On Burst Loss in Optical Burst Switched Networks with Hot Potato Deflection Routing

In this article we investigate the effects of increased Control Packet lead Time (CPT) on the loss probability of bursts in an OBS network with deflection routing. In particular we investigate burst loss caused by bursts overtaking their control packets, and bursts losses caused by blocking. We have made a detailed discrete event simulation model of OBS networks and evaluated the performance of hot potato deflection when bursts are routed connectionless from ingress to egress. To our knowledge such detailed investigations into the effects of increased control packet lead time and causes of burst losses have never been performed before. We conclude that increased control packet lead time gives better performance, in particular for low loads. We also conclude that there might be a point of diminishing return, above which the increase in CPT does not decrease the burst loss enough to justify the larger burst latency.