Mark Cassada

Just-in-time optical burst switching implementation in the ATDnet all-optical networking testbed

We describe: (i) the architecture of an optical burst switched (OBS) demonstration network overlaying the ATDnet transparent all-optical testbed, and (ii) experiments underway in the testbed. The OBS overlay uses a simple hardware-based protocol embedded in OBS network controllers to manage commercial off-the-shelf DWDM switches. Data paths are all-optical and completely transparent, and can carry analog or digital traffic in any format, data rate, and modulation scheme. Experiments with latency- and jitter-sensitive HDTV transmission, petabyte file transfers, and immersive real time visualization of satellite imagery over the OBS network are ongoing. Parallel research on transport protocols, QoS-aware routing protocols, adaptors for an OBS LAN, and network management architecture are applied as completed. This is the first just-in-time (JIT) OBS field trial known to the authors.

Jumpstart just-in-time signaling protocol: a formal description using extended finite state machines

We present a formal protocol description for a just-in-time (JIT) signaling scheme running over a core dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) network that utilizes optical burst switches (OBSs). We apply an eight-tuple extended finite state machine (EFSM) model to formally specify the protocol. Using the EFSM model, we define the communication between a source client node and a destination client node through an ingress and one or multiple intermediate switches. We work on on-the-fly and persistent unicast connections. The communication between the EFSMs is handled through messages.

Formal description of the jumpstart just-in-time signaling protocol using EFSM

We present a formal protocol description for a Just-In-Time (JIT) signaling scheme running over a core dWDM network which utilizes Optical Burst Switches (OBS). We apply an eight-tuple extended finite state machine (EFSM) model to formally specify the protocol. Using the EFSM model, we define the communication between a source client node and a destination client node through an ingress and one or multiple intermediate switches. We worked on single burst connections that means setting up the connection just before sending a single burst and then closing the connection as soon as the burst is sent. The communication between the EFSMs is handled through message transfer between protocol entities.

FPGA implementation of a high speed network interface card for optical burst switched networks

Current generation of FPGAs with integrated high-speed transceivers provide a useful tool for prototyping various networking applications. We discuss a case study in developing a high-speed network interface card (NIC) for communication networks. The NIC implements a low-latency signaling protocol called Just-in-Time (JIT) for Optical Burst Switched networks. The main processing engine inside the FPGA runs at 62.5MHz and can handle data streams up to 1Gbps. The NIC utilizes the FPGAs gigabit transceiver cores, standard PCS/PMA and MAC layers and uses an optical front-end card to transmit data optically on specific wavelengths. The JIT engine in the NIC processes three kinds of messages - messages from the host, the network and internal timing messages associated with various timer events. The engine implements layer 3 functions typically implemented in software - like generating signaling messages and maintaining all active connections. This allows very fast setup and teardown of connections than otherwise possible.

A high speed network interface card for optical burst switched networks

Optical burst switching (OBS) is emerging as an optical networking technology combining best of the features of optical circuit-switching technology and optical packet-switching technology. This paper discusses architecture and hardware implementation of a network interface card (NIC) for an OBS network. The NIC implements a specific low-latency signaling protocol just-in-time (JlT) for OBS networks. This NIC can handle data streams up to 1 Gbps. Average OBS JIT signaling message processing time with this NIC is on the order of 1 microsecond. This is the first JIT OBS NIC implementation known to the authors. Complementary efforts are on-going to develop other elements for the OBS network.

ORBIS: A reconfigurable hybrid optical metropolitan area network architecture

In this paper, we propose a novel metropolitan area network (MAN) ring architecture, ORBIS, a multiple-service WDM platform that supports multiple transport techniques. The WDM ring is horizontally divided into multiple subnetworks, each of which supports one type of the traffic with a subset of the total wavelengths. The system and subnetwork control mechanism and reconfiguration issues are addressed in this paper.