Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Optical Burst Switching

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Enabling Optical Internet with Advanced Network Technologies

Part of the book series: Computer Communications and Networks ((CCN))

  • 486 Accesses

Abstract

An all-OPS network architecture displays a very attractive prospect for the future highly flexible optical transport networks. However, due to a variety of technical challenges, there is still a long way to go to accomplish a mature realization of an OPS network that is ready for practical deployments. Optoelectronic packet switching alleviates the implementation difficult to some degree, but a series of technical innovations is still needed in optical signal processing concerning timing and synchronization. In general, OPS is regarded as the long-term solution for high speed optical networks but, in the meanwhile, more feasible network architectures are desired for the efficient transport of highly dynamic and bursty data traffic. This is the case of optical burst switching (OBS).

In OBS networks, a special data unit called burst is defined for the transmission of user data. The data burst is generated by aggregating client traffic at the ingress nodes and it may have a variable size. In the network core, such data bursts are switched and transported asynchronously over the optical domain without any O/E/O conversion. The burst switching/routing decision is performed by the electronic processing of an out-of-band signaling message that arrives prior to its associated data burst. Similar to the optoelectronic packet switching, OBS ensures a transparent switching of the optical data traffic and keeps the signal processing and switching control in the electronic domain. In addition, data bursts are transmitted asynchronously in OBS, thus removing synchronization complexity. Also, design that adopts an offset time between the transmission of the signaling message and its associated data burst makes optical buffering not mandatory in the core nodes, thus improving the feasibility of OBS.

This chapter summarizes the fundamentals of optical burst-switched networks and further covers a wide range of the latest research and development issues in the field. Section 4.1 reviews the network and node architecture of OBS networks. Section 4.2 outlines algorithms for burst assembly at the edge node, which have a significant impact on network performance. Signaling and channel reservation protocols in the core network are discussed through Section 4.3. Section 4.4 explores different solutions for resolving contention between data bursts. Section 4.5 investigates the issues of QoS provisioning in OBS networks. Section 4.6 studies the impact of an OBS underlying architecture in the upper layer protocol: TCP. Finally, Section 4.7 summarizes the Erlang Fixed Point (EFP) iterative algorithm that is widely used for the performance evaluation of OBS networks.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Barakat, N. and Sargent, E.H. (2004). An accurate model for evaluating blocking probabilities in multi-class OBS systems. IEEE Communications Letters 8(2), 119–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Barakat, N. and Sargent, E.H. (2005). Analytical modeling of offset-induced priority in multiclass OBS networks. IEEE Transactions Communications 53(8), 1343–1352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. van Breusegem, E., de Levenheer, M., Cheyns, J., et al. (2004). An OBS architecture for pervasive grid computing. Workshop on Optical Burst Switching.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Callegati, F. (2001). Approximate modeling of optical buffers for variable length packets. Photonic Network Communications 3, 383–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Cao, X., Li, J., Chen, Y., et al. (2002). TCP/IP packets assembly over optical burst switching network. In: Proceedings of GLOBECOM 3, 2808–2812.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Dalton, L. and Isen, C. (2004). A study on high speed TCP protocols. In: Proceedings of IEEE Globecom, vol. 2, pp. 850–855.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Detti, A. and Listanti, M. (2002). Impact of segments aggregation on TCP reno flows in optical burst switching networks. In: Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM, vol. 3, pp. 1803–1812.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Düser, M. and Bayvel, P. (2002) Analysis of a dynamically wavelength-routed optical burst switched network architecture. IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology 20(4), 574–585.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Gaither, J. (2004). 300-Pin MSA bit-error rate tester for the ML10G board and RocketPHY transceiver. XILINX, Application note: XAPP677 Virtex-II Pro family.

    Google Scholar 

  10. García-Dorado, J.L., Lòpez de Vergara, J., and Aracil, J. (2006). Analysis of OBS burst scheduling algorithms with stochastic burst size and offset time. In: Proceedings of the 10th Conference on Optical Networks Design and Modelling (ONDM). Copenhagen, Denmark.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Gauger, C.M., Köhn, M., and Scharf, J. (2004). Comparison of contention resolution strategies in OBS network scenarios. In: Proceedings of 6th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks. Wroclaw.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Ge, A., Callegati, F., and Tamil, L.S. (2000). On optical burst switching and self-similar traffic. IEEE Communications Letters 4(3), 98–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Guidotti, A., Rafaelli, C., and González de Dios, O. (2007). Burstification effect on the TCP synchronization and congestion window mechanisms. In: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Optical Burst Switching (WOBS), pp. 24–28.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Guidotti, A., Rafaelli, C., and González de Dios, O. (2007). Effect of burst assembly on synchronization of TCP flows. In: Proceedings of Broadband Communications, Networks and Systems (Broadnets), pp. 29–36.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Hassan, M. and Jain, R. (2003). High performance TCP/IP networking: concepts, issues, and solutions. Prentice-Hall/McGraw-Hill, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Hernández, J.A., Aracil, J., López, V., et al. (2007). On the analysis of burst-assembly delay in OBS networks and applications in delay-based service differentiation. Photonic Network Communications 14, 49–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Hernández, J.A., Aracil, J., de Pedro, L., et al. (2008). Analysis of blocking probability of data bursts with continuous-time variable offsets in single wavelength OBS switches. IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology 26(12), 1559–1568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Iizuka, M., Sakuta, M., Nshino, Y., et al. (2002). A scheduling algorithm minimizing voids generated by arriving bursts in optical burst switched WDM network. In: Proceedings of GLOBEC OM 2002, vol. 3, pp. 2736–2740.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Izal, M. and Aracil, J. (2002). On the influence of self-similarity on optical burst switching traffic. Proceedings of IEEE GLOBECOM 3, 2308–2312.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kelly, F.P. (1986). Blocking probabilities in large circuit-switched networks. Advances in Applied Probability 18, 473–505.

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  21. Li, J. and Qiao, C. (2004). Schedule burst proactively for optical burst switched networks. Computer Networks 44(5), 617–629.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  22. Li, J., Qiao, C., Xu, J., et al. (2004) Maximizing throughout for optical burst switching networks. In: Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Ljolje, M., Inkret, R., and Mikac, B. (2005) A comparative analysis of data scheduling algorithms in optical burst switching networks. In: Proceedings of ONDM 2005, pp. 493–500.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Nejabati, R., Klonidis, D., Simeonidou, D., et al. (2005). Demonstration of user-controlled network interface for sub-wavelength bandwidth-on-demand service. In: Proceedings of Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Nejabati, R., Klonidis, D., Zervas, G., et al. (2006). Demonstration of a complete and fully functional end-to-end asynchronous optical packet switched network. In: Proceedings of Optical Fiber Conference.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Networks, M.O. (2002). Myths and realities about 40G optical technology. White Paper.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Overby, H. (2005). Quality of service differentiation: Teletraffic analysis and network layer packet redundancy in optical packet switched networks. Ph.D. thesis, Department of Telematics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Overby, H., Nord, M., and Stol, N. (2006). Evaluation of QoS differentiation mechanisms in asynchronous bufferless optical packet switched networks. IEEE Communications Magazine 44(8), 52–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Overby, H. and Stol, N. (2004). Quality of service in asynchronous bufferless optical packet switched networks. Kluwer Telecommunication Systems 27(2–4), 151–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Phung, M., Chua, K., Mohan, G., et al. (2005). On ordered scheduling for optical burst switching. Computer Networks 48(6), 891–909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Qiao, C. and Yoo, M. (1999). Optical burst switching (OBS): A new paradigm for an optical Internet. Journal of High Speed Networks 8(1), 69–84.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Ramantas, K., Vlachos, K., González de Dios, O., et al. (2008). Window-based burst assembly scheme for TCP traffic over OBS. OSA Journal of Optical Networks 7(5), 487–495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Ramaswami, R. and Sirvajan, K. (1995). Routing and wavelength assignment in all-optical networks. IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking 3(5), 489–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Reviriego, P., Hernández, J.A., and Aracil, J. (2007). Analysis of average burst-assembly delay and applications in proportional service differentiation. Photonic Network Communications 14(2), 183–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Reviriego, P., Hernández, J.A., and Aracil, J.: Assembly admission control based on random packet selection at border nodes in optical burst-switched networks. Photonic Network Communications http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11107-008-0168-4

    Google Scholar 

  36. Rosberg, Z., Vu, H.L., Zukerman, M., et al. (2003). Blocking probabilities of optical burst switching networks based on reduced load fixed point approximations. In: Proceedings of INFOCOM 2003, pp. 2008–2018.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Rostami, A. and Wolisz, A. (2007). Impact of edge traffic aggregation on the performance of FDL-assisted optical core switching nodes. In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Communication (ICC).

