Performance analysis of a bufferless OBS node considering the streamline effect

In this letter, we describe and analyze a phenomenon unique to bufferless optical burst switched (OBS) networks called the streamline effect. This is the phenomenon wherein bursts within an input stream to a core node only contend with those from other input streams but not among themselves. It causes the burst loss probabilities at a link to depend strongly on the number of input streams to the link and their relative burst rates. We derive a burst loss probability formula that can account for all the observed burst loss behaviors. The accuracy of the analytical formula is confirmed through various simulation scenarios.