New Optical Access Network Architecture Using Optical Packet Switches

Hiromi UEDA
Takumi NOMURA
Kunitetsu MAKINO
Toshinori TSUBOI
Hiroaki KUROKAWA
Hiroyuki KASAI

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Communications   Vol.E89-B    No.3    pp.724-730
Publication Date: 2006/03/01
Online ISSN: 1745-1345
DOI: 10.1093/ietcom/e89-b.3.724
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: PAPER
Category: Fiber-Optic Transmission for Communications
Keyword: 
optical access network,  optical packet switch,  PON,  OSAN,  IEEE 802.3ah,  

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Summary: 
This paper proposes a new optical access network architecture that differs from those of conventional Point-to-Point (PP) and Passive Optical Networks (PON). The proposed architecture, Optical Switched Access Network (OSAN), uses Optical Switching Modules (OSMs) that connect an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) to Optical Network Units (ONUs) in a virtual point to point configuration so that it offers the merits of both PP and PON while overcoming their demerits. Each OSM optically switches packets of variable length one by one under electrical control. To allow the elimination of optical buffers from OSM, OSAN uses the Multi-Point Control Protocol (MPCP) defined in IEEE 802.3ah. We evaluate the transmission distances between OLT and ONUs, and consider a network synchronization scheme and discovery mechanism that supports MPCP.