A Meta-Heuristic Approach for Wavelength Assignment in Long-Haul Optical System

Routing and Wavelength Assignment (RWA) problem is one of the optimization problems in optical networks. The aim is to minimize the blocking probability and the number of wavelengths used. The RWA problem can be solved by number of algorithms like Genetic Algorithm (GA), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), etc. In the proposed research, Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm (SFLA) has been implemented in optical networks to solve the RWA problem. The optimization parameters considered are cost, number of wavelengths, hop count and blocking probability. The problem is analyzed for different wavelength assignment methods such as first fit, random, round robin, wavelength ordering and Four Wave Mixing (FWM) priority based wavelength assignment. Fitness function devised includes cost, number of wavelengths, hop count and setup time. The proposed SFLA algorithm has been compared with GA and is found to minimize the blocking probability, cost and computational complexity.