A new wavelength-routed photonic packet buffer combining traveling delay lines with delay-line loops

We present a new wavelength-routed photonic packet buffer that combines traveling delay lines with delay-line loops. The new packet buffer can effectively capitalize on the simplicity of traveling delay lines and the flexibility of delay-line loops. Three different packet buffering and scheduling techniques are investigated. The effectiveness of the new packet buffer is evaluated by computer simulation using a random traffic model. The simulation results show that the new packet buffer, in conjunction with the buffering and scheduling techniques, can efficiently make use of buffering spaces and, hence, substantially reduce the packet-loss probability by several orders of magnitude.