Optimized combination of wavelength converters and optical buffers for OBS networks using wavelength contention minimization

The cost-effectiveness of optical burst-switched (OBS) networks can be improved by reducing the number of contention resolution devices used without excessively penalizing performance. Proactively minimizing wavelength contention can assist in the task of reducing the number of these devices. This paper evaluates the performance of an OBS network using a small number of optical buffers and wavelength converters. The simulation results show that the optimal combination of converters and buffers depends not only on the traffic load, but also on the efficiency of the wavelength contention minimization strategy.