On the Benefits of Multifiber Optical Packet Switch

In this paper, we study the benefits of using multiple fibers per link in optical packet-switched networks. The node architecture is presented and various contention resolution schemes are evaluated. Comparisons are made between the multifiber switch with a small number of wavelengths per fiber and the traditional single-fiber switch with a large number of wavelengths per fiber. The analytical and simulation results show that although the multifiber switch cannot easily perform as well as a switch with full wavelength conversion, compared to the traditional switch, it significantly reduces the number of wavelength converters and fiber delay lines while achieving a lower packet-loss rate. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.