Summary: Effects of Wavelength Routing and Selection Algorithms
on Wavelength Conversion Gain in WDM Optical Networks 1
Ezhan Karasan 2
Dept. of Electrical and Electronics Eng.
Bilkent University
Ankara, TR­06533, Turkey
Ender Ayanoglu
Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies
101 Crawfords Corner Road
Holmdel, NJ 07733­3030
Abstract
Wavelength division multiplexing technology is emerging as the transmission and switch­
ing mechanism for future optical mesh networks. In these networks, it is desired that a
wavelength can be routed without electrical conversions. Two technologies are possible for
this purpose: Wavelength Selective Cross­Connects (WSXC), and Wavelength Interchanging
Cross­Connects (WIXC) which involve wavelength conversion. It is believed that wavelength
converters may improve the blocking performance, but there is a mix of results in the literature
on the amount of this performance enhancement. In this paper, we use two metrics to quantify
the wavelength conversion gain: the reduction in blocking probability and the increase in max­
imum utilization, compared to a network without converters. We study effects of wavelength

Source: Ayanoglu, Ender - Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Irvine

Collections: Engineering