This paper presents a comprehensive investigation of three optical wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) mesh network protection approaches, namely minimal cost, single link basis and disjoint path approaches. The operation of each approach is described and their performances are extensively evaluated and compared. Key aspects that are taken into the consideration and comparison of the designs include a spare capacity requirement, ease of operation and practical feasibility. A mathematical model based on integer linear programming is introduced to obtain a lower bound on the spare capacity requirement for full protection against all single link failures. Two heuristic algorithms have also been developed to perform wavelength resource allocation under both normal and failure conditions for both systems with and without wavelength conversion capability. It is shown that the minimal cost approach can accomplish the lowest extra cost requirement for protection, but this approach is considered not appropriate for practical applications due to complicated restoration and management. The single link basis scheme is on the other hand more practical and very cost efficient. For the disjoint path technique, the cost for spare capacity is generally slightly greater than that of the single link basis scheme. Its main advantages lie in the simple re-configuration and inherent protection against node failure for in-transit traffic. Finally, a new framework for obtaining a good spare capacity cost estimate of a mesh restorable network is presented.

In this paper, two distinct optical network design approaches, namely mesh and multi-ring, for survivable WDM networks are investigated. The main objective is to compare these two design approaches in terms of network costs so that their merits in practical environments can be identified. In the mesh network design, a new mathematical model based on integer liner programming (ILP) and a heuristic algorithm are presented for achieving a minimal cost network design. In the multi-ring network design, a heuristic algorithm that can be applied to large network problems is proposed. The influence of wavelength conversion and the number of wavelengths multiplexed in a fiber on system designs are also discussed. Based on the simulation results, the redundancy quantities required for full protection in multi-ring approach are significantly larger in comparison to the minimal cost mesh counterpart.

The main objective of this paper is to propose a new top-down subcube allocation scheme which has complete subcube recognition capability with quick response time. The proposed subcube allocation scheme, called Heuristic Subcube Allocation (HSA) strategy, is based on a heuristic and undirected graph, called Subcube (SC)-graph, whose vertices represent the free subcubes, and edge represents inter-relationships between free subcubes. It helps to reduce the response time and internal/external fragmentation. When a new subcube is released, the higher dimension subcube is generated by the cycle detection in the SC-graph, and the heuristic is used to reduce the allocation time and to maintain the dimension of the free subcube as high as possible. It is theoretically shown that the HSA strategy is not only statically optimal but also it has a complete subcube recognition capability in a dynamic environment. Extensive simulation results show that the HSA strategy improves the performance and significantly reduces the response time compared to the previously proposed schemes.