Performance analysis of the PetaWeb optical network architecture

The dramatic increase of Internet users and the development of new high volume Internet applications has a profound impact on the design of next generation optical network (NGON) architectures. In order to cope with the immense diversity of applications and traffic volume, highly dynamic optical networks will be needed. Nortel Networks, proposed one kind of NGON architecture, known as PetaWeb. PetaWed is based on a star topology, formed by an adaptive core and edge switches, which can accommodate traffic fluctuations by periodically reconfiguring the optical channels. This results in increased effective capacity of the network and reduction of the average delay and delay jitter. We implement a simulation model of the PetaWeb architecture and test its functionality under a variety of traffic loading conditions. The effect of traffic on the behavior of the protocols and the performance of the network is investigated by applying several traffic models. Simulation results are presented. We have performed a thorough analysis how performance related parameters are affected by the reconfiguration frequency as well as the statistical behavior of the traffic.