Burst cloning: a proactive scheme to reduce data loss in optical burst-switched networks

In this paper, we propose a novel proactive scheme, burst cloning, to reduce data loss due to burst contention in optical burst-switched (OBS) networks. The idea is to replicate a burst and send duplicated copies of the burst through the network simultaneously. If the original burst is lost, the cloned burst way still be able to reach the destination. Primary design issues in burst cloning are to select the optimal nodes at which to do cloning and to prevent cloned bursts from contending for resources with original bursts. An analytical model is developed to evaluate the proposed scheme. The model is verified through extensive simulations. We observe that burst cloning could significantly reduce data loss in OBS networks.