Fuzzy-Based RWA Engine for All-Optical DWDM Backbone Networks with Sparse Wavelength Conversion Capabilities

In this paper, we propose a novel fuzzy-based framework for routing and wavelength assignment in alloptical DWDM backbone networks with sparse wavelength conversion capabilities. While most of the previous work in this field focuses on optical networks without wavelength conversion with full wavelength conversion capabilities, in this work we study networks with sparse wavelength conversion resources. In this paper, we propose a novel heuristic that employs fuzzy-logic to minimize the cost of the wavelength conversion equipment used in optical network without hindering the network blocking performance. The strength of the proposed fuzzy-based heuristic stems from its simplicity, applicability to large-scale networks, and efficiency compared to other heuristics proposed in the literature. The performance of our proposed fuzzy-based heuristic is compared to that of other efficient heuristics proposed in the literature in terms of the total cost of wavelength conversion devices used and the blocking performance of the network.