Realization of a time-slot access WDMA dual bus/ring packet network node using centralized light sources

We propose and demonstrate experimentally a practical network node in a time-division slot access wavelength-division multiaccess (WDMA) bus/ring packet network using centralized light sources. The head node generates all the wavelength channels. The transmitting node senses the occupancy of the channel by simply detecting the presence of a 1-GHz RF tone, which can be commonly used by all nodes in the network. Our scheme is simple and practical while its efficiency can be enhanced by our previously proposed time-slot access protocol, ACTA.