A new packet routing strategy for ultra-fast photonic networks

The authors present and analyse a new approach to packet routing in ultra-fast networks, based on global-synchronised packet switching in the optical domain. This approach combines several key advantages: very simple processing at the routing nodes (single header-word recognition); packet transmission time dominated by the speed of light delay; contention resolution at the fringes of the network with no need for buffering or deflection strategies within the optical layer; freedom from deadlock and livelock; zero delay variation; packets delivered in the correct sequence. In this paper, the technique is fully described and a performance evaluation for a Manhattan street network (MSN) are presented.