Effect of Splitting Factor on the Generated Multicast Trees in Optical Networks

Enhanced optical switches structure can now handle multicast routing in the optical layer. For an optical node to be able to do branching in the physical layer, it must be equipped with a light splitter. Light splitters are expensive equipment. A lot of work had been done in order to reduce the cost of implementing splitters within the network. Moreover, the internal structure of a splitter is enhanced to reduce its cost, and the power loss resulted of multiple splitting. Efficient placement of splitters in the network leads to a reduction in the cost of the network design, and the cost of the generated trees. The splitting capability of each splitter plays an important role on how much branching can be done on the optical node. Also, the splitting capability affects the power loss done on each branching node, and consequently the final power received by each member. This paper studies the effect of the splitting factor on the cost of the generated trees and the value of the power received by each of the multicast group members.