Photonic Switching in Multi-Wavelength ATM Networks

摘要

Future broadband services require a flexible and reliable mechanism for thetransport of data. The Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is expected to be a viable technique to obtain this goal. Due to its potential bandwidth the common medium is the optical fiber. In switching and routing nodes these optical signals are still being switched in the electronic domain. For large bit rates this results in the so called 'electronic bottleneck' due to the limited speed of electronics. In order to overcome this problem photonic switching techniques are to be implemented. A first step to all optical processing deals with functions which can already, or in the near future, be implemented. Since all optical processing is still a long way ahead, research is focused on electrical as well as optical alternatives with the goal to investigate, in a systematic way, the viable compromises. In this document an overview is given from the ATM concept perspective as well as from the transmission and switching technology perspective.