Multihop Routing and Wavelength Assignment Algorithm for Optical WDM Networks

We propose a new routing and wavelength assignment scheme that improves the blocking probability of WDM networks and offers a very good utilization of the networks resources. This heuristic results in high quality of service, prioritization of the LAN networks and lower installation costs compared with the traditional RWA algorithms applied in WDM networks. It is based on the distributed Dijkstra sparse placement routing algorithm, first-fit wavelength reservation and traffic multiplexing. We apply load balancing and a sparse electronic switch placement algorithm during the process of finding the optimal lightpath in order to reduce the number of dropped lightpath sessions to zero, minimize the number of opaque nodes and maximize the utilization of the network.