A novel method of routing in all-optical packet switched networks

Abstract

Increasing bandwidth demand, driven by Internet Protocol (IP), let the communication industry change to IP-centric networks. To satisfy the needs, optical fiber communication links provides a usable transmission bandwidth of 25,000,000 MHz. Despite the huge potential of the optical links, electronic-based networking devices (Router, switch, repeater, etc.) act as bottlenecks of the system because of the material limitations of the electronics. Optical networks appear to be the solution of choice for providing faster networking infrastructure that can meet the explosive growth of the Internet. This thesis will discuss architectures and technology issues for the design of a high performance all-optical router. In particular, it focuses on the concept of an optical router for packet switched computer networks as an edge network device, functioning as an interface between autonomous systems. A novel architecture will be proposed and simulated by means of special software. Implementation problems and the limitations of the architecture are discussed in detail component by component.