Agile all-photonic networks

The goal of this study is to develop an all-optical photonic network core that stretches as close as possible to the end-user. A practical paradigm for achieving an agile all-photonic network (AAPN) should contain the following: (1) rapidly reconfigurable all-optical space-switching in the core, (2) agility-the ability to perform time domain multiplexing to dynamically allocate bandwidth to traffic flows as the demand varies, and (3) control and routing functionality concentrated at the edge switches that surround the photonic core. At the system level, the photonic network requires dramatic advances in network monitoring and control and demands a completely new approach to topology and switch architecture design. Moreover, the development of a realistic photonic networking solution is only achievable if there is an ongoing and intimate dialogue between researchers exploring physical layer enabling technologies and those proposing network architectures, algorithms, and protocols.