A bandwidth guaranteed integrated routing algorithm in IP over WDM optical networks

In this paper, we have developed an integrated online algorithm for dynamic routing of bandwidth guaranteed label switched paths (LSPs) in IP-over-WDM optical networks. Traditionally, routing at an upper layer (e.g., IP layer) is independent of wavelength routing at the optical layer. Wavelength routing at the optical layer sets up a quasi-static logical topology which is then used at the IP layer for IP routing. The coarse-grain wavelength channels and the pre-determined virtual topologies with respect to some a priori assumed traffic distribution are barriers to efficient resource use and inflexible to changing traffic. We take into account the combined knowledge of resource and topology information at both IP and optical layers. With this added knowledge, an integrated routing approach may extract better network efficiencies, be more robust to changing traffic patterns at the IP layer than schemes that either use dynamic routing information at the IP layer or use a static wavelength topology only. LSP set-up requests are represented in terms of a pair of ingress and egress routers as well as its bandwidth requirement, and arrive one-by-one. There is no a priori knowledge regarding the arrivals and characteristics of future LSP set-up requests. Our proposed algorithm considers not only the importance of critical links, but also their relative importance to routing potential future LSP set-up requests by characterizing their normalized bandwidth contribution to routing future LSP requests with bandwidth requirements. Moreover, link residual bandwidth information that captures the link's capability of routing future LSPs is also incorporated into route calculation. Extensive simulation was conducted to study the performance of our proposed algorithm and to compare it with some existing ones, such as the integrated minimum hop routing algorithm and the maximum open capacity routing algorithm. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm performs better than both routing algorithms in terms of the number of LSP set-up requests rejected and the total available bandwidth between router pairs.