Theory of subcarrier encoding of packet headers in quasi-all-optical broadband WDM networks

The problem of encoding and on-the-fly decoding of signaling information in quasi-all-optical WDM networks can be dealt with using multiple subcarrier signaling (MSS). This technique allows one to keep high-speed data in strictly all-optical form from the source node to the destination node. At intermediate nodes, only the signaling information is retrieved and utilized. In this paper, we present a detailed theoretical analysis of the transmissive performance of MSS in a generic WDM network environment and in the presence of optical amplification. Simple, but accurate, data and signaling information bit-error-rate expressions are derived as a function of the relevant network parameters, such as number of nodes, per node data rate, optical amplifiers characteristics, packet length, and so forth. We outline a general transmissive performance analysis methodology and also present an example of its application to a specific star network solution, MSS turns out to be capable of supporting tens to hundreds of nodes at data speeds ranging from hundreds of Mb/s to several Gb/s