Quality-based optical routing protocol

Optical networking, with its almost unlimited bandwidth, is the only technology that can support communication new applications with high demand for bandwidth such as remote visualization, teleimmersion, collaborative e-science etc. In the optical networks presently deployed, each link is optically isolated by transponders doing O/E/O conversions. But these transponders are quite expensive and lack transparency; hence there is a strong motivation to use large all-optical networks. In all-optical networks, all routes need not have adequate signal quality. To provide reliable and transparent service, there is a strong interest in the industry for routing protocols that take into consideration the impairments of optical layer that degrade quality of the signal. We present a new routing protocol that uses information about the quality of signal to select paths in an all-optical network. Our simulations confirm that this new protocol reaches higher network utilization compared to existing ones.