System performance comparison of optical CDMA and WDMA in a broadcast local area network

The performance of optical code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems with wavelength-hopping/time-spreading codes is compared to that of a wavelength-division multiple-access (WDMA) system. The multiple-access techniques are applied in a time-slotted broadcast local area network. The utilization, defined as the throughput per unit of time-domain bandwidth expansion, and packet delay are used as metrics of performance. When more than seven wavelengths are available, optical CDMA systems using asymmetric prime-hop codes and all-optical signal processing are shown to have higher peak utilization and lower corresponding delay than a WDMA system with the same number of wavelengths. When the encoders/decoders operate at the chip rate, the utilization of optical CDMA exceeds that of WDMA at high offered loads; however, the peak utilization of the WDMA system is still superior.