Novel MAC protocol with idle detection for all-optical WDM ring networks

A novel media access control (MAC) protocol named carrier sense multiple access with idle detection (CSMA/ID) is proposed to handle variable-length packets over an all-optical ring network. To evaluate optimal utilization of channel bandwidth, we study packet scheduling based on three transmitting queue discipline (TQD) architectures and four idle space allocation (ISA) algorithms with regard to their impact on performance. For numerical evaluation of performance, an analytical model is developed by a preclassification queue with weighted round-robin (PCQ-WRR) architecture and a random algorithm. Moreover, three related MAC protocols are examined and compared, namely, multitoken, carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance (CSMA/ CA) and carrier sense multiple access/collision preemption (CSMA/CP). Simulation results indicate that, of the TQDs, better performance is obtained by PCQ-WRR compared with first-in-first-out and preclassification queues. The first fit space (FFS) algorithm has the best performance of the ISAs. The 12 combinations of TQDs-ISAs are then considered. It is found that the combination of PCQ-WRR with FFS provides the greatest efficiency and has the lowest packet latency, providing better throughput than three different MAC protocols under either symmetric or asymmetric traffic load on all-optical ring networks.