An algorithm for traffic grooming in WDM mesh networks using dynamic path selection strategy

Abstract

In wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) optical networks, the bandwidth request of a traffic stream is generally much lower than the capacity of a lightpath. Therefore, to utilize the network resources (such as bandwidth and transceivers) effectively, several low-speed traffic streams can be efficiently groomed or multiplexed into high-speed lightpaths, thus we can improve the network throughput and reduce the network cost. The traffic grooming problem of a static demand is considered as an optimization problem. In this work, we have proposed a traffic grooming algorithm to maximize the network throughput and reduce the number of transceivers used for wavelength-routed mesh networks and also proposed a dynamic path selection strategy for routing requests which selects the path such that the load on the network gets distributed throughout. The efficiency of our approach has been established through extensive simulation on different sets of traffic demands with different bandwidth granularities for different network topologies and compared the approach with existing algorithm. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.