Multiaccess in all-optical networks with wavelength and code concurrency

A major obstacle in realizing fast packet switching in all-optical networks is the large tuning delays of tunable optical devices. This article proposes a multiaccess scheme for all-optical local area networks that employs both wavelength and code concurrency. In this scheme, several users share a wavelength channel through code multiplexing. The delay performance of hybrid wavelength/code division multiaccess is obtained under a simple, suboptimal access protocol based on cyclic search. Due to the reduction in the number of wavelength channels without an associated reduction in transmission concurrency, hybrid multiaccess is robust against tuning delays. At a given network throughput, the hybrid scheme achieves considerably lower delays than that of Wavelength Division Multiple Access even with a small amount of code concurrency. Conversely, the hybrid network can support a higher load when there is a maximum allowable value for the average packet delay.