Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

1. INTRODUCTION

Today, there is a general consensus that, in the near future, wide area
networks (WAN)(such as, a nation wide backbone network) will be based on
Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM) optical networks. One of the main
advantages of a WDM WAN over other optical technologies, such as, Time
Division Multiplexed (TDM) optical networks, is that it allows us to exploit
the enormous bandwidth of an optical fiber (up to 50 terabits bits per second)
with requiring electronic devices, which operate at extremely high speeds.

The concept of light tree is introduced in a wavelength routed optical

network, which employs wavelength -division multiplexing (WDM).
Depending on the underlying physical topology networks can be classified into
three generations:
• First Generation: these networks do not employ fiber optic
technology; instead they employ copper-based or microwave technology. E.g.
Ethernet.
• Second Generation: these networks use optical fibers for data
transmission but switching is performed in electronic domain. E.g. FDDI.
• Third Generation: in these networks both data transmission and
switching is performed in optical domain. E.g. WDM.
WDM wide area networks employ tunable lasers and filters at access
nodes and optical/electronic switches at routing nodes. An access node may
transmit signals on different wavelengths, which are coupled into the fiber
using wavelength multiplexers. An optical signal passing through an optical
wavelength-routing switch (WRS) may be routed from an output fiber without
undergoing opto-electronic conversion.

Dept. of CSE 1 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

2. LIGHT PATH

A light path is an all-optical channel, which may be used to carry

circuit switched traffic, and it may span multiple fiber links. Assigning a
particular wavelength to it sets these up. In the absence of wavelength
converters, a light path would occupy the same wavelength continuity
constraint.

A light path can create logical (or virtual) neighbors out of nodes that
may be geographically far apart from each other. A light path carries not only
the direct traffic between the nodes it interconnects, but also the traffic from
nodes upstream of the source to nodes upstream of the destination. A major
objective of light path communication is to reduce the number of hops a packet
has to traverse.

Under light path communication, the network employs an equal

number of transmitters and receivers because each light path operates on a
point-to-point basis. However this approach is not able to fully utilize all of the
wavelengths on all of the fiber links in the network, also it is not able to fully
exploit all the switching capability of each WRS.

Dept. of CSE 2 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

3. LIGHT TREES

Thus, incorporating an optical multicasting capability extends the

light path concept. Multicasting is the ability of an application at a node to
send a single message to the communication network and have it delivered to
multiple recipients at different locations. We refer light tree as a point to multi
point extension of light path. Today, many multicasting applications exist,
such as, teleconferencing, software/file distribution including file replication
on mirrored sites, distributed games, Inter net news distribution-mail mailing
lists, etc., but the implementation of these applications is not necessarily
efficient because today’s WANs were designed to support point-to-point
(unicast) communication. In the future, as multicast applications become more
popular and bandwidth intensive, there emerges a pressing need to provide
multicasting support on WANs.

A light tree is a point to point multipoint all optical channel, which

may span multiple fiber links. Hence, a light tree enables single-hop
communication between a source node and a set of destination nodes. Thus, a
light tree based virtual topology can significantly reduce the hop distance,
thereby increasing the network throughput.

Dept. of CSE 3 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree
Figure 1a shows a light tree, which connects node UT to nodes TX,
NE and IL. Thus, an optical signal transmitted by node UT travels down the
light tree till it reaches node CO, where it is split by an optical splitter into two
copies. One copy of the optical signal is routed to node TX, where it is
terminated at a receiver. The other copy is routed towards node NE, where it is
again split into two copies. At node NE, one copy of the optical signal is
terminated at receiver, while the other copy is routed towards node IL. Finally,
a copy of the optical signal reaches node IL, where it is terminated at a
receiver. Thus the virtual topology induced by this light tree consists of three
logical links.

Let us assume that the bit rate of each light path is normalized to one
unit, and node UT wants to send a certain amount of packet traffic to nodes
TX, NE and IL. Let assume that we are allowed only one free wavelength on
the links UT-CO, CO-NE, NE-IL and CO-TX. Then, a light path based
solution would consist of the following four light paths:

• From UT to CO
• From CO to NE
• From CO to TX
• From NE to IL

Thus the light path based solution requires a switch at nodes CO and NE and a
total of eight transceivers (one transmitter and one receiver per light path). On
the other hand, a light tree based solution consists of a single light tree, which
requires a total of four transceivers (one transmitter at UT and one receiver per
node at TX, NE, and IL) and does not utilize the electronic switch at node CO
or NE.

