A layered broadband switching architecture with physical or virtual path configurations

The authors describe a multilayer connection control architecture for broadband communications. A graph framework is introduced to describe network layers of network design, path configurations, dynamic call routing, burst switching, and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cell switching. These hierarchical layers of switching are performed at decreasing time scales, respectively. Switching at the higher layer is performed to reduce blocking at the next smaller time scale. A layered notion of equivalent bandwidth for satisfying layered grade-of-service parameters is introduced for making connections at these time scales. The authors then focus on the path configuration layer. Two path setup methods, namely, physical and virtual path setup, are described. Mathematical programs minimizing path bandwidth usage subject to meeting grade-of-service requirements are formulated for both methods. The relative merits of these methods are compared. In one example, physical path setup is shown to require roughly 50% more bandwidth than virtual path setup