A virtual wavelength translation scheme for routing in all-optical networks

This paper considers wavelength routed WDM networks where multiple fibers are used for each communication link. For such networks, the effect of wavelength translation can be achieved without explicit use of wavelength translators. We call this as virtual wavelength translation and study the routing issues considering dynamic lightpath allocation. Using multiple (or a bundle of) fibers for each link also allows us to have bundles of varying sizes to accommodate anticipated differences in traffic through different communication links of the network. The paper considers the blocking probabilities of all-optical networks when centralized and distributed lightpath allocation schemes are used.