The wavelength dilation concept in lightwave networks-implementation and system considerations

The dilation concept in switching networks is generalized and extended to the wavelength dimension, resulting in a new class of dynamic wavelength-routing cross-connects. These wavelength-dilated switches (WDSs) are reconfigurable and fault-tolerant, and they feature suppressed crosstalk and denser wavelength-spacings. They are scalable, with switch-complexity of αN log₂ N, where α is the dilation constant, typically 4.6, and N is the number of ports. It is shown, that by careful wavelength grouping, the crosstalk is reduced significantly. A switch architecture is suggested to fully exploit the advantages of this method. An example is given showing how such a fabric can be used to reduce the coherent crosstalk in wavelength-routing switches based on acoustooptic tunable filters (AOTF), making them practical for networks with subnanometer wavelength spacings. The WDS can be used in a broad range of applications from interconnection networks to wide-area networks (WANs) on a national scale. Large cross connects can support tens of thousands of channels using only few tens of wavelengths