The fibernet II ethernet-compatible fiber optic LAN

Author

Rawson, Eric G.

Author_Institution

Xerox Palo Alto Research Centers, Palo Alto, CA, USA

Volume

3

Issue

3

fYear

1985

fDate

6/1/1985 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

496

Lastpage

501

Abstract

Fibernet II is a fiber-optic local area network (LAN) having an active-star configuration. It is plug compatible with the 10- Mbit/s coaxial-cable Ethernet LAN at its transceiver cable interface. Ethernet requires the detection of packet collisions; this function is implemented in Fibernet II at the active star node. Collision presence is signaled to the host transceivers with a unique in-band optical signal. Fibernet II features improved electromagnetic immunity, absence of signal radiation from cables, freedom from ground-loop currents due to ground potential differences between remote sites, new network topology options, and a growth path to future broad-band services. This paper describes the Fibernet II experimental system as implemented at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. A space-time analysis is presented which confirms that Fibernet II can support a network diameter of over 4.0 km, in contrast to the coax Ethernet which is limited to 2.5 km.

Keywords

LANs; Local-area network (LAN); Optical fiber communication; Coaxial cables; Electromagnetic radiation; Ethernet networks; Immunity testing; Local area networks; Optical fiber LAN; Optical fiber cables; Optical fibers; Plugs; Transceivers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.1985.1074228

Filename

1074228