Latency in Verifying Connection Setup in Dynamic Optical Networks

We consider dynamic applications that require new connections to be established with very low setup times. One challenge is determining when to initiate transmission, which can be based on a timing mechanism or based on receiving positive acknowledgment that the connection has been properly established. We investigate the latter strategy and analyze the added latency that is imposed by requiring verification of a newly established path. We show that with a distributed connection-setup architecture, verification potentially adds a negligible amount of latency, whereas with centralized operation, the added latency can be appreciable, especially in a backbone network.