Dynamic optical path allocation in multi-layer traffic engineering

Abstract

Hybrid electro-optical architectures have been recently proposed as cost-effective solution to challenge nearfuture traffic demands. We believe that IP routing technology can be closely integrated with optical circuit switching using a multi-layer traffic engineering approach. In this paper we propose a novel network architecture that, by exploiting the flow correlation of Internet packets, redirects the traffic into dynamically created optical paths, providing optical bypass of the IP layer. The simulation results we provide are based on real traffic traces collected from the pan-European GEANT network.