A Multi-Hop Packet-Switched AWGM-Star-Network Realized with TX/RX Arrays

Some of today's optical networks are based on the well known WDM-star topology. In most cases, these are single-hop networks equipped with fast-tuneable wavelength transceivers. For these well studied packet-switched networks, several protocols have been designed. In order to avoid the costs of the fast tuneable devices, a network based on an array waveguided multiplexer (AWGM) and arrays of non-tuneable or slow tuneable transmitters and receivers is suggested. In order to enable communication among all stations, a multi-hop environment is introduced which is determined by the AWGM routing matrix. In the case of slow-tuneable devices, the topology can be reconfigured in dependence on changing traffic patterns. In order to get a first insight into the performance of these topologies, we focus on the case of fixed transceiver units and an uniformly distributed traffic matrix.