Buffering in optical packet switches

This paper consists of a categorization of optical buffering strategies for optical packet switches, and a comparison of the performance of these stra tegies both with respect to packet loss/delay and bit error rate (BER) perf ormance. Issues surrounding optical buffer implementation are discussed, an d representative architectures are introduced under different categories, C onclusions are drawn about packet loss and BER performance, and about the c haracteristics an architecture should have to be practical. It is shown tha t there is a strong case for the use of optical regeneration for successful cascading of these architectures.