Reliable Networks Based on General Passive Routing Devices

Survivable passive network architectures based on interconnecting a small number of arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) have been described in prior work. Such networks are desirable for communication between a small number of users in environments that are susceptible to a high rate of failure and where providing power in the network core is difficult. In this paper, it is shown that these network designs can be improved if passive devices that have routing properties different from those of standard AWGs are considered. Devices with routing matrices represented by Latin squares and devices with more arbitrary routing patterns are considered here. This illustrates that developing the capability of manufacturing more general passive routing devices is a worthwhile goal.