A Distributed Scheduling Algorithm for an Optical Switching Fabric

— Designing switching architectures for network routers and switches needs to consider limits imposed by the electronic technology, like small bandwidth×distance factors, power density constraints, energy consumption and dissipation issues. Introducing optical technologies to implement switching functions can overcome several of the current design limits. We propose a cost-effective architecture implementing an optical switch without any need for optoelectronic conversion within the switching fabric. We further propose a distributed scheduling scheme, based on an extension of the Fasnet protocol, and we compare it to classical centralized scheduling algorithms, showing that a distributed scheduler can provide performance comparable to the ones offered by more complex centralized schedulers.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: ICC
• Authors: Andrea Bianco, Elisabetta Carta, Davide Cuda, Jorge M. Finochietto, Fabio Neri
• Keywords: Centralized Scheduling Algorithms, Communications, Distributed Scheduling Scheme, ICC 2008, Power Density Constraints