Packet assembly at optical packet network access and its effects on TCP performance

The paper considers the optical packet assembly process at the ingress router of an optical packet-switched network with the target of end-to-end interconnection of TCP/IP based applications. The architecture and functions of the interworking unit between IP and optical packets are described under the assumption of fixed length optical packets, and also for multiservice transfer. The influence of the main design parameters on end-to-end performance is evaluated using the ns-2 simulator and criteria for the choice of optical packet length and packet assembly time-out are given.