    Google Scholar 

  38. Rostami, A. and Wolisz, A. (2007). Modeling and synthesis of traffic in optical burst-switched networks. Journal of Lightwave Technology 25(10), 2942–2952.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Shun, Y., Mukherjee, B., Yoo, S., et al. (2003). A unified study of contention-resolution schemes in optical packet-switched networks. Journal of Lightwave Technology 21(3), 672–683.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Stevens, W. (1994). TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols. Adison-Wesley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Tan, S., Mohan, G., and Chua, K. (2003). Algorithms for burst rescheduling in WDM optical burst switching networks. Computer Networks 41(1), 41–55.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  42. Tian, Y. and Xu, K. (2005). TCP in wireless environments: Problems and solutions. IEEE Communications Magazine 43(3), 27–32.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  43. Turner, J.S. (1999). Terabit burst switching. Journal of High Speed Networks 8(1), 3–16.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Varvarigos, E.A. and Sharma, V. (2000). The ready-to-go virtual circuit protocol: A loss-free protocol for multigigabit networks using FIFO buffers. IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking 5(5), 705–718.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. de Vega Rodrigo, M. and Remiche, M.A. (2007). Planning OBS networks with QoS constraints. Photonics Network Communications 14(2), 229–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Vokkarane, V., Haridoss, K., and Jue, J. (2002). Threshold-based burst assembly policies for QoS support in optical burst-switched networks. In: Proceedings of SPIE/IEEE OPTICOMM, pp. 125–136.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Wei, J.Y. and MacFarland, R.I. (2000). Just-in-time signaling for WDM optical burst switching networks. IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology 18(12), 2019–2037.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Xiong, Y., Vandenhoute, M., and Cankaya, H. (2000). Control architecture in optical burst-switched WDM networks. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications 18(10), 1838–1851.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Xu, J., Qiao, C., Li, J., et al. (2004). Efficient burst scheduling algorithms in optical burst-switched networks using geometric techniques. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications 22(9), 1796–1811.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Yoo, M. and Qiao, C. (1997). Just-enough-time (JET): A high speed protocol for bursty traffic in optical networks. IEEE/LEOS Technol. Global Information Infrastructure 1(1), 26–27.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Yoo, M., Qiao, C., and Dixit, S. (2000). QoS performance of optical burst switching in IP over WDM networks. IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Communications 18(10), 2062–2071.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Yu, X., Chen, Y., and Qiao, C. (2002). Study of traffic statistics of assembled burst traffic in optical burst switched networks. In: Proceedings of SPIE/IEEE OPTICOM pp. 149–159.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Zalesky, A., Vu, H.L., Rosberg, Z., et al. (2006). OBS contention resolution performance. Performance Evaluation 64(4), 357–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Zerva, G., Nejabati, R., Simeonidou, D., et al. (2006). QoS-aware ingress optical grid user network interface: High-speed ingress OBS node design and implementation. In: Proceedings of Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC).

    Google Scholar 

  55. Zhang, T., Lu, K., and Jue, J.P. (2006). Shared fiber delay line buffers in asynchronous optical packet switches. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications 24(4), 118–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain

    José Alberto Hernández, Víctor López & José Luis García Dorado

  2. Department of Computing and Electronic Systems, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom

    Reza Nejabati & Georgios Zervas

  3. Department of Telematics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

    Harald Overby

  4. Telecommunication Networks Group (TKN), Technical University of Berlin, Germany

    Ahmad Rostami

  5. Computer Engineering and Informatics Department, University of Patras, Greece

    Kyriakos Vlachos

Authors
  1. José Alberto Hernández
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Víctor López
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. José Luis García Dorado
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Reza Nejabati
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Harald Overby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Ahmad Rostami
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Kyriakos Vlachos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Georgios Zervas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to José Alberto Hernández .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

    Rights and permissions

    Reprints and permissions

    Copyright information

    © 2009 Springer-Verlag London Limited

    About this chapter

    Cite this chapter

    Hernández, J.A. et al. (2009). Optical Burst Switching. In: Aracil, J., Callegati, F. (eds) Enabling Optical Internet with Advanced Network Technologies. Computer Communications and Networks. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-278-8_4

    Download citation

    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-278-8_4

    • Published:

    • Publisher Name: Springer, London

    • Print ISBN: 978-1-84882-277-1

    • Online ISBN: 978-1-84882-278-8

    • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

    Publish with us

    Policies and ethics

    Search

    Navigation