| In order to meet the demand of fast-growing Internet traffic, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), as a key transmission technology in the optical domain, has been progressing steadily and can now provide more than 1 Tb/s bandwidth on a single optical fiber. To fully utilize such high bandwidth, optical packet switching (OPS) technology has been proposed and is becoming increasingly important.; Optical packet-switched networks can provide ultimate bandwidth efficiency and flexibility for future applications. However, there are still a number of critical issues affecting the implementation of optical packet-switched networks. In this work, we have proposed solutions to address two critical issues in OPS networks: contention resolution and quality of service (QoS). Furthermore, we have also developed accurate analytical models to evaluate the performance for each proposed scheme.; In a traditional electronic switch, contention can generally be resolved through random access memory (RAM). In the optical domain, RAM-like buffers are not yet available. Several approaches, such as wavelength conversion, deflection routing, and optical buffering, have been proposed for resolving contention.; To support differentiated quality of service, we propose a framework for providing label-based differentiated contention resolution by exploiting recirculation buffering and deflection routing. To accommodate more options for differentiation and to avoid the potential problem of forwarding packets in a network indefinitely, two classes of loopless deflection algorithms are provided. We develop an analytical model to evaluate the packet loss probability and the end-to-end delay for different buffering and deflection routing schemes. Simulation and analytical results show that the proposed scheme can provide sufficient options for supporting differentiated service requirements.; We introduce a shared optical buffering architecture which can reduce the buffer size at a switch while achieving good packet loss performance. We propose an analytical model to evaluate the packet loss probability and the average delay for shared buffers at a single switch.; We study the performance of FDL buffers in asynchronous packet-based optical networks with wavelength conversion. An analytical model is developed to evaluate the performance in terms of packet loss probability and average delay.; We address the architecture and performance issue of FDL buffers in packet-based asynchronous multifiber optical networks (PAMFONET), in which each link in the network may consist of multiple optical fibers. We propose a framework for FDL buffers in PAMFONET, in which we provide three essential architectures and corresponding packet scheduling policies.; In general, all the proposed solutions are effective for resolving contention and quality of service provisioning, which are crucial problems faced by optical packet-switched networks. |
