Minimum Converter Wavelength Assignment in All-Optical Networks

Finding conflict-free wavelength assignments with a minimum number of required conversions for a routing of the lightpaths is one of the important tasks within the design of all-optical networks. We consider this problem in multi-fiber networks with different types of WDM systems. We give a detailed description of the problem and de-rive its theoretical complexity. For practical application, we propose several sequential algorithms to compute appropriate wavelength assignments. We also perform compu-tational experiments to evaluate their performance. For the iterative algorithms, we identify characteristic patterns of progression. Two of these algorithms qualify for ap-plication in practice.