ROUTING PROTOCOLS FOR OPTICAL NETWORKS

In wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks, communication between optical cross-connect (OXC) switches takes place along all-optical WDM channels which are commonly referred to as lightpaths. This paper (i) describes the central algorithmic problems whose solution an optical network routing protocol must facilitate, (ii) evaluates several candidate routing protocols that could be extended to operate in a WDM environment, and (iii) surveys currently ongoing efforts to standardize extensions to one of these, namely OSPF.