Optimized Combination of Converter Pools and FDL Buffers for Contention Resolution in Optical Burst Switching

Optical burst switching (OBS) has attracted interest as a transport network architecture for the future optical Internet. As OBS relies on statistical multiplexing efficient contention resolution is a key issue in order to achieve a low burst loss probability. First, this paper discusses options and key design parameters for contention resolution in OBS. Then, it evaluates the performance of OBS nodes which employ shared wavelength converter pools and simple fiber delay line (FDL) buffers. Finally, optimized strategies for the order of probing a wavelength converter pool and an FDL buffer for contention resolution are presented and compared. It is shown that these strategies can be used to optimize performance for a given, for example, minimal cost, dimensioning of the wavelength converter pool and the FDL buffer.