Sudhir Dixit

Advances in photonic packet switching: an overview

The current fast-growing Internet traffic is demanding more and more network capacity every day. The concept of wavelength-division multiplexing has provided us an opportunity to multiply network capacity. Current optical switching technologies allow us to rapidly deliver the enormous bandwidth of WDM networks. Photonic packet switching offers high-speed, data rate/format transparency, and configurability, which are some of the important characteristics needed in future networks supporting different forms of data. In this article we present some of the critical issues involved in designing and implementing all-optical packet-switched networks.

QoS performance of optical burst switching in IP-over-WDM networks

We address the issue of how to provide basic quality of service (QoS) in optical burst-switched WDM networks with limited fiber delay lines (FDLs). Unlike existing buffer-based QoS schemes, the novel offset-time-based QoS scheme we study in this paper does not mandate any buffer for traffic isolation, but nevertheless can take advantage of FDLs to improve the QoS. This makes the proposed QoS scheme suitable for the next generation optical Internet. The offset times required for class isolation when making wavelength and FDL reservations are quantified, and the upper and lower bounds on the burst loss probability are analyzed. Simulations are also conducted to evaluate the QoS performance in terms of burst loss probability and queuing delay. We show that with limited FDLs, the offset-time-based QoS scheme can be very efficient in supporting basic QoS.

Dynamic bandwidth allocation for quality-of-service over Ethernet PONs

Ethernet-based passive optical network (EPON) technology is being considered as a promising solution for next-generation broadband access networks due to the convergence of low-cost Ethernet equipment and low-cost fiber infrastructures. A major feature for this new architecture is the use of a shared transmission media between all users; hence, medium access control arbitration mechanisms are essential for the successful implementation of EPON: i.e., to ensure a contention-free transmission and provide end users with equal access to the shared media. We propose to use the multipoint control protocol defined by the IEEE 802.3ah task force to arbitrate the transmission of different users, and we present different dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) algorithms to allocate bandwidths effectively and fairly between end users. These DBA algorithms are also augmented to support differentiated services, a crucial requirement for a converged broadband access network with heterogeneous traffic. We show that queueing delays under strict bandwidth allocation algorithms result in an unexpected behavior for certain traffic classes, and we suggest the use of DBA with appropriate local queue management to alleviate this inappropriate behavior. We conduct detailed simulation experiments to study the performance and validate the effectiveness of the proposed protocols.

A unified study of contention-resolution schemes in optical packet-switched networks

This paper presents a comprehensive study of contention-resolution schemes in a multiwavelength optical packet-switched network. This investigation aims to provide a unified study of a network of optical routers, which include contention resolution in wavelength, time, and space dimensions. Specifically, we show: 1) how to accommodate all three dimensions of contention resolution in an integrated optical router; 2) how the performance of the three dimensions compare with one another; and 3) how various combinational schemes can be designed and how they perform. With the representative architectures and network topologies studied in this paper, the simulation experiment results capture the characteristics of different contention-resolution schemes, and they quantify the upper-bound average offered transmitter load for these schemes. The combinational contention resolution schemes are shown to effectively resolve packet contention and achieve good network performance under light to intermediate load.

Hybrid Wireless-Optical Broadband-Access Network (WOBAN): A Review of Relevant Challenges

The hybrid wireless-optical broadband-access network (WOBAN) is a promising architecture for future access networks. Recently, the wireless part of WOBAN has been gaining increasing attention, and early versions are being deployed as municipal access solutions to eliminate the wired drop to every wireless router at customer premises. This architecture saves on network deployment cost because the fiber need not penetrate each end-user, and it extends the reach of emerging optical-access solutions, such as passive optical networks. This paper first presents an architecture and a vision for the WOBAN and articulates why the combination of wireless and optical presents a compelling solution that optimizes the best of both worlds. While this discussion briefly touches upon the business drivers, the main arguments are based on technical and deployment considerations. Consequently, the rest of this paper reviews a variety of relevant research challenges, namely, network setup, network connectivity, and fault-tolerant behavior of the WOBAN. In the network setup, we review the design of a WOBAN where the back end is a wired optical network, the front end is managed by a wireless connectivity, and, in between, the tail ends of the optical part [known as optical network unit (ONU)] communicate directly with wireless base stations (known as ldquogateway routersrdquo). We outline algorithms to optimize the placement of ONUs in a WOBAN and report on a survey that we conducted on the distribution and types of wireless routers in the Wildhorse residential neighborhood of North Davis, CA. Then, we examine the WOBANs routing properties (network connectivity), discuss the pros and cons of various routing algorithms, and summarize the idea behind fault-tolerant design of such hybrid networks.

