JA(G)OBS Simulator: Implementation of the main features of the routing protocol

Abstract

English: Optical Burst Switching (OBS) is an optical switching paradigm that has been re-gaining attention in the last few years after its boom around the year 2000. This paradigm is able to bring together the present technology (avoiding the optical buffer technology hurdles) and what is envisaged for future networks (packet-based optical switching). However it lacks a well-defined control plane that can keep up with quality of service (QoS) demands by Internet applications and end-to-end connectivity among multiple switching domains controlled by a single control instance. Generalized Multi-Protocol Layer Switching (GMPLS) is a technology that can give the missing link to OBS. It is the extension of the Multi-Protocol Layer Switching (MPLS) which was designed for IP networks to introduce fast forwarding and Traffic Engineering (TE). GMPLS evolves from MPLS to deal with non-IP networks, e.g. SDH and WDM. However, it does not handle OBS so far. This Master Thesis contributes towards this GMPLS-OBS interoperability by the development of some features to the Java Event-Driven Simulator of the GMPLS-OBS architecture called JA(G)OBS. This thesis comes up in sequence of another UPC-ISCTE Master Thesis of João Baião from September 2010, who implemented some of the basic features of the GMPLS Signaling protocol in the simulator. In particular, this Master Thesis will focus on the implementation of the GMPLS Routing protocol basic features in the simulator and to deploy a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for the simulator. The GMPLS Routing protocol considered in the simulator is the Open Shortest Path First with Traffic Engineering (OSPF-TE) which is one of the standards of GMPLS routing.