Routing and wavelength converter allocation in WDM networks: a multi-objective evolutionary optimization approach

The performance of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks is highly dependent on the wavelength converter allocation and routing problems. Typically, these problems have been treated as independent problems under dynamic traffic; however, in order to achieved good system’s performance, both problems should be dealt with together. To this aim, this work proposes a joint optimization approach where allocations for converters and paths for routing are calculated simultaneously. A multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is proposed to minimize the number of wavelength converters and the overall blocking probability at the same time. Extensive simulations show promising results in the sense that our approach not only generates better trade-off solutions in comparison with an iterative-joint state-of-the-art approach but also constitutes an effective tool to better understand different trade-offs in the design of WDM networks.