On IP-over-WDM integration

Expanding Internet-based services are driving the need for evermore bandwidth in the network backbone. These needs will grow further as new real-time multimedia applications become more feasible and pervasive. Currently, there is no other technology on the horizon that can effectively meet such a demand for bandwidth in the transport infrastructure other than WDM technology. This technology enables incremental and quick provisioning up to and beyond two orders of magnitude of todays fiber bandwidth levels. This precludes the need to deploy additional cabling and having to contend with right-of-way issues, a key advantage. Hence, it is only natural that over time optical/WDM technology will migrate closer to the end users, from core to regional, metropolitan, and ultimately access networks. At present, WDM deployment is mostly point-to-point and uses SONET/SDH as the standard layer for interfacing to the higher layers of the protocol stack. However, large-scale efforts are underway to develop standards and products that will eliminate one or more of these intermediate layers (e.g., SONET/SDH, ATM) and run IP directly over the WDM layer. IP over WDM has been envisioned as the winning combination due to the ability of the IP to be the common revenue-generating convergence sublayer and WDM as a bandwidth-rich transport sublayer. Various important concerns still need to be addressed regarding IP-WDM integration. These include lightpath routing coupled with tighter interworkings with IP routing and resource management protocols, survivability provisioning, framing/monitoring solutions, and others.

Optical burst switching for service differentiation in the next-generation optical Internet

In an effort to eliminate the electronic bottleneck, new optical switches/routers (hardware) are being built for the next-generation optical Internet where IP runs over an all-optical WDM layer. However, important issues yet to be addressed in terms of protocols (software) are how to develop a new paradigm that does not require any buffer at the WDM layer, as in circuit switching, and elimination of any layers between which exist mainly due to historical reasons. At the same time, such a paradigm should also efficiently support bursty traffic with high resource utilization as in packet switching. This article surveys design issues related to a new switching paradigm called optical burst switching, which achieves a balance between circuit and packet switching while avoiding their shortcomings. We describe how OBS can be applied to the next-generation optical Internet, and in particular how offset times and delayed reservation can help avoid the use of buffer, and support quality of service at the WDM layer.

All-optical packet switching for metropolitan area networks: opportunities and challenges

The fast evolution of networks has been continuously driven by new advances in enabling technologies, as well as the growth of Internet traffic. All-optical packet switching provides high throughput, rich routing functionalities, and excellent flexibility. These characteristics make it an excellent candidate for next-generation metropolitan area networks, which will be much more dynamic and demanding than todays networks. In this article we not only discuss some of the architectural challenges involved in the design of all-optical packet switched networks, but also present the reader a high-level picture of how such future networks could be integrated with other network segments, to provide users end-to-end connectivity with performance and simplicity.

A histogram-based model for video traffic behavior in an ATM multiplexer

The authors introduce a model based on arrival rate histograms for characterizing the behavior of an ATM buffer when it is carrying variable bit rate video traffic. Traffic smoothing on a frame-by-frame basis allows a quasistatic approximation that accurately predicts results such as buffer occupancy distributions and cell loss rates to be made. Convolving individual source histograms allow prediction of the queueing performance of a multiplexed stream. The approximation is investigated in more detail by modeling video as a Markov modulated Poisson process. It is shown that the multiplexer system is nearly completely decomposable (NCD). NCD systems have a well-known approximate solution, which is identical to the histogram approximation. Error bounds for the NCD approximation are also known and are reasonably tight. Results indicate that while the presence of strong correlations is an important characteristic of video traffic, the actual form of that correlation is not. >

Resource management and quality of service in third generation wireless networks

The third generation networks and services present opportunities to offer multimedia applications and services that meet end-to-end quality of service requirements. The key parts of the standards are already in place, and limited 3G services have already been turned on. While the evolution to 3G occurs, many operators will implement 2.5G interim solutions for a good period of time. We discuss the various evolution scenarios from the present 2G networks to 3G networks. Then we present the UMTS QoS architecture and its requirements, followed by a discussion on QoS in 3G air interfaces, radio access network, and core network.