TIME AND WAVELENGTH-DIVISION MULTIACCESS WITH ACOUSTOOPTIC TUNABLE FILTERS

In this article we propose a novel time and wavelength division multip le access (T/WDMA) scheme for a metropolitan area network based on a p assive optical star. This scheme supports circuit-switched traffic in an environment with a large number of users with applications that spa n a broad range of data rates (from voice to full motion video). The s cheme can be implemented using acoustooptic tunable filters characteri zed by a relatively large tuning range (around 100 wavelengths) and a relatively low tuning speed (around 10 mus). Performance of this schem e is studied by simulation for the uniform, single-rate, point-to-poin t traffic case. We also show how the multiwavelength filtering capabil ity of acoustooptic tunable filters can be used to improve the perform ance of the proposed T/WDMA scheme.