We investigate a class of novel node architectures based on the static arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWGs) and tunable waveband converters (TWBCs) for optical burst-switched (OBS) networks. As compared to the other AWG-based architectures using tunable wavelength converters (TWCs) for switching, our design needs much fewer wavelength-converting devices, TWBCs, instead of a large number of TWCs (operating only on one wavelength at a time). Notwithstanding the inherent simplicity, AWG-based architectures, due to the static routing properties of AWGs, exhibit some internal blocking as compared to the strictly nonblocking OBS nodes employing SOA/TWC-based architectures. We address this issue in our design methodology to arrive at different candidate node architectures using multiple layers of AWGs. Our simulation results indicate that the proposed class of node architectures using TWBCs and multiple layers of AWG can offer acceptable blocking performance with a simple and cost-effective optical hardware for OBS networks.
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