A novel medium access control protocol for WDM-based LAN's and access networks using a master/slave scheduler

We describe an architecture and medium access control (MAC) protocol for wa velength-division multiplexing (WDM) networks. Our system is based on a bro adcast star architecture and uses an unslotted access protocol and a centra lized scheduler to efficiently provide bandwidth-on-demand in WDM networks, To overcome the effects of propagation delays the scheduler measures the d elays between the terminals and the hub and takes that delay into account w hen scheduling transmissions, Simple scheduling algorithms, based on a look -ahead capability, are used to overcome the effects of head-of-line blockin g. An important application area for this system is in optical access netwo rks, where this novel MAC protocol can be used to access wavelengths in a W DM passive optical network (PON).