Traffic grooming
Encyclopedia
Traffic grooming is the process of grouping many small telecommunications flows into larger units, which can be processed as single entities. For example, in a network
using both time-division multiplexing
(TDM) and wavelength-division multiplexing
(WDM), two flows which are destined for a common node can be placed on the same wavelength, allowing them to be dropped by a single optical add-drop multiplexer
. Often the objective of grooming is minimizing the cost of the network. The cost of line terminating equipment (LTE) (also called add/drop multiplexers or ADMs) is the most dominant component in an optical WDM network's cost. Thus grooming typically involves minimizing the usage of ADMs.
This is similar to the use of virtual channels and virtual paths in ATM
networks.
Effective grooming requires consideration of the topology
of the network and the different routes in use. This is especially useful when dealing with mesh networks.
Telecommunications network
A telecommunications network is a collection of terminals, links and nodes which connect together to enable telecommunication between users of the terminals. Networks may use circuit switching or message switching. Each terminal in the network must have a unique address so messages or connections...
using both time-division multiplexing
Time-division multiplexing
Time-division multiplexing is a type of digital multiplexing in which two or more bit streams or signals are transferred apparently simultaneously as sub-channels in one communication channel, but are physically taking turns on the channel. The time domain is divided into several recurrent...
(TDM) and wavelength-division multiplexing
Wavelength-division multiplexing
In fiber-optic communications, wavelength-division multiplexing is a technology which multiplexes a number of optical carrier signals onto a single optical fiber by using different wavelengths of laser light...
(WDM), two flows which are destined for a common node can be placed on the same wavelength, allowing them to be dropped by a single optical add-drop multiplexer
Optical add-drop multiplexer
An optical add-drop multiplexer is a device used in wavelength-division multiplexing systems for multiplexing and routing different channels of light into or out of a single mode fiber . This is a type of optical node, which is generally used for the construction of optical telecommunications...
. Often the objective of grooming is minimizing the cost of the network. The cost of line terminating equipment (LTE) (also called add/drop multiplexers or ADMs) is the most dominant component in an optical WDM network's cost. Thus grooming typically involves minimizing the usage of ADMs.
This is similar to the use of virtual channels and virtual paths in ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...
networks.
Effective grooming requires consideration of the topology
Network topology
Network topology is the layout pattern of interconnections of the various elements of a computer or biological network....
of the network and the different routes in use. This is especially useful when dealing with mesh networks.