Demonstration of gigabit WDMA networks using parallelly processed subcarrier hopping pilot-tone (P/sup 3/) signaling technique

An extremely short header transmission and processing time in a gigabit wavelength-division-multiple-access (WDMA) network has been experimentally demonstrated. This was achieved by using parallelly processed subcarrier hopping pilot-tones in combination with an array of detectors and RF switches. The results showed that, without considering the time consumed in an arbitration circuit, the total processing time of the hopping pilot-tone headers was as short as 40 ns which is independent of the number of network nodes and data transmission rate.