Optical Switching Node with Different Shared Devices for Contention Avoidance and Its Performance

Optical switching node with a high-speed matrix optical switch that shares high-cost devices for contention avoidance, i.e. tunable wavelength converters (TWCs) or fiber delay lines (FDLs), is developed. However, a quantitative performance hadn´t been evaluated enough so far since mainly small-scale prototype switch was developed and the operation verification by the basic experiment was done. In this paper, the switching behavior on a switching node that shares both TWCs and FDLs for contention avoidance is newly established and its performance is evaluated by using computer simulations. Finally, effective composition of both devices for contention avoidance is examined.