Adaptive Burst Assembly Mechanism for OBS Networks Using Control Channel Availability

Burst dropping rate is a major issue for OBS networks. Unlike classical circuit switching, contention between bursts may cause blocking and make consequent loss within the network. Since the network can not carry a burst without its control packet, the control channel must be able to carry the complete BCP load. We propose a new assembly mechanism which takes into account the control channel availability. In this mechanism, a burst is created only if its control packet can be transmitted. We present preliminary results that show how monitoring the control channel in the burst assembly mechanism can significantly improve the network performance. Simulations show that the proposed mechanism changes adaptively the burst length, reduces the possibility of continuous blocking problem, reduces the packets loss rate, and increases the throughput while still satisfying the maximum assembly delay.