Improved TDM switching assignments for variable and fixed burst length

In this paper we present two algorithms for improved satellite‐switched TDM slot assignments of N × N traffic matrices under K transponders/carriers (simultaneous connections), 1?K?N. The first algorithm applies to data switching with variable burst length and achieves optimum transmission time with a significantly lower number of switching configurations than a previously proposed algorithm, while still having the same time complexity (O(N⁴)). Experimental results demonstrate the advantage. The second algorithm applies to the case of fixed burst length and offers a faster complexity of O(L·N²), where L is the minimum transmission time, at the cost of occasionally missing the minimum. Extensive simulations indicate that the difference from the minimum is rare and is at most one. They also show that the presented algorithm even improves a previous one which was proposed for the fixed burst length case and has the same time complexity but uses K=N. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.