Dynamic circuits with lightpath switching over wavelength routed networks

In this paper we examine provisioning holding-time-aware dynamic circuits using a technique called lightpath switching (LPS). Instead of using the same lightpath for the duration of the data transmission, in LPS we allow a request to switch lightpaths over time. Data transmission may begin on one lightpath from the source to destination, then at a later time a different lightpath from the source to the destination may be selected to continue data transmission. The lightpath switches are transparent to the user and are managed by the network. Allowing LPS creates a number of segments that can use independent lightpaths. We compare the performance of traditional routing and wavelength (RWA) assignment to routing and wavelength assignment with LPS. We show that LPS can significantly reduce blocking compared to traditional RWA.