A Multicast Sparse-Grooming Algorithm Based on Network Coding in WDM Networks

AbstractTo improve the limited number of wavelength utilization and decrease the traffic blocking probability in sparse-grooming wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) networks, a multicast sparse-grooming algorithm based on network coding (MCSA-NC) is put forward to solve the routing problem for dynamic multicast requests in this paper. In the proposed algorithm, a traffic partition strategy, that the coarse-granularity multicast request with grooming capability on the source node is split into several fine-granularity multicast requests, is designed so as to increase the probability for traffic grooming successfully in MCSA-NC. Besides considering that multiple destinations should receive the data from source of the multicast request at the same time, the traditional transmission mechanism is improved by constructing edge-disjoint paths for each split multicast request. Moreover, in order to reduce the number of wavelengths required and further decrease the traffic blocking probability, a light-tree reconfiguration mechanism is presented in the MCSA-NC, which can select a minimal cost light tree from the established edge-disjoint paths for a new multicast request.