Dept. of CSE 4 MESCE, Kuttippuram

 Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

Requirements:

1. Multicast –capable wavelength routing switches (MWRS) at every node

in the network.
2. More optical amplifiers in the network. This is because if we make n
copies of an optical signal by using one or more optical splitters, the signal power of at
least one copy will be less than or equal to 1/n times the original signal power; thus
more amplifiers may be required to maintain the optical signal power above a certain
threshold so that the signal can be detected at their receivers.

Dept. of CSE 5 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

4. ARCHITECTURE OF WAVELENGTH-ROUTED
OPTICAL NETWORK

A WDM control network may require efficient delivery of broadcast

traffic. Consider a wavelength –routed optical network shown in figure2a,
which may be modeled as a layered graph, in which each layer represents a
wavelength, and each physical fiber has a corresponding link on each
wavelength layer. Wavelength at 0 layer serves as the control network. For
illustration, a broadcast tree is shown as the control network. Now, the
switching state of each wavelength-routing switch (WRS) is managed by a
controller. Controllers communicate with each other using a control network,
either in-band, out-of-band or in-fiber, out-of-band. In in-fiber, out-of-band
signaling (which is advocated for WDM WAN), a wavelength layer is
dedicated for the control network. For example, in figure 2b the wavelength 0
may be used for the control network, and controllers may employ multiple
light trees for fast information dissemination among themselves. Moreover, in
the future, as multicast applications become more and more popular and
bandwidth-intensive, there emerge a pressing need to provide multicast support
on WANs. Some multicast applications may have a large destination set,
which mat be spread over a wide geographical area; for example, a live telecast
of a popular music concert is one such application. A light tree based broadcast
layer may provide an efficient transport mechanism for such multicast
applications.

Dept. of CSE 6 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

5. MULTICAST SWITCH ARCHITECTURES

This section examines various switch architectures which have

multicast capability.

Figure 3 shows a linear divider combiner with two input fibers (the
Pis), two output fibers (the P0s), two dividers and four control signals (the αjs).
A larger LDC will have more than two combiners and dividers. The LDC acts
as a generalized optical switch with added functions of multicasting and
multiplexing. The values of α1, α2, α3, α4 (each can be varied between 0&1)
control the proportion of the input power that can be sent to the output links.
Let Pi1 and Pi2 be the power on the input links, and let P01 and P02 be the
output powers. Then,
Po1=(1-α1)(1-α3) Pi1+(1-α2) α3Pi2 and
Po2=α1 (1-α4) Pi1+α1α4Pi2

Dept. of CSE 7 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

6. AN MWRS BASED ON A SPLITTER BANK

An optical splitter splits the input signal into multiple identical output
signals. Since an optical splitter is a passive device, the power from at least one
output signal of an n-way optical splitter is less than or equal to 1/n times the
input power. To be detected, the optical signal power needs to be more than a
threshold, and hence an optical switch may require a large number of optical
amplifiers.

Figure 4 shows a 2*2 multicast-capable wavelength-routing switch

(MWRS), which can support four wavelengths on each fiber link. The
information on each incoming link is first demultiplexed into separate
wavelengths, each carrying a different signal. Then the separate signals, each
on separate wavelengths, are switched by the optical switch (OSW). Signals
that do not need duplication are sent directly to ports corresponding to their
output links, while those signals that need to be duplicated are sent to a port
connected to a splitter bank.
Dept. of CSE 8 MESCE, Kuttippuram
Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

The splitter bank may be enhanced to provide optical signal

amplification, wavelength conversion and signal regeneration for multicast as
well as unicast signals. For example, in figure 4 wavelength is a unicast
signal and is a multicast signal. The output of the splitter is connected to a
smaller optical switch, which routes the different copies of a signal to their
respective output links.

7. MWRS BASED ON A “DROP AND CONTINUE”

SWITCH

In a “drop and continue” switch, a light path can be terminated at a

node and simultaneously an identical copy of the light path can be allowed to
continue to another node in the network. By employing a “drop and continue”
switch, we can construct a chain of nodes, which are connected by a “drop and
continue” light path. Thus, all nodes on the chain will receive transmissions on
a drop and continue light path where light is “dropped”. Note that, a “drop and
continue” light path is a special case of a light tree.

