System considerations in multiplexed addressing using an optical time-of-flight technique

An unconventional method of multiplexing data in a fiber-optic network is described. The method uses a linearly swept optical carrier frequency and physical distances in fiber as addresses to create frequency division multiplexed signals at the receivers. As it is a coherent self-heterodyne or -homodyne method, wide network bandwidth is available without the need for receiver local oscillator lasers or wide bandwidth electronics. As an example, a 2-Gb/s system that allows each of 200 nodes to access a 10-Mb/s channel without network blocking is described. Such a system could be used as a LAN or a backbone network for existing LANs