A distributed backoff-channel deflection algorithm with load balancing for optical burst switching networks

Optical burst contention is one of the major factors that cause the burst loss in the optical burst switching (OBS) networks. So far, various contention resolution schemes have been proposed. Among them, the deflection path is more attractive due to its low requirement for optical buffer in capability and quantity. However, these deflection path algorithms do not consider the successful transmission rate of deflection traffic, and the deflection traffic’s impacts on the original traffic of the deflection path are not concerned. Meanwhile, the offset-time deficit problem for deflected bursts is ignored. Therefore, in order to reduce the burst loss probability in OBS networks, a Distributed Backoff-channel DeFlection algorithm with load balancing, for short DBDF-LB, is proposed. It consists of two parts, that is, the deflection with load balancing and the backoff-channel buffering scheme. Firstly, from the perspective of the network-wide load balancing, the optimal deflection path, on which the contention-failure burst is deflected with the minimum hops and the least burst loss probability, is selected. Secondly, the extra offset-time for the deflected burst is provided through the backoff-channel scheme. Finally, by numerical simulations, compared with the classical shortest path deflection algorithm, the DBDF-LB can obviously reduce the burst loss probability, about 50%, with a little extra overhead.