Route Management Strategies for Grade of Service Differentiation in Optical Networks

In the paper we propose three route management strategies that allow an optical network operator to achieve differentiated service for two classes of lightpath requests. Simulation results show that all three strategies achieve the stated goal, which is to maintain blocking probability of high priority requests below an assumed value in a broad range of network loads. Moreover, the presented strategies require only little support from the control plane. Detailed algorithms are presented in two versions, one suitable for networks with centralized control, and the other for networks with distributed control.