STARNET: A MultiGbit/s Optical Local Area Network with Both Packet and Circuit Switching
Abstract
The potential of passive star WDM networks is believed to be extremely high. STARNET is a new broadband optical LAN based on such physical structure. Every STARNET node supports both packet traffic and a high-speed WDM circuit interconnect, simultaneously and independently. As a result, STARNET carries diverse types of traffic (i.e. bursty and continuous, low-speed and broadband) in an efficient way. Each node requires only two lasers and its structure permits frequency stabilization of the whole network. An experimental 4-node, 12Gbit/s (3Gbit/s per node), FDDI-compatible (at the packet network level) STARNET is being built at Stanford University. Each node of the network is optically connected to a passive optical star. Each node is also equipped with a fixed frequency transmitter which is assigned a unique frequency, so that a comb of optical carriers is formed. Transmitters multiplex two independent data streams on the same optical carrier, the C ('circuit') stream and the P ('packet') stream, using non-interfering modulation formats, DPSK and low- modulation-index ASK, respectively.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA247617
Entities
People
- Leonid Kazovsky
- P. Poggiolini
Organizations
- Stanford University