Near-Optimal Algorithm for Group Scheduling in OBS Networks

Group scheduling is an operation whereby control packets arriving in a time slot schedule their bursts simultaneously. Normally, those bursts that are of the same wavelength are scheduled on the same channel. In cases where the support of full wavelength converters is available, such scheduling can be performed on multiple channels for those bursts that are of an arbitrary wavelength. This paper presents a new algorithm for group scheduling on multiple channels. In our approach, to reach a near-optimal schedule, a maximum-weight clique needs to be determined; thus, we propose an additional algorithm for this purpose. Analysis and simulation results indicate that an optimal schedule is almost attainable, while the complexity of computation and that of implementation are reduced.