This paper addresses the problem of building optical packet switches that are able to effectively cope with variable length packet traffic and quality of service management, therefore able to support IP traffic. The paper aims at showing that the availability of dense wavelength division multiplexing is crucial. By suitably exploiting the wavelength dimension a multistage fiber delay line buffer can be implemented, with fine granularity and long delay with an architecture of limited complexity. This is necessary to fulfill the buffering requirements of variable length packets. Furthermore, the wavelength domain is proved to be more effective than the time domain to manage different levels of quality of service. Algorithms are presented that are peculiarly designed for this environment showing that they can effectively differentiate the packet loss probability between three priority classes.

This paper addresses the design of an optical packet switch able to effectively cope with variable length packet traffic, such as IP traffic. A switching architecture equipped with a multistage fiber delay line buffer is presented, that is able to realize fine time granularity and long delay. WDM is introduced to solve switch internal blocking and to enhance buffer exploitation. Packet loss performance, evaluated by simulation, is discussed in relation to the degrees of freedom available for switch design, to show the feasibility of a switch for the IP environment.

This paper reviews the work carried out in the ACTS KEOPS (Keys to Optical Packet Switching) project, describing the results obtained to date. The main objective of the project is the definition, development, and assessment of optical packet switching and routing networks, capable of providing transparency to the payload bit rate, using optical packets of fixed duration and low bit rate headers in order to enable easier processing at the network/node interfaces. The feasibility of the KEOPS concept is assessed by modeling, laboratory experiments, and testbed implementation of optical packet switching nodes and network/node interfacing blocks, including a fully equipped demonstrator. The demonstration relies on advanced optoelectronic components, developed within the project, which are described.

Input-buffered replicated networks are considered for broadband switching applications. They are characterized by many design parameters such as the replication factor, the traffic management policy, and input buffer location and length. To show the influence of these parameters on switching performance, an analytical model is defined based on a Markov chain representation of the input buffer. This model is suitable for application to input buffered architecture having different routing network choices. The results, expressed in terms of throughput, packet delay, and packet loss probability, outline the performance improvements with respect to other well-known networks with input buffers, such as banyan and crossbar, reached through the flexibility offered by this architectural solution.>

The performance of continuous-phase FSK (frequency-shift keying) systems with rectangular modulation pulse shaping and limiter-discriminator detection is analytically evaluated in the presence of transmission nonlinearities as well as adjacent channel and cochannel interference. Consideration of modulation pulses with length tau , shorter than symbol time, T, is investigated. The algorithm developed to evaluate bit-error probability shows that the choice tau /T=1, and even more so in the presence of adjacent channel interference. Moreover, for tau /T=0.5, numerical results are reported that describe system performance under different working conditions and can be used to develop design criteria.>

The behavior of CPFSK systems with modulation pulse shaping and limiter-discriminator detection is tested in the prsence of multipath fading. With the aim of determining the eye-closure domain, a theoretical analysis is presented for a generic number of modulation levels. It is shown that, by suitably varying the maximum angular frequency deviation ωd, control of outage probability Poutis possible. Moreover, the choice of duty-cycle in the modulation pulse\tau/T < 1leads to a lower value of Poutwith respect to the conventional case\tau/T = 1, if we fix, as happens in practice, an upper bound in the transmitted power. This promising characteristic deeply differentiates the CPFSK from the PSK, DCPSK, and QAM systems: CPFSK systems, with a fixed number of modulation levels, allow us to obtain decreasing values of Poutat the cost of increasing transmission power by suitably varying the set of signal parameters, even in the absence of diversity techniques and/or adaptive equalization.