Traffic Engineering Techniques in Photonic Networks

A photonic network offers a high-speed circuit with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission and wavelength routing. In current WDM transmission technology, the number of wavelengths that can be accommodated in one optical fiber is less than about one hundred due to physical restrictions. Since wavelength is a comparatively valuable resource, it should be used efficiently in the photonic network. To offer new network services, it is necessary to control optical paths dynamically. This paper describes optical path control techniques and newly proposed variable-capacity optical path techniques, which are both provided by signaling protocols based on generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS).