Abstract
Photonic packet switches offer high speed, data rate and format transparency, and flexibility required by future computer communications and cell-based telecommunications networks. In this paper, we review experimental progress in state-of-the-art photonic packet switches with an emphasis on all-optical guided-wave systems. The term all-optical implies that the data portion of a packet remains in optical format from the source to the destination. While the data remain all-optical, both optical and optoelectronic techniques have been used to process packet routing functions based on extremely simple routing protocols. An overview of the design issues for all-optical photonic packet switching is given and contrasted with electronic packet switch implementations. Low-level functions that have been experimentally implemented include routing, contention resolution, synchronization, and header regeneration. System level demonstrations, including centralized photonic switching and distributed all-optical multihop networks, will be reviewed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1650-1667 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Proceedings of the IEEE |
Volume | 82 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1994 |
Externally published | Yes |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General Computer Science
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering