Ultrafast optical packet switching over arbitrary physical topologies using the Manhattan Street Network

Optical packet switching over arbitrary physical topologies generally requires complex routing schemes coupled with contention resolving buffering. However, the relatively immature nature of optical logic devices and the limitations associated with optical buffering provide significant incentive to reduce the routing complexity and avoid optical domain contentions. This paper examines how the Manhattan Street Network (MSN) may be used to facilitate optical packet switching over arbitrary physical topologies. Several pertinent novel costs are introduced. Simulated annealing is used to deploy the MSN (near) optimally as a virtual topology in the physical topologies. Favourable and encouraging results are obtained, indicating that deploying the MSN is an attractive means to switch packets optically over arbitrary topologies.