Network Traffic Reduction using a Hybrid Opto-Electronic Switch with Different Packet Classes

Abstract

Network traffic is the large amount of data that is moving across a network in the form of discrete packets. As Optical networks or light paths are capable of delivering bandwidth in a flexible and reliable manner, they are deployed in all kinds of telecommunication networks.But to translate the control information from one protocol to another (routing),optical signals areconverted into electronic domain.They are then converted back into optical signals for transmission. This O-E-O conversion in the networks has caused too much energy consumption which increases the traffic due to packet contention. The following hybrid switch uses an electronic buffer and provides efficient optical switching. By having only a few electronic ports to the buffer,the hybrid switch has shown a significant decrease in the number of O-E-O conversions and packet loss rates (PLR) compared to an all optical(buffer less) switch and thereby reduces network traffic.