System and Method for Configuring Optical Circuits

University of Texas at Dallas
posted on 08/06/2010

A System and Method for Dynamically Configuring Optical Circuits in an Optical Network

The Technology in Brief

In the metro and access network areas demand for data transmission is increasing exponentially. To control the costs users now desire to obtain reservation of large bandwidth dynamically for a short time in order to transmit their data expeditiously and without having to lease a high speed connection at all times. The patented invention provides a solution by offering the technology for an on-demand configuration of lightpaths within an optical circuit with the help of a multi-token control mechanism.

Background

The insatiable appetite for Internet connectivity and network applications is driving the current explosion of network traffic volume worldwide. It is expected that this exponential growth of traffic volume will continue in the foreseeable future. Optical fiber communication technology based on Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) has been employed as the major means to cope with the traffic volume growth. Different centralized approaches and distributed approaches are in place to solve the problem of routing and wavelength assignment (RWA). Achieving fast set-up time of the optical circuit, fair blocking probability irrespective of the number of fiber lines the lightpath is routed through, and bandwidth efficiency still remain the major challenges.

The invention proposes the use of a multi-token control mechanism to configure optical circuits and overcome the foregoing and other problems with an optical network.

Description of Invention

The patented invention offers a system and method for establishing lightpaths within an optical ring network. In the proposed solution the source node stores requests for a lightpath between the source node and the destination node. Upon receipt of a token at the source node indicating an available space within a wavelength, the source node selects a request stored within the queue based upon a best fit window (BFW) protocol. A lightpath is then established between the source node and the destination node responsive to a selected request.

The selection process determines the existence of any requests within the queue having expired soft deadlines and selects the largest request having an expired soft deadline which will fit within the available space of the wavelength for connection. If no soft deadline expirations are present, it will select the largest request which will fit within the space available on the wavelength. It uses the selected request to establish a connection.

Benefits

· Fast set-up time of the lightpath

· Fair blocking probability irrespective of the lightpath span

· Improved bandwidth efficiency

· Controlled mechanism for configuring optical circuits

· Possible advertising of available network resources to potential users (or nodes)

· Establishing lightpaths in a WDM ring dynamically

· Reducing the propagation time within the optical ring

· Efficient routing and wavelength assignment in an optical network

Applications

· Metro access and area access applications

IP Status