Burst Grooming in Optical-Burst-Switched Networks

We describe the problems and challenges of switching small bursts in Optical-Burst-Switched (OBS) networks especially when the burst size is small and comparable to the switching time. We propose extending OBS with input and output port (fiber) grooming capabilities and develop the corresponding fabric architectures. We also construct an approximate model to analyze the throughput and delay, and present results of various analytical and experimental studies. Our simulation results demonstrate that burst grooming yields switching gains as the throughput of groomed traffic in slow nodes can approach that of non-groomed traffic in faster nodes.