A novel all-optical self-routed wavelength-addressable network (SWANET)

A novel all-optical self-routed wavelength-addressable network based on a new multiwavelength routing protocol is proposed. A distributed switching network that uses a low-speed routing header provides a transparent path for the high-speed data while utilizing low-speed electronic processing of the routing header. Each data packet is preceded by a routing header composed of a serial combination of wavelengths. The number of destination addresses is dramatically increased over conventional wavelength-division multiplexing or conventional photonic packet switching networks for the same number of wavelengths or header digits, respectively. A 1/spl times/4 switching node is implemented demonstrating the switching and transmission capabilities of this wavelength-addressable network.>