Designs of high-performance multicast scheduling mechanisms in WDM networks

In this article, we propose three multicast scheduling mechanisms, lookback queue access, lookback ratio access, and double check head access, for the employment in the single-star Wavelength Division Multiplexing optical network. Each of the proposed scheduling schemes consists of two phases and is executed in real time. In general, the first phase is to search for a candidate multicast packet that can be sent, without partition, to all of its intended recipients. If phase 1 fails, the second phase is then activated to partition a multicast packet into multiple transmissions in accordance with specific criteria of each individual mechanism. These algorithms are designed to mitigate the head-of-line blocking effect, while at the same time achieving excellent network throughput levels and delay performance via the partitioning procedure. Performance results reveal the distinct features of each mechanism under various scenarios. For a wider range of networking environments, we further propose an interconnected dual-star structure and enhanced multicast scheduling algorithms. These enhanced schemes aim to exploit the inter-data channels efficiently and utilize the wavelength reuse property of the intra-data channels properly. Performance results have demonstrated the merits of deploying the proposed multicast algorithms in such a dual-star structure.