Performance tradeoffs of optical WDM switches using different shared limited-range wavelength conversion mechanisms
The effects of different wavelength conversion ranging configurations on the performance of Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) optical switches are investigated. Any-to-Any, Any-to-Range, Range-to-Any, and Range-to-Range conversion ranging configurations are considered. These mechanisms provide important design alternatives for optical switches due to technological limitations in the implementation of full range wavelength conversion in an all-optical wavelength converter device. Limited-range wavelength converter (LRWC) is a more economical and practical solution for WDM based optical networks. Differences among the input and output side ranging mechanisms and their effects on conversion resource sharing, and consequently on performance, are investigated. Any- to-Range ranging configuration is the most efficient mechanism and it operates comparably to Any-to-Any, reducing the need for complex control algorithms. The results help determine the most efficient ranging configuration for all-optical crossconnect.
wdm switches wavelength conversion optical networks optical cross-connect switch performance