A wavelength encoded multichannel optical bus for local area networks

A scalable, high-speed, wavelength encoded multichannel optical bus (WEMCOB) employing the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology is proposed to reduce the link speed requirement, the wiring complexity, and the number of optical amplifiers for local area networks. In this paper, a hierarchical network topology is adopted, in which a dual unidirectional WEMCOB with separate control and data channels composes the backbone network, and unidirectional tree-based WEMCOB's with centralized arbiters constitute the subnetworks. We perform a feasibility study on the implementation of a local area network based on the WEMCOB, discuss the related issues, and show that a total transmission capacity of several tens of gigabits per second (Gb/s) can be achieved to serve a large number of broadband users by utilizing today's optoelectronic technology.