CYCLES IN WAVELENGTH ROUTED OPTICAL NETWORKS

Signals in wavelength routed optical networks can oscillate in closed cycles resulting in adverse effects on network operation. In particula r, amplified spontaneous emission from erbium doped fiber amplifiers c an form recirculating loops that lead to amplifier saturation and osci llations. Searching, enumerating and eliminating these closed cycles b ecomes a problem that the network designer must address. A variety of cross-connect technologies are studied and shown to result in oscillat ing cycles in the network. Topological and technological approaches ba sed on Eulerian network theory and other methods are proposed to elimi nate these cycle problems.