Blocking in all-optical networks

We present an analytical technique of very low complexity, using the inclusion-exclusion principle of combinatorics, for the performance evaluation of all-optical, wavelength-division multiplexed networks with no wavelength conversion. The technique is a generalized reduced-load approximation scheme which is applicable to arbitrary topologies and traffic patterns. One of the main issues in computing blocking probabilities in all-optical networks is the significant link load correlation introduced by the wavelength continuity constraint. One of the models we propose takes this into account and gives good results even under conditions with high link load correlation. Through numerous experiments we show that our models can be used to obtain fast and accurate estimates of blocking probabilities in all-optical networks and scale well with the path length and capacity of the network. We also extend one of our models to take into account alternate routing, in the form of Fixed Alternate Routing and Least Loaded Routing.