Control and survivability issues for optical burst switched networks

Abstract

Optical burst switching (OBS) is the most promising all-optical architectures for the next generation Internet. OBS is still being developed and several issues still need to be addressed. Several studies have stressed the importance of the choice of the offset time and its criticality in influencing the burst loss phenomenon in OBS networks. The main problem arises in estimating the initial delay that is compatible with the optical burst switching architecture implemented. This thesis aims to provide a mechanism to calculate the offset time and to study its effect on the network performance and refining QoS levels. The study is extended to networks under failure to investigate the influence of the delay factor on the restoration process especially in compensating failed-network performance degradations. The simulation studies validated the proposed mechanism and formed an annex that can be integrated on any OBS restoration mechanism. A new QoS parameter is defined to meet service differentiation with respect to the data losses and delays.