DWDM label-based lookups and forwarding scheme using multiwavelength optical packet processing

Address/label lookup and data forwarding are the most fundamental functions of a router. Much research work has been concentrated on minimizing the lookup and forwarding time in a high-throughput Terabits router. Though novel algorithms and data structures have been developed to overcome this potential bottleneck, all of these schemes are still processed in the electronic domain. This implies major throughput limitations on electro-optic conversion and processing of packets one at a time (per forwarding engine). In this paper, we attempt to overcome these bottlenecks by introducing multiwavelength optical packet-based processing for table lookup. The distinctive features of this technique include, (1) feasibility of processing (table lookup) packets in their native form, namely optics; (2) enhancing the parallelism to provide a constant time comparison; (3) (capable of) computing in tens of terabits per second. Such processing technique is highly desirable in packet-based networks.