Protocol for an optical WDM LAN

The Intelligent Hub Protocol (IHP) is introduced for use in packet switched optical LANs using a star topology. The essential element in this network is an intelligent hub, which controls the traffic flow and which provides controls for adding and removing new stations from the network. The hub provides for a network that is scalable, easy to administer and manage, and reduces the complexity of the network interface devices that will be needed at each station. The network makes use of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) as well as slotting to fully exploit the fiber's bandwidth.