Dept. of CSE 9 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

8. THE OPTICAL LAYER

In general, the topology of a wavelength routing network may be an

arbitrary mesh. It consists of wavelength cross connect (WXS) nodes
interconnected by fiber links. The network provides light paths between pairs
of network nodes. A light path is simply a high bandwidth pipe, carrying data
up to several gigabytes per second. It is realized by allocating a wavelength on
each link in the path between two nodes. Clearly we cannot assign the same
wavelength to two light paths on any given link.

Each link can support a certain number of wavelengths. The number

of wavelengths that can be supported depends on the component and
transmission imposed limitations.

The optical layer provides light paths to the higher layers. In addition
to the pass through capability provided by the optical layer, several other
features, which include are:

Transparency: Transparency refers to the fact that light paths can carry data
at a variety of bit rates, protocols, and so forth, and can, in effect, be made
protocol insensitive. This enables the optical layer to support a variety of
higher layers concurrently.

Wavelength reuse: Although the number of wavelengths available may be

limited, the network can still provide enormous capacities, since wavelengths
can be spatially reused in the network.

Dept. of CSE 10 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

Reliability: the network can be configured such that in the event of failures,
lightpaths can be rerouted over alternative paths automatically. This provides a
high degree of reliability in the network.

Virtual topology: the virtual topology is the graph consisting of the network
nodes, with an edge between two nodes if there is a light path between them.
The virtual topology thus refers to the topology seen by the higher layers using
the optical layer. To an ATM network residing above the optical layer, the
lightpaths look like links between TM switches. The set of lightpaths can be
tailored to meet the traffic requirements of the layers.

Circuit switching: The lightpaths provided by the optical layer can be set up
and taken down circuits in circuit switched networks, except that the rate at
which the set up and take down actions occur is likely to be much slower than,
say, the rate for telephone networks with voice circuits. No packet switching is
provided within the optical layer.

Dept. of CSE 11 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

9. UNICAST, BROADCAST, AND MULTICAST

TRAFFIC

Understanding the differences between unicast, broadcast, and

multicast network traffic is central to understanding the benefits of IP/TV.
Each of these types of transmission uses a different type of destination IP
address to accomplish its task, and can have a very different level of impact on
network bandwidth consumption.

UNICAST TRAFFIC

IP/TV On Demand use unicast traffic. Each user can request the
program at a different time, with the number of simultaneous users limited by
the available bandwidth from the video streams.

Unicast traffic is sent from a single source to a single destination IP

address. The address belongs to one (and only one) machine in the network. FIGURE
5-1: shows a simple example of unicast traffic, with one data stream being
transmitted from a single source to a single destination.

Dept. of CSE 12 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

Figure 5-1: Example of Single Unicast Traffic

Unicast traffic is appropriate for many client/server applications, such

as database applications, in which all the data resides on the server and the
client runs an application to retrieve, modifies, add, or delete data. For each
transaction, there can be many bursts of unicast traffic traveling back and forth
between the client and the server.

However, in the case of an application such as multimedia

presentations, there might be a single source and several destinations. When a
source machine wants to send the same data to two destination addresses using
the unicast address scheme, it must send two separate data streams, thus
doubling the amount of network bandwidth that is used.

Figure 5-2: shows an example of multiple-stream unicast traffic, with a single

source sending separate data streams to multiple destinations. Because the
source must replicate the entire data stream for each intended destination, this
can be a very inefficient use of network bandwidth

Dept. of CSE 13 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

Figure5-2: Example of Multiple-Stream Unicast Traffic

BROADCAST TRAFFIC

Broadcast traffic uses a special IP address to send a single stream of

data to all of the machines on the local network. A broadcast address typically
ends in 255 (for example, 192.0.2.255) or has 255 in all four fields
(255.255.255.255). Note, however, that every machine receives the data
stream, whether the user wants it or not. For this reason, broadcast
transmissions are usually limited to network level services such as address
resolution. Because the destination machine has no choice about whether to
receive the data, it is not practical to use broadcast transmissions for
applications such as streaming video.

Dept. of CSE 14 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

Figure 5-3: Example of Broadcast Traffic

MULTICAST TRAFFIC

IP/TV scheduled programs use multicast transmissions which can

reach unlimited numbers of viewers simultaneously without overloading the
network.

Multicast transmissions use a special class of destination IP addresses

(the addresses in the range 224.0.0.0 through 239.255.255.255). Multicast
addresses are Class D addresses. Unlike unicast addresses, these multicast
addresses are not assigned to individual machines on the network. Instead,
when a data stream is sent to one of these addresses, potential recipients of the
data can decide whether or not to receive the data. If the user wants the data,
the user's machine receives the data stream; if not, the user's machine ignores
it.

For an application such as IP/TV, this means that a source server can
transmit a single data stream that is received by many destinations without
overloading the Network by replicating the data stream for each destination.

Dept. of CSE 15 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree
Unlike the broadcast case, the user can choose whether to receive the data.

Figure5-4: Example of Multicast Traffic

IP/TV uses multicast addressing to deliver multimedia content to the

user without overburdening the network with unnecessary data streams. Note,
however, that multicast transmissions require the routers in the network to be
multicast-enabled.

Combining Unicast and Multicast Traffic

If the routers in a network are not capable of handling multicast

traffic, IP/TV can use unicast transmissions to send the multimedia content
across the nonmulticast-enabled router. A server on the other side of the router
can then use multicast transmission to deliver the content to its local users.

Dept. of CSE 16 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree
Figure 5-5: shows an example in which both multicast and unicast
transmissions are used to deliver IP/TV multimedia content.

Figure5-5: Example of Combined Multicast and Unicast Traffic

Note, however, that each time a data stream is replicated, it adds to

network traffic loads. Assume that a single data stream requires 1.15 Mbps per
second of network bandwidth (which is typical for MPEG video), and the
server sends one multicast data stream and seven unicast data streams (the
maximum number permitted by IP/TV). In this case, the total network
bandwidth consumed would be 9.2 Mbps, which is enough to severely
overload the average 10BaseT Ethernet network.

The use of combined multicast and unicast transmissions to deliver

IP/TV content is called Small Casting.

Dept. of CSE 17 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

10. LIGHT TREES: PROBLEM FORMULATIONS

The problem of embedding a desired virtual topology on a given

physical topology (fiber network) is formally stated below. Here, we state the
problem of unicast traffic. We are given the following inputs to the problem:

• A physical topology Gp=(V, Ep) consisting of a weighted

undirected graph, where V is the set of network nodes, and Ep is the set
of links connecting nodes. Undirected means that each link in the
physical topology is bi-directional. Nodes correspond to network nodes
(packet switches), and links correspond to the fibers between nodes;
since links are undirected, each link may consist of two channels or
fibers multiplexed (using any suitable mechanism) on the same buffer.
Dept. of CSE 18 MESCE, Kuttippuram
Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree
Links are assigned weights, which may correspond to physical distances
between nodes. A network node i is assumed to be equipped with a Dp
(i) x Dp (i) WRS, where Dp (i), the physical degree of node i, equals the
number physical fiber links emanating out of node i.

• The number of wavelength channels carried by each fiber

=W.

• An NxN traffic matrix, where N is the number of network

nodes and the (i, j) th element is the average rate of traffic flow from
node i to node j.

• The number of wavelength tunable lasers (Ti) and wavelength tunable

filters (Ri) at each node.

Our goal is to determine the following.

A virtual topology Gp=(V, Ep) as another graph the out-degree of a

node is the number of transmitters at the node the nodes of the virtual
topology. In the virtual topology correspond to the nodes in the virtual
topology, a link between nodes i, and j corresponds to a light tree rooted at
node i with node j as one of the leaves on the light Tree.

Unicast traffic:

Formulation of the optimization problem

Dept. of CSE 19 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree
The problem of finding an optimum light path based virtual topology is
formulated as an optimization problem, using principles of multi commodity
flow for routing of light trees on the physical topology and for routing of
packets on the virtual topology.

Optimization criterion – minimize one of the two objective functions:

• Average packet hop distance
• Total number of transceivers required in the network
Constraints -we divide the problems constraints into three categories as
follows:
 Constraints arising from limited number of transceivers per node.
 Constraints arising from limited number of wavelengths.
 Constraints arising from the limited bandwidth of light tree.

COMPARING LIGHT TREE WITH LIGHT PATH

Dept. of CSE 20 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

11. CONCLUSION

Recently, there has been a lot of interest in WDM based fiber optic
networks. In fact, there is a general consensus that, in the near future, WANs
Dept. of CSE 21 MESCE, Kuttippuram
Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree
will be based on WDM optical networks. So far, all architectures that have
been proposed for WDM WANs have only considered the problem of
providing unicast services. In addition to unicast services future WDM WANs
need to provide multicast and broadcast services. A novel WDM WAN
architecture based on light trees that is capable of supporting broadcasting and
multicasting over a wide-area network by employing a minimum number of
opto-electronic devices was discussed. Such WDMWAN can provide a very
high bandwidth optical layer, which efficiently routes unicast, broadcast and
multicast packet-switch traffic.

Each node in the WDM WAN consists of a multicast-capable

wavelength routing switch (WRS), an “off –the-shelf ” electronic packet
switch, and a set of opto electronic converters. The problem of finding an
optimum set of light-trees was formulated as a mixed integer linear problem.
Preliminary results show that if we employ a set of light trees, then significant
savings can be achieved in terms of the number of opto electronic devices that
are required in the network.

12. REFERENCES:

[1]. Laxman H. Sahasrabudhe and Biswanth mikhergee, Light trees:

Optical Multicasting For Improved Performance in Wavelength-
Dept. of CSE 22 MESCE, Kuttippuram
Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree
Routed networks, IEEE Communication Magazine. February 1999
pp.67-73

[2]. Biswanth Mukhergee, Dhritiman Banergee, S.Ramamurthy And

Amarnath Mukhergee, The Principles for Designing a wide-area
WDM Optical Network, IEEE/ACM Trans.Networking, VOL. 4,
NO. 5, October 1996, pp. 684-96.

[3]. Laxman H. Sahasrabudhe, Light trees: An Optical Layer for

Tomorrow’s IP Networks, www.usdavis.edu

[4]. Rajiv Ramaswami and kumara N. Sivarajan Optical Networks.

Pp.333-336.

[5]. www.ieng.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/software

Dept. of CSE 23 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I express my sincere thanks to Prof. M.N Agnisarman

Namboothiri (Head of the Department, Computer Science and Engineering,
MESCE), Mr. Sminesh (Staff incharge) for their kind co-operation for
presenting the seminar.

I also extend my sincere thanks to all other members of the faculty of

Computer Science and Engineering Department and my friends for their co-
operation and encouragement.

Jafeen Jamaludeen

Dept. of CSE 24 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

ABSTRACT

The concept of a light-tree is introduced in a wavelength-routed

optical network. A light-tree is a point-to-multipoint generalization of a
lightpath. A lightpath is a point-to-point all-optical wavelength channel
connecting a transmitter at a source node to a receiver at a destination node.
Lightpath communication can significantly reduce the number of hops (or
lightpaths) a packet has to traverse; and this reduction can, in turn,
significantly improve the network’s throughput. We extend the lightpath
concept by incorporating an optical multicasting capability at the routing nodes
in order to increase the logical connectivity of the network and further decrease
its hop distance. We refer to such a point-to-multipoint extension as a light-
tree. Light-trees cannot only provide improved performance for unicast traffic,
but they naturally can better support multicast traffic and broadcast traffic. In
this study, we shall concentrate on the application and advantages of light-trees
to unicast and broadcast traffic. We formulate the light-tree-based virtual
topology design problem as an optimization problem with one of two possible
objective functions: for a given traffic matrix,

(i) Minimize the network-wide average packet hop distance, or,

(ii) Minimize the total number of transceivers in the network. We demonstrate

that an optimum light-tree-based virtual topology has clear advantages over an
optimum light path-based virtual topology with respect to the above two
objectives.

Dept. of CSE 25 MESCE, Kuttippuram

Seminar Report ’03 Light Tree

CONTENTS

1. Introduction 1

2. Light Path 2

3. Light Trees 3
Architecture of wave-length routed optical
4. 6
network
5. Multicast Switch Architectures 7

6. An MWRS based on a splitter bank 8

7. MWRS based on “drop and continue” switch 9

8. The optical layer 10

9. Unicast, Broadcast and Multicast Traffic 12

10. Problem Formulations 18

Comparing Light Tree with Light Paths 20

11. Conclusion 21

12. References 22

Dept. of CSE 26 MESCE, Kuttippuram