Distributed lightpath control based on destination routing for wavelength-routed WDM networks

Abstract

This paper studies distributed lightpath control in wavelength-routed WDM networks. We propose to introduce a destination-routing mechanism for lightpath establishment, which uses global network state information for wavelength routing and allows the destination node of a lightpath to decide the route. The purpose is to use the most recent network state information to make a routing decision so that wavelength reservation failures can be minimized. Meanwhile, we also consider connection restoration in the occurrence of a link failure and introduce a destination-initiating mechanism that allows the destination node of a broken connection to initiate a connection restoration process. The purpose is to reduce the connection restoration time so that a backup path can be provisioned rapidly. Based on both mechanisms, we further propose an efficient distributed control protocol for lightpath establishment and restoration. The paper explicitly describes the major procedures of the protocol, discusses its significant properties, and evaluates its performance in terms of the request blocking probability, and the connection setup or restoration time.