Report Number: CSL-TR-94-649
Institution: Stanford University, Computer Systems Laboratory
Title: Routing of Streams in WDM Reconfigurable Networks
Author: Noronha, Ciro A., Jr.
Author: Tobagi, Fouad A.
Date: December 1994
Abstract: Due to its low attenuation, fiber has become that medium of choice for point-to-point links. Using Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM), many channels can be created in the same fiber. A network node equipped with a tunable optical transmitter can select any of these channels for sending data. An optical interconnection combines the signal from the various receivers in the network, and makes it available to the optical receivers, which may also be tunable. By properly tuning transmitters and/or receivers, point-to-point links can be dynamically created and destroyed. Therefore, in a WDM network, the routing algorithm has an additional degree of freedom compared to traditional networks: it can modify the network topology to create the routes. In this report, we consider the problem of routing audio/video streams in WDM networks. We present a general linear integer programming formulation for the problem. However, since this is a complex solution, we propose simpler heuristic algorithms, both for the unicast case and for the multicast case. The performance of these heuristics is evaluated in a number of scenarios, with a realistic traffic model, and from the evaluation we derive guidelines for usage of the heuristic algorithms.
http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/csl/tr/94/649/CSL-TR-94-649.pdf