A heuristic converter placement scheme for wavelength-routed optical networks

In optical networks with sparse wavelength conversion, the optimal converter placement (OCP) problem is one of the most important considerations. In this paper, we propose a heuristic OCP algorithm, called the Optimized Utilization Placement (OUP), to determine proper numbers of converters that should be placed at selected nodes. Performances of the OUP are evaluated by simulations when fixed routing and fixed-alternate routing are used. The simulations justify that the OUP can significantly increase converter gains.