Deadline-based connection setup in wavelength-routed WDM networks

This article addresses the ubiquitous topic of quality of service (QoS) aware connection provisioning in wavelength-routed WDM optical networks. The impact of the connection setup time of an optical connection has not been adequately addressed in the open literature. As such, this paper presents a novel approach that uses the optical connection setup time as a service differentiator during connection provisioning. The proposed approach utilizes the Earliest Deadline First (EDF) queueing algorithm to achieve deadline-based connection setup management with the deadline being the setup time requirement of an optical connection. The proposed EDF-based approach would allow the network operator to improve the QoS perceived by the end clients. Performance of this novel scheme is analyzed by accurately calculating various parameters, such as the fraction of connections provisioned on-time (i.e. prior to deadline expiration) and the average time it takes to successfully setup a connection. In addition, the presented approach is validated by a simulation that analyzes the performance of the proposed connection setup scheme in the specific context of the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET). The obtained results show that a deadline-based setup strategy can minimize blocking probability while achieving QoS differentiation.