Power-Efficient Lightpath-Based Grooming Strategies in WDM Mesh Networks

In this paper we evaluate the performance of various power-efficient grooming strategies in WDM optical networks using a tap-or-pass (TOP) node architecture. We examine two grooming concepts, namely lightpath extension and lightpath dropping. Through a mathematical model, we compare the performance of lightpath dropping and lightpath extension in terms of optical power budget. We also propose several grooming strategies, which are applied to lightpath dropping and lightpath extension, as well as traditional grooming. Through extensive simulation, we demonstrate that, given a network with dynamic traffic requests, the proposed grooming strategies lead to considerable energy saving and comparable request blocking, in particular when the network load is moderate.