Performance of packet-switched WDM broadcast networks with multicast traffic

In this paper, we analyze the performance of a packet-switched broadcast-and-select all-optical network with N nodes and W wavelengths. We model the network as an N x N space-division time-slotted packet switch. We consider the effects of the input queueing dynamics on the network performance, and present a queueing analysis of networks supporting multicast traffic with fanout splitting. We obtain the maximum supportable throughput as a function of the network size, the number of wavelengths, and the multicast size. The average multicast packet delay is evaluated as a function of network and traffic parameters. It is found that increasing the number of wavelengths beyond 40% - 60% of the number of nodes results in little improvement in network performance. We also study a second switching scheme that yields higher overall network throughput at the expense of introducing packet dropping.