Improving OBS efficiency

In optical burst switching (OBS), a source node, without reserving network resources end-to-end, transmits bursts in available wavelength channels through a sequence of Optical Cross Connects (OXCs). While it saves time, OBS has a weakness that if for a given burst at a given OXC all the channels in a trunk on its route to its destination are occupied, the burst is either dumped or deflected to longer routes. This may adversely affect efficient use of network resources. This paper describes and compares numerically a range of approaches that improve OBS efficiency by addressing the problem of ineffective utilization.