Abstract
Packet switching is an attractive method for transferring digital information across high-speed communications networks, and it is widely used in local area networks (LAN’s) and metropolitan area networks (MAN’s). A LAN or MAN that uses nodes that are transparent to the optical-information bandwidth1 has several advantages over an equivalent electronic network, including flexibility of data format and the ability to avoid electronic speed bottlenecks. It has been shown2 that the use of an optically transparent photonic packet switch permits data-transfer rates for the information content of a packet (the payload) to be made independent of the address header data rate. Thus a network constructed with optically transparent nodes can use relatively inexpensive nodes that operate at low bit rates while higher-speed nodes can communicate at much higher data rates.
© 1993 Optical Society of America
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