Node architectures for aggregation of traffic from access networks

Abstract

This article surveys and classifies recent prototypes of node architectures for dynamic traffic aggregation in all‐optical access‐core networks. These networks act as backbones for optical line terminators (OLT) or electronic switches that serve optical access networks. For reasons of economy they are typically constructed as unidirectional rings or busses. Well‐known optical time and wavelength division networks and hybrid versions following the photonic slot routing principle are introduced and compared. All of the architectures shown here perform some kind of carrier sensing to avoid collisions in a de‐centralized way. We give approximations of the expectable gain of dynamic channel sharing over static assignment and the tuning time penalty. Technological limitations and cost driving factors are analyzed with respect to a low‐cost implementation of a dynamic traffic aggregation.

Key words:

• traffic aggregation
• access‐core network
• dynamic sharing
• bursty

Notes

Corresponding author. (Email: yabin.ye@create‐net.org)