Intermediate-node-initiation (INI): A generalized signaling framework for optical burst-switched networks

In this paper, we discuss different signaling techniques for optical burst-switched networks. We develop a generalized signaling framework for optical burst-switched networks, which provides guidelines about the performance of each signaling technique based on the different parameters in the framework. The two commonly used signaling techniques in optical burst switching are two-way based tell-and-wait (TAW) and one-way based just-enough-time (JET). TAW suffers from high end-to-end packet delay, while JET suffers from high packet loss. There is no signaling technique that offers flexibility in terms of both loss and delay. We propose a hybrid signaling technique called intermediate-node-initiated (INI) signaling for optical burst-switched networks. INI can provide different levels of loss and delay characteristics based on end-user application requirements. The granularity of INI ranges between the one-way based and the two-way based signaling techniques. In INI reservation of channels is initiated at an intermediate node, known as the initiating node, in both forward and backward directions at the same time. We show that by appropriately selecting the initiating node, we can simulate both TAW and JET using the INI signaling technique. Through simulations, we shown that INI performs better than TAW in terms of average end-to-end packet delay and better than JET in terms of burst loss probability. We extend the INI signaling technique to provide QoS differentiation in the OBS core, differentiated INI (DINI), by carefully choosing different initiation nodes depending on delay and loss requirements of end-user applications. Through extensive simulations, we show that the DINI technique outperforms the existing offset-based QoS technique.