Implementation and validation of an Omnet++ optical burst switching simulator

In this paper, we present a newly developed simulator based on the Omnet++ framework, for simulating Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexed, optical burst switched networks in the presence of optical impairments. The simulator is validated against a reduced link load model for optical burst switched networks, and simulations are performed in order to determine the effects of flexi-grid and impairments modelling on simulation results. We find that flexi-grid substantially reduces the burst loss probability on the simulated network, and that impairments modelling has a noticeable effect on simulation results, particularly in flexi-grid scenarios.