Converter-aware wavelength assignment for WDM networks of arbitrary topologies

Wavelength converters are considered as one of the most critical network resources. Unfortunately, previous wavelength assignment algorithms have seldom considered their presence. Therefore, we propose a novel algorithm which can minimize the number of wavelength translations. Our algorithm establishes lightpaths by connecting a minimum number of wavelength-continuous segments. Simulations show that, for a given blocking performance, our algorithm can effectively reduce the number of required converters. From another perspective, with the same conversion capacity, it can significantly improve the blocking performance. Our algorithm is also scalable due to its moderate time complexity