Routing and Wavelength Assignment (RWA) is a key issue in next-generation optical networks.The smart ant colony routing and wavelength assignment (SAC-RWA) algorithm are investigated to find minimum cost wavelength path.Based on restricted request area (RRA) strategy and wavelength load balancing,the dual head satellites structure into the satellite optical network are introduced and the system model considering transmission delay and wavelength continuity constraints is built.Then the SAC-RWA algorithm with wavelength idle rate and RRA is employed to solve the system model.The proposed algorithm allows a single ant to complete routing and wavelength assignment simultaneously.The numerical results show that the RRA strategy significantly reduces computational complexity at the expense of a slight increase in blocking probability.