On the Effectiveness of Expansion Mechanisms in Zone-Based Dynamic Traffic Grooming Algorithms

Dynamic grooming deals with requests for wavelength allocation based on a dynamic pattern of arrivals in contrast to the situation of static grooming in which the pattern of arrivals must be previously known. Solutions for dynamic grooming typically involve the construction of an auxiliary graph for deciding on the routing and wavelength assignment. An auxiliary graph can represent the network either entirely or partially. The complexity of grooming algorithms is significantly reduced when a partial representation of the network is employed. Algorithms that employ reduced auxiliary graph have a step for the expansion of such graphs in case paths are note found for lightpath establishment. Results reveal that the expansion mechanism can be reduced or even eliminated for reducing the complexity of the algorithms without compromising significantly the performance of the algorithms, especially under high load.