A new multipath technique to minimize the effect of physical link failure in optical networks

An optical network joins computers using optical fibers. To facilitate data communication, an optical network also includes other optical devices to generate electrical signals from electrical data, to restore optical signals after it propagates through fibers, and to route optical signals through the network. In an optical network, all possible sources or destinations of data are called end nodes. Another important component of an optical network is the optical router. Every router node has a number of input (output) fibers, each carrying one or more incoming (outgoing) optical signals. The purpose of a router is to direct each incoming optical signal to an appropriate outgoing fiber. This paper presents a new technique in optical network for the localization of physical link failure. This technique is able to deal with physical link failure and minimize its effects on the transporting information. This paper has used a multipath technique to ensure the logical links stay intact during most physical link failures.