OPTO-electrical cross connect (OEXC) with virtual transparency of optical networks

摘要

Rapid growth of optical network raises questions in how to route high bit-rate data traffic efficiently and to design cost-effective optical network by reducing the function of intermediate equipment such as SDH/SONET multiplexers and ATM switches. Optical Cross Connect (OXC) which is fully transparent independent of bit-rate and format can be a good candidate. In order to fully utilize the function of OXC, optical wavelength conversion technique must be used. However, the optical wavelength conversion technique up to date is immature and expensive. Instead of using immature optical wavelength converter, there have been lots of researches in the area of so called "opaque optical network" in which both of Optical-to-Electrical-to-Optical (O/E/O) converters and optical switches are used. The opaque optical network has some shortcomings. The O/E/O converters with 3R are not bit-rate transparent and optical switching devices are not mature.