Simple Wavelength Assignment Protocol
Stephen Suryaputra
ssuryapu@nortelnetworks.com
Nortel Networks
Joseph D. Touch, Joseph Bannister
{touch,joseph}@isi.edu
USC/Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
Phone: 310-822-1511
October 26, 1999
USC/ISI RR-99-473
Abstract -
Coupling IP routers with wavelength-selective optical cross-connects
supports existing Internet infrastructure in a wavelength division
multiplexing (WDM) optical network. Because optical wavelength
routing is transparent to IP, packets can bypass traditional
forwarding and route directly through the optical cross-connect,
resulting in very high throughput and low delay. This approach shares
features with label switching, but wavelengths are a much more scarce
resource than labels. Because optical switches have larger switching
times than electronic switches, and wavelength conversion are
expensive, wavelength "label" swapping is not easily done. Wavelength
"label" assignments must consider these limitations to be practical in
an optical environment. This paper describes an optical label
switching signaling protocol, SWAP, which takes into account the
optical device limitations, and is designed to minimize wavelength
swappings, utilize wavelengths with merging of flows and reduce the
reconfiguration of optical switches.