32-Mbit/s star configured optical local area network design and performance

This paper describes the transmitter/receiver design and performance of a 32-Mb/s star configured optical local area network (SOLARnet) that uses a 100 × 100 port optical star coupler and CSMA/CD procedure. A new collision detection technique that monitors coding rule violation (CRV) is proposed. Following noise band calculation, the CRV characteristics of the receiver that are restricted by noise or signal collision are discussed, and the actual circuit design is presented. Use of the new technique enables detection of an optical collision signal that is 8 dB lower than the main signal in a field trial. Other results measured in the field trial are also described.