Analysis and simulation of IBM Rainbow protocol for WDM networks

Abstract

This project will simulate and analyze the IBM rainbow WDM protocol. Rainbow is a prototype optical metropolitan area network (MAN) developed at IBM. It employs Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) on a fiber-optic, passive-star network topology, with each station equipped with a laser, which is fixed tuned to its own unique wavelength, and a Fabry-Perot Filter which is tunable across all wavelengths. This project presents a model and analysis of the protocol used in the Rainbow prototype using the Equilibrium Point Analysis (EPA) technique. It examines the systems throughput and how it is affected by various system parameters such as message arrival rate, message length, and timeout duration. Then, a relation between the throughput and the system delay will be examined.