Analysis of a WDM packet switch with improved performance under bursty traffic conditions due to tuneable wavelength converters

For realistic traffic, i.e., bursty traffic patterns, the use of tuneable wavelength converters is recognized as essential for reducing the complexity of photonic wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) packet switches. Results are obtained from an analytical traffic model that includes buffering in the wavelength domain and accounts for bursty traffic. The theoretical model is verified by simulations and from the model we find that higher traffic loads as well as burstiness can be accepted when tuneable wavelength converters are used. Consequently, a larger throughput of the photonic packet switches is obtained and very importantly, this is achieved while keeping the number of gates needed to realize the space switches nearly constant.