Optical IP routers: design and performance issues under self-similar traffic

The increased data traffic experienced today and the projected increase in the data traffic in the future demand exploration of novel approaches to IP transport such as transport of IP traffic over optics. The bimodal nature of the IF traffic: short packets which are typical of transactional-style hows and large packets or bursts which are encountered in the transport of large data blocks requires, design of routers that are capable of routing packets with variable lengths efficiently. In this paper, we discuss the design aspects of such all-optical IF-routers. The broadcast and select architecture is a prime candidate for implementing optical IF routers. Construction of optical routers with buffering, wavelength conversion and multipath routing are considered. The merits and demerits of all these cases and the effect of buffer size, wavelength conversion and multiple-path routing on the blocking probability and probability of packet loss are discussed.