The scalable lightwave network

In principle, an optical network employing wavelength routing, wavelength reuse, and multihop packet switching is modularly scalable to very large configurations in both the hardware and software sense. As such, it is a viable architecture for a new ATM-based telecommunications infrastructure The network architecture considered for a new, scalable, broadband telecommunications infrastructure is based on (1) the use of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and wavelength routing; (2) the translation of signals from one wavelength to another at the access stations; and (3) the use of multihop ATM packet switching. These principles permit networks to be built whose size is essentially unlimited