In this paper, we investigate the performance characteristics of parallel switching architectures constructed by a stack of multistage switching networks. We first find that the performances of the previously proposed parallel switching architectures are much worse than the expected ones from analytic models which are based on the assumption that traffic is uniformly distributed at each stage of a switching network. We show that this phenomenon is closely related to a traffic-distribution capability of a parallel switching system and has a large influence on the performance. From these results, we then propose an architectural solution based on the Generalized Shuffle Network (GSN) and analyze its performance by proposing a new iterative analysis method. The proposed architecture uses self-routing and deflection routing, and inherently has a traffic-distribution capability to improve switch performances such as cell loss and delay in a cost-effective manner. From the comparison of simulation and analysis results, it is shown that the developed models are quite accurate in predicting the performance of a new parallel switching system.

In this paper, we propose a novel architecture for optical transport networks and its operation scheme guaranteeing the QoS requirements based on real-time traffic measurement. The key concept of the proposed architecture, which we call hybrid optical transport network (HOTNET), is to adopt both optical circuit switching and optical message switching in an optical network. To implement two different switching technologies in a single network, we modify the optical burst switching scheme and merge it into a TDM wavelength routed network. Then, we propose a control framework and an architecture of a switching node for this hybrid switching paradigm. We also discuss a real-time bandwidth provisioning scheme which utilizes the advantages of two respective switching schemes for traffic engineering. Finally, we evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme via computer simulation and the results show that it can guarantee the traffic QoS requirements while maintaining high channel utilization.

In this paper, we investigate the blocking characteristics of all-optical WDM (Wavelength-Division Multiplexing) networks under distributed wavelength assignment policies. For assigning wavelengths in a distributed manner, we consider two algorithms: random and locally-most-used algorithm. For a random wavelength assignment policy, we develop new blocking models of unidirectional/bidirectional ring networks based on the M/M/c/c queueing models under uniform/nonuniform traffic conditions. These models are shown to be more accurate than the previous blocking models since our approach considers the large traffic correlation among links in ring networks. We also analyze the blocking performance of the locally-most-used algorithm by comparing with that of the globally-most-used algorithm in fixed routing networks. We show that our analysis models match well with the simulation results in ring and mesh networks. Through the comparison with the previous centralized/distributed algorithms, it is demonstrated that the distributed locally-most-used algorithm is computationally efficient with good blocking performance.

During the investment process for enhancing the level of IT security, organizations typically rely on two kinds of security countermeasures, i.e., proactive security countermeasures (PSCs) and reactive security countermeasures (RSCs). The PSCs are known to prevent security incidents before their occurrence, while the RSCs identify security incidents and recover the damaged hardware and software during or after their occurrence. Some researchers studied the effect of the integration of PSCs and RSCs, and showed that the integration can control unwanted incidents better than a single type of security countermeasure. However, the studies were made mostly in a qualitative manner, not in a quantitative manner. In this paper, we focus on deriving a quantitative model that analyzes the influence of different conditions on the efficiency of the integrated security countermeasures. Using the proposed model, we analyze for the first time how vulnerability and the potential exploits resulting from such vulnerability can affect the efficiency of the integrated security countermeasures; furthermore, we analytically verify that as the efficiency of PSCs increases, the burden of RSCs decreases, and vice versa. Also, we describe how to select possibly optimal configurations of the integrated security countermeasures.

In IEEE 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), the hidden station problem can increase the collision probability and thus degrade the network throughput significantly. The Request-to-Send/Clear-to-Send (RTS/CTS) exchange may mitigate excessive collision due to hidden stations by reserving the channel before transmitting a data frame. However, it incurs significant bandwidth overhead if there is no hidden station. Although there has been a notable attempt to detect hidden stations so that the RTS/CTS exchange is activated only when hidden stations exist, the previous scheme fails to detect hidden stations if the stations have heterogeneous carrier sense ranges as in the real world. In this paper, we propose a new hidden station detection mechanism, which operates within the framework of our collision detection scheme. Therefore, stations can detect a hidden station without any extra cost while collision detection is being performed. In addition, we propose to transmit the RTS frames at a stronger power level than the nominal transmission power to improve the fairness of hidden stations further. We also propose a dynamic transmit power control strategy during the RTS transmission to mitigate the exposed station problem. Comprehensive simulations show that the adaptive RTS/CTS exchange based on the proposed scheme improves the system throughput as well as fairness in various environments including heterogeneous carrier sense ranges.