Distributed control in optical WDM networks

This paper describes and evaluates distributed wavelength reservation protocols for all-optical WDM networks. These protocols are essential for applying WDM techniques to large scale all-optical networks. The protocols ensure that the wavelengths on the links along a path are reserved before communication tales place. A message is transmitted using the reserved wavelengths and remains in the optical domain until it reaches the destination. Based upon the timing at which the reservation is performed, the protocols are classified into two categories: forward reservation protocols and backward reservation protocols. Although forward reservation protocols are simpler, our performance study shows that backward reservation protocols provide better performance.