Abstract
In this paper we study optimal policies to maximize the throughput of optical buffers constructed with Variable Optical Delay Lines (VODLs). We consider two types of VODLs. Both VODLs can be tuned to provide delay of integral number of time slots to packets. The first type of VODLs can accept only one packet before the packet departs. However, the second type of VODLs can allow multiple packets traversing in the delay lines. However, all packets in a type II VODLs are subject to the same delay. For the first type of VODLs, we show that the optimal state independent admission policy for the optical buffer to maximize throughput is a threshold type. For the second type of VODLs, we approximate the optical buffer by a Markov chain and derive an expression for the packet loss probability. We then propose a greedy algorithm to find the optimal number of dedicated VODLs in order to minimize the packet loss probability.