Exploitation of the fiber capacity in optical networks using time, frequency, and space division multiple accesses

In this work we investigate how to obtain very high capacity transmissions in optical networks taking into account the limitations due to the physical channel. We consider both the case in which all the users are connected by a star coupler and the case in which the users are directly connected by the network topology. As a reference, we consider a ring network and a Shuffle Multihop Network (SMN). The use of optical systems to implement high-capacity networks is numerically investigated by means of numerical simulations taking into consideration the channel limitations due to the chromatic dispersion, the Kerr effect and the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise of the optical amplifiers. In our model, we consider that the signal, during the routing process that is performed at the user position, undergoes only an attenuation. We suppose the use of intensity modulated signals and receivers with direct detection. Packet switching and digital transmission are assumed with soliton and conventional nonreturn to zero signals. Both wavelength and rime division multiple accesses are considered. The results show that, in the case of the Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technique, the use of a star coupler to connect the users reduces the capacity of a network with respect to the case in which a direct connection of the users is used. This is due to the strong power fluctuations that are present during the signal propagation and to the large quantity of accumulated ASE noise. On the other hand, the use of a star coupler shows the advantage to being easily reconfigurable. The Wavelength Divison Multiple Access (WDMA) technique permits us to achieve higher capacities with respect to the TDMA. This is due to the fact that in the propagation conditions, due to the presence of a star coupler, high bit rate signals are strongly degraded. On the other hand, several low bit rate signals operating at different wavelengths can propagate with a low power level avoiding strong degradation due to the Four Wave Mixing (FWM) effect. Among the topologies considered in this work, the SMN is the one that generally permits us to reach the highest throughput because in the SMN the signal hops in a limited number of Network Interface Units (NIUs) before reaching the final destination.