Markovian performance analysis of a synchronous optical packet switch

Abstract

Switch architectures applicable to fixed-length optical packet networks is studied and we compare their performance in terms of packet loss ratio. We propose analytical models of these switches (as discrete time Markov chains) and we compare their performance with those obtained by simulation, varying statistical properties of incoming traffic. We show that Markovian models of future optical architectures can be applied as a tool to studies of network design.