Abstract
Considering the state of the art of wavelength conversion technology, it is likely to dictate a more limited and sparse deployment of wavelength converters in optical burst switching (OBS) networks. Without wavelength conversion capabilities at optical switches, how to avoid burst contention becomes an important issue. This paper proposes an approach to controlling wavelength-division-multiplexing passive optical stars, consisting in queuing arrivals for delayed reception, to be used in OBS networks. This solution brings optical star networks a step closer to all-optical realization. In addition, it allows almost total utilization of the channels, obtainable until now only by time-division multiplexing control. The proposed solution does not suffer performance degradation under heterogeneous traffic conditions and increasing number of nodes. It is thus unique in offering the potential for an all-optical solution and providing at the same time high throughput, low delay, small buffer requirements, and robustness under all traffic conditions.
