Interconnected resilient packet rings (IRPRs): design and implementation

In the IEEE 802.17 standard, bridging is suggested to connect multiple resilient packet rings (RPRs). However, the inherent bridging technology may not be a feasible solution because too many resources and too much overhead would be occupied or needed to transmit packets across multiple RPR networks. Therefore, extended definitions of a standard RPR frame, transmission technology, and multi-ring based auto- topology discovery are described and analyzed in this paper. These extensions and new mechanisms particularly support interconnected resilient packet rings (IRPRs), and although different, they are compatible with the standard RPR. We show that the proposed solution can overcome the shortcomings of connecting multiple RPRs by a new technology, and thus facilitate the RPR technology to match WAN applications.