Protocols for optical star-coupler network using WDM: performance and complexity study

The efficiency of protocols coordinating the data transmission between the transmitter and receivers in a network of stations connected using a passive star coupler, equipped with fixed transmitters and tunable receivers, and using wavelength-division multiplexing is discussed. Two reservation-based protocols with varying degrees of signaling complexity are proposed: the dynamic allocation scheme (DAS), which dynamically assigns slots on a packet-by-packet basis, and the hybrid time-division-multiplexing (TDM) scheme (HTDM), which combines the TDM and the DAS scheme and allows both preassigned and dynamic slot assignment. Analytical results are derived for the delay performance of the two schemes and compared with that of TDM. It is shown that the performance of DAS under ideal conditions is close to optimal, but its signaling costs are exorbitantly high. On the other hand, HTDM has lower signaling needs, but has higher delays when compared to DAS