A novel optical switch architecture comprising internal ring-like fiber interconnections is presented and discussed in this paper. The architecture allows optical packet and burst switching as well as multicasting directly in the optical domain by copying and forwarding of packets and bursts without wavelength conversion. We expect a reduction of packet/burst discard probability due to the ability of storing contending packets or bursts in optical delay lines and fiber interconnecting rings for a short time before they are forwarded to the desired output port. Two different internal interconnection methods are presented and analyzed in terms of their impact on the main switch parameters. Additionally, scalability of the proposed switch architecture is determined by using numerical simulations and taking into account all relevant transmission effects.
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