Demonstration of packet-by-packet wavelength conversion from FP-LDlight to ITU-T grid wavelengths

We demonstrated packet-by-packet wavelength conversion from Fabry-Perot laser diode (FP-LD) light to four ITU-T grid wavelengths. To achieve this we used a cross-phase modulation (XPM) wavelength converter and an arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) router. Good feasibility was obtained at 2.5-Gb/s modulation. Selective wavelength conversion as described here is indispensable for the all-optical networks of future, in which optical signal sources without wavelength control will be used at user-end terminals     

Temperature control-free full-mesh wavelength routing network (AWG-STAR) with CWDM AWG-router

AWG-STAR is a star-shaped network that utilizes a uniform-loss cyclic frequency arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) as a wavelength router to obtain full-mesh interconnection between surrounding wavelength-division-multiplexing nodes. In this paper, we describe a temperature control-free AWG-STAR network that employs a coarse wavelength-division-multiplexing AWG-router. The center wavelength and transmission band of the AWG-router are designed based on the light source wavelength shift that results from changes in operating temperature. The system employs bidirectional transmission to avoid coherent crosstalk from adjacent channels. A cost-effective and small-scale full-mesh network is realized for metropolitan areas.     

AWG-based metro WDM networking

A plethora of metropolitan area wavelength-division multiplexing networks have been proposed and examined in recent years with the aim to alleviate the bandwidth bottleneck between increasingly higher-speed local/access networks and high-speed backbone networks. Many of the considered metropolitan area networks use the arrayed waveguide grating as an optical building block. As we review in this article, in ring, interconnected ring, and meshed metro WDM networks, the AWG is typically used to realize wavelength multiplexers, demultiplexers, or optical add-drop multiplexers without capitalizing on spatial wavelength reuse. By using the AWG as a wavelength router, highly efficient star metro WDM networks can be realized due to extensive spatial wavelength reuse. We give an overview of star metro WDM networks that are able to meet modular upgradability, transparency, flexibility, efficiency, reliability, and protection requirements of future metro networks. AWG-based star networks also enable an evolution path of ring networks toward highly efficient and fault-tolerant hybrid star-ring metro network solutions.     

Demonstration of an Integrated Buffer for an All-Optical Packet Router

We demonstrate an integrated optical buffer, fabricated in silica, with data storage up to 100 ns. The buffer consists of an array of waveguide delays between matched arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) routers and is designed for an all-optical packet router where buffering is required to resolve packet contention. By changing the incoming signal wavelength, the output port of the first AWG router is selected, thereby selecting a storage time in the buffer. All buffer channels have been demonstrated at 40 Gb/s with error-free operation and penalties of $sim$ 2–4 dB for bit-error rate $=1times 10^{-9}$.      

基于阵列波导光栅的波分复用器件

阵列波导光栅波分复用 /解复用器有 N个输入端口和 N个输出端口 ,能同时传输 N2 路不同的光信号 ,除具有波分复用和解复用功能外 ,能灵活地与其它光器件组成多波长激光器、光路分插复用器、光路交叉连接器、波长路由器等波分复用器件 ,在光通信网络中有着广泛的应用前景。     

The arrayed-waveguide grating-based single-hop WDM network: an architecture for efficient multicasting

Research on multicasting in single-hop wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) networks has so far focused on networks based on the passive star coupler (PSC), a broadcast device. It has been shown that multicasting performance is improved by partitioning multicast transmissions into multiple multicast copies. However, the channel bottleneck of the PSC, which does not allow for spatial wavelength reuse, restricts the multicast performance. We investigate multicasting in a single-hop WDM network that is based on an arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG), a wavelength routing device that allows for spatial wavelength reuse. In our network, optical multicasting is enabled by wavelength-insensitive splitters that are attached to the AWG output ports. Multicasts are partitioned among the splitters and each multicast copy is routed to a different splitter by sending it on a different wavelength. We demonstrate that the spatial wavelength reuse in our network significantly improves the throughput-delay performance for multicast traffic. By means of analysis and simulations, we also demonstrate that, for a typical mix of unicast and multicast traffic, the throughput-delay performance is dramatically increased by transmitting multicast packets concurrently with control information in the reservation medium access control protocol of our AWG-based network.     

Multipassive-star-coupler hub for metro WDM networks

We consider a metro wavelength-division-multiplexing network in which a hub connects the local networks to the backbone network. In many recent studies, the hub is made up of an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG). In this letter, we use multiple passive star couplers (PSCs) to construct the hub and allocate wavelength channels to its input-output pairs based on the traffic requirements. The resulting hub, called the multipassive-star-coupler hub or multi-PSC hub, can provide the same communication functions as AWG hubs and two additional functions: 1) it can efficiently transport nonuniform metro traffic via nonuniform channel allocation within the hub and 2) it can easily be scaled up by adding more PSCs for handling the ever-increasing traffic load.     

Loop-Back AWG Router With Nonuniform Transmission Capacity

We have developed an arrayed-waveguide-grating-based wavelength router with a loop-back structure for a system with nonuniformly distributed traffic. We describe the design principle with particular regard to the loop-back waveguide connections, and discuss its optical routing functions with some experimental results.     

All-Optical Wavelength-Bypassing Ring Communications Networks

We introduce an all-optical WDM packet communication network that performs wavelength bypassing at the routers. Packets that arrive at a wavelength (optical cross-connect) router at designated wavelengths are switched by the router without having their headers examined. Thus, the processing element of the router is bypassed by such packets. For packet traffic that uses wavelengths that do not bypass a switch, the headers of such packets are examined to determine if this switch is the destination for the flow. If latter is the case, the packet is removed. Otherwise, the packet is switched to a pre-determined output without incurring (network internal) queueing delays. We study a ring network with routers that employ such a WDM bypassing scheme. We present methods to construct wavelength graphs that define the bypassing pattern employed by the routers to guide the traffic flows distributed at each given wavelength. Performance is measured in terms of the network throughput and the average processing path length (i.e., the average number of switches not being bypassed). For a fixed total processing capacity, we show that a WDM bypassing ring network provides a higher throughput level than that exhibited by a non-bypassing ring network, using the same value of total link capacity. By using WDM bypassing, the average processing path length (and thus the packet latency) is reduced. We study a multitude of network loading configurations, corresponding to distinct traffic matrices and client-server scenarios. Higher throughput levels are obtained for network configurations driven by non-uniform traffic matrices. The demonstrated advantages of WDM bypassing methods shown here for WDM ring networks are also applicable to more general network topological layouts.     

光网络中一种快速动态负荷均衡的波长路由算法

针对波长路由网络中动态光链路建立问题,提出了一种快速动态波长路由算法(RWA)。在路由子问题上,通过动态改进最短路径算法(Dijistra算法)权值的设置,使之符合光网络中动态流量分布,并适时更新路由信息表来适时调整网络的流量分布,减轻网络负荷,实现一种负荷均衡的路径查找。在波长分配子问题上,提出一种通过动态调节变异和交叉算子的遗传算法(VMCR-GA),可以实现快速波长搜索和分配。通过在几个网络上的仿真分析,比采用普通遗传和D算法的波长路由算法性能优越,网络阻塞率可以降低10%,波长分配效率提高30%~50%,算法的收敛性也大大提高。     

The FT/sup /spl Lambda//-FR/sup /spl Lambda// AWG network: a practical single-hop metro WDM network for efficient uni- and multicasting

Single-hop wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) networks with a central passive star coupler (PSC), as well as single-hop networks with a central arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) and a single transceiver at each node, have been extensively studied as solutions for the quickly increasing amounts of unicast and multicast traffic in the metropolitan area. The main bottlenecks of these networks are the lack of spatial wavelength reuse in the studied PSC-based networks and the single transceiver in the studied AWG-based metro WDM networks. This paper describes the development and evaluation of the FT/sup /spl Lambda//-FR/sup /spl Lambda// AWG network, which is based on a central AWG and has arrays of fixed-tuned transmitters and receivers at each node. Transceiver arrays are a mature technology, making the proposed network practical. In addition, the transmitter arrays allow for high-speed signaling over the AWG while the receiver arrays relieve the receiver bottleneck arising from multicasting in conjunction with spatial wavelength reuse on the AWG. The results from probabilistic analysis and simulation reported here indicate that the FT/sup /spl Lambda//-FR/sup /spl Lambda// AWG network gives particularly good throughput-delay performance for a mix of unicast and multicast traffic.     

Crosstalk reduction in N×N WDM multi/demultiplexers bycascading small arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG's)

This paper shows a new scheme which improves the crosstalk performance of large optical multi/demultiplexers, a key component in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems. This scheme uses arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG's) of various sizes and requires no additional equipment. It is well known that a large multi/demultiplexer can be constructed by cascading small multi/demultiplexers. We have studied the impact of the number and size of AWG stages on crosstalk performance. This paper proves that to obtain a multistage multi/demultiplexer with minimum crosstalk, the total channel number of each AWG stage must be minimized. For example, cascading 10-channel AWG's and 11-channel AWG's improves the crosstalk performance of a 110-channel multi/demultiplexer by about 7.5 dB. Furthermore, the crosstalk performance degradation due to fabrication error is theoretically investigated taking channel bandwidth into account. Optimum design parameters of multistage AWG's are introduced: When the AWG suppression ratio is 30 dB and the ratio of channel bandwidth to channel spacing is about 0.24, the degradation in crosstalk performance due to fabrication error is minimized. The tradeoff between the crosstalk performance and the efficiency in terms of hardware and wavelength are also discussed. It is discovered that this simple scheme can yield a crosstalk-free WDM router. Crosstalk reduction obtained by this scheme allows the realization of flexible multiwavelength networks based on wavelength routing     

Packet loss and delay performance of feedback and feed-forwardarrayed-waveguide gratings-based optical packet switches with WDMinputs-outputs

This paper analyzes the packet loss and delay performance of an arrayed-waveguide-grating-based (AWG) optical packet switch developed within the EPSRC-funded project WASPNET (wavelength switched packet network). Two node designs are proposed based on feedback and feed-forward strategies, using sharing among multiple wavelengths to assist in contention resolution. The feedback configuration allows packet priority routing at the expense of using a larger AWG. An analytical framework has been established to compute the packet loss probability and delay under Bernoulli traffic, justified by simulation. A packet loss probability of less than 10^-9 was obtained with a buffer depth per wavelength of 10 for a switch size of 16 inputs-outputs, four wavelengths per input at a uniform Bernoulli traffic load of 0.8 per wavelength. The mean delay is less than 0.5 timeslots at the same buffer depth per wavelength     

$N times N$ Cyclic-Frequency Router With Improved Performance Based on Arrayed-Waveguide Grating

We have developed an $N times N$ cyclic-frequency router with improved performance by employing two types of modified configuration; a uniform-loss and cyclic-frequency (ULCF) arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) and an interconnected multiple AWG. We have demonstrated a compact 50-GHz-spacing 64 $,times,$64 ULCF-AWG router with low and uniform insertion losses of 5.4–6.8 dB and frequency deviations from the grid of less than $pm {8}~{rm GHz}$. We have also demonstrated a 100-GHz-spacing 8$,times,$8 interconnected multiple-AWG router with a practical configuration, very low and uniform insertion losses of 2.3–3.4 dB, and frequency deviations from the grid of less than $pm {6}~{rm GHz}$. We discuss the suitable or realizable scale $N$ of the two types of routers by comparison with a conventional AWG router in terms of optical and dimensional performance and productivity.      

Design-dimensioning model for transparent WDM packet-switchedirregular networks

A detailed analytical traffic model for all-optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) photonic packet-switched networks is presented and the requirements for buffer size and link dimensions are analyzed. This paper shows that due to the topology, packets may generate traffic bottlenecks produced by a tendency of the routing scheme to send packets with different destinations through preferred paths. This effect increases the traffic load and, hence, the probability of blocking at the output links of specific routers in the network and, therefore, a large buffer depth or an increment in the number of fibers per link is required. Three router architectures are analyzed and it is shown that WDM all-optical router architectures with shared contention resolution resources are the best candidates to reduce hardware volume and cost of all-optical networks. It is shown that routers with a bank of completely shared wavelength converters (WCs) require a fraction of WCs compared to router architectures that use a WC per wavelength. This fraction depends on the location of the router, the network topology, and the traffic load in the network. However, in general terms, about 50% to 90% of WCs can be saved by architectures with shared wavelength-conversion resources. Also, it is shown that limited wavelength conversion degrees d=8 and d=10 in packet-switching routers with 16 and 32 wavelengths give the same probability of packet loss performance as full wavelength conversion     

Field trial of full-mesh WDM network (AWG-STAR) in metropolitan/local area

We describe a field trial of a wavelength routing full-mesh wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) (AWG-STAR) network for citywide local administration in Japan. An AWG router and five WDM nodes were connected to the existing fiber in the downtown area of the city of Chitose, Hokkaido. A 5 /spl times/ 5 full-mesh network was overlaid on the Chitose intranet. A video-on-demand system based on Gigabit Ethernet links, high-definition serial digital interface signals, and synchronous digital hierarchy signals of STM-16 links are transmitted and routed simultaneously on the wavelength paths of the network. These systems are used for administration and education information sharing for city residents. The network is managed and controlled remotely from the NTT R&D Center in Atsugi, Japan, which is 50 km southwest of Tokyo and approximately 1000 km from Chitose. AWG-STAR exhibits promising potential as a large capacity network system for both simple full-mesh systems and highly secure private networks.     

Optical Data Network Based on the Switchless Concept: Analysis and Dimensioning

The switchless all-optical network aims to provide a future single-layer, advanced transport architecture on a national scale. The single-hop, shared-access network employs time and wavelength agility (a WDMA/TDMA scheme), using fast tuneable transmitters and receivers, to set up individual customer connections through a single wavelength router, which is suitably replicated for resilience. While in a recent paper we reported the analysis and dimensioning of a switchless network assuming just the telephone traffic, we provide in this paper a new model, which contains innovative elements, and report original results assuming to deal with data traffic of two different types: constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit rate (VBR). The innovation is based on the fact that the model considers more traffic flows with different traffic requirements (e.g., bandwidth, duration) as input to a group of time-slot connections on the same wavelength between two passive optical networks (PONs). We obtained analytical expressions of the main traffic characteristics (loss probability, throughput and overflowing traffic) both for the primary group of time-slots and for the secondary group of time-slots, to which the overflowing traffic streams enters.Moreover, we show that the innovative network structure, i.e., use of a passive wavelength router node (PWRN), works also perfectly with more different traffic streams.The analytical model presented in this paper has been compared with a simulation model. The comparison has revealed very good agreement. Relevant network cases are considered, and the dimensioning of the network in such cases is reported, in terms of the key network parameters, loss probability and throughput.     

Impact of crosstalk in an arrayed-waveguide router on an opticaladd-drop multiplexer

The impact of crosstalk in an arrayed-waveguide (AWG) router on the performance of an N-channel optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM), with m add/drop channels and n-pass channels is theoretically investigated. A single arrayed-waveguide router is simultaneously used for multiplexing and demultiplexing. This results in crosstalk not only from the incoming channels, but from the outgoing channels as well. We show that the performance of the OADM degrades as either N or m are increased, suggesting that the number of channels in a network based on OADM's is limited by crosstalk in the AWG router. When an optical filter is added at the output of the OADM the digital signal-to-noise ratio Q is independent of N and m, and within a few tenths of a decibel of the perfect filtering case     

Multistage WDM access architecture employing cascaded AWGs

Here we propose passive/active arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) with enhanced performance for system applications mainly in novel access architectures employing cascaded AWG technology. Two technologies were considered to achieve space wavelength switching in these networks. Firstly, a passive AWG with semiconductor optical amplifiers array, and secondly, an active AWG. Active AWG is an AWG with an array of phase modulators on its arrayed-waveguides section, where a programmable linear phase-profile or a phase hologram is applied across the arrayed-waveguide section. This results in a wavelength shift at the output section of the AWG. These architectures can address up to 6912 customers employing only 24 wavelengths, coarsely separated by 1.6 nm. Simulation results obtained here demonstrate that cascaded AWGs access architectures have a great potential in future local area networks. Furthermore, they indicate for the first time that active AWGs architectures are more efficient in routing signals to the destination optical network units than passive AWG architectures.