Wavelength division multiple access ring: virtual topology on a simple ring network

In this paper, a wavelength division multiple access (WDM) ring is proposed for interconnection in workstation clusters or parallel machines. This network consists of ring connected routers each of which selectively passes signals addressed in some particular wavelengths. Other wavelengths are once converted to electric signals and re-transmitted, being addressed in different wavelengths. Wavelengths are assigned to divisors of the number of nodes in the system. Using the regular WDM ring with imaginary nodes, the diameter and average distance are reduced even if the number of nodes has few divisors. It provides better diameter and average distance than that of the unidirectional torus. Although the diameter and average distance is worse than that of ShuffleNet, the physical structure of the WDM ring is simple and the available number of nodes is flexible