based on control packet buffering. In particular, a rigorous mathematical model is developed to analyze the performance of an OBS network core node employing this technique along with just-in-time one-way reservation protocol. The key idea that makes this proposal novel is that this buffering is implemented in the electronic domain, thus avoiding the complexity that exist in the optical domain solutions. A detailed evaluation of the system performance using both the burst loss probability and the steady-state throughput is presented. Our results reveal that a considerable improvement in the performance is achieved when adopting the proposed technique.