Light-frames: A pragmatic framework for optical packet transport

We propose an architecture and an algorithm for the realization of a pragmatic framework for optical packet transport. The architecture enables the transport of IP packets over optical frames in a network. While doing so, it relaxes the need for address recognition as well as for high speed switching, the two key hindering factors that have prevented contemporary optical packet transport solutions from being deployed. We propose the light-frames architecture for sub-lambda level provisioning of optical paths. The idea is to create a logical topology that allows N² connectivity using optical paths that are by themselves sublambda provisionable yielding in packet transport. We show that by using substantially fewer resources, we can provide N² connectivity in arbitrary graphs to support optical packet transport.