LARGE-CAPACITY MULTIACCESS OPTICAL PACKET NETWORK

A multiaccess optical packet network capable of providing multigigabit -per- second transmission per user is presented. The proposed system i s based on wavelength division multiplexing and frequency routing. It is optically transparent, has no internal blocking, and is optically s elf-routing. Users freely transmit their packets. Collision-free recep tion is achieved by means of a novel fast-tunable optical filter that controls the packet flow. Reception acknowledgments are passively gene rated without the use of optical sources and are transported on the sa me packet network. Assuming a single transmitter per user, and either one or two receivers (each with its own fiber) per user, the system th roughput can approach 60% and 90% (per wavelength), respectively.