Optimal placement of wavelength converters in WDM networks using particle swarm optimizer

The introduction of wavelength converters in all-optical networks can reduce the blocking probabilities of calls. The main contribution of this paper is that we introduce a novel search algorithm namely particle swarm optimizer in finding the optimum solution to the converter placement problem. Experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm. The computed results show that it is more cost effective to introduce additional wavelength channel in a single fiber than placing more wavelength converters.