Multiwavelength cross-connects for optical transport networks

Multiwavelength cross-connects (M-XCs) will play a key role in future optical multiwavelength transport networks. In this paper, we propose a class of optical wavelength interchange devices that can be used as basic building-blocks for multiwavelength optical cross-connects. We describe three different multiwavelength cross-connect structures that can be constructed using these building blocks. We investigate their blocking performance and examine issues such as complexity, modularity, and wavelength channel spacing associated with the proposed cross-connect structures.