Evaluation of Optical Packet Switch as Edge Device Using OPNET Modeler

In this paper we propose a network architecture that enables the transfer of data over WDM optical networks transparently without the need of buffers in network core. The network architecture consists of optical packet switches (OPS) acting as edge devices and optical cross-connects (OXC) in the core. Furthermore, we introduce an aggregation capable OPS (ACOPS) edge device and study its effect on network utilization and end-to-end delay. To evaluate the performance of the proposed network architecture, we have built a sample network model using the OPNET Modeler, which provides a convenient simulation platform for WDM networks. Our simulation results show that the AC-OPS enhances the network utilization over the classical OPS. In addition, we show that the performance of the network architecture under study depends heavily on two proposed aggregation parameters, namely the maximum burst size and aggregation